Tertre Daugay renamed Chateau Quintus

Chateau Tertre Daugay has been renamed Chateau Quintus, Domaine Clarence Dillon, owner of Chateau Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion, has announced.

According to official records, a US federal trademark registration was filed for Chateau Quintus on 16 November 2011. A separate trademark for Le Dragon de Quintus – which is likely to be the property’s second wine – was filed on the same day.

The 16-ha Saint Emilion estate, which Domaine Clarence Dillon bought last summer, was owned by Count Leo de Malet-Roquefort, and run by his son Alexandre de Malet-Roquefort with Stephane Derenoncourt as consultant.

According to the official press release, the chateau stands on the site of a watch tower built to defend the village of Saint Emilion. It ascribes the name change to ‘New owners, a new philosophy, a new name…’ and to the fact that it is now the company’s fifth wine, after the red and white wines of Pessac Leognan, Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion.

‘The Gallo-Romans, creators of the vineyards of Saint-Emilion, had the habit of naming their fifth child Quintus … Domaine Clarence Dillon has decided to pay homage to its glorious predecessors by re-baptising their growth Château Quintus.’

According to the statement, Tertre Daugay ‘was featured between 1844 and 1848 among the 14 most sought-after and most expensive wines of Saint-Emilion.’

The estate was demoted in the 2006 St Emilion classification and reinstated in 2010. Decanter described the 2005 as the ‘best-ever’ from the property.

A new St Emilion classification is being announced in June 2012. The wines of Quintus will be shown during En Primeur in Bordeaux during the week of 2 April 2012.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux