Château Quintus, St-Émilion, Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France 2023

Really perfumed and expressive on the nose, lots of fragrance - dark purple flowers, blackcurrants, highly perfumed. Smells quite intense. Supple and agile, this has nice movement with plush tannins and chewy strawberry fruit with high acidity to balance the texture. Round and full in the mouth, fleshy but with a clean limestone, graphite undercurrent. Full bodied for the vintage, generous and super charming, the juicy and chunky Merlot giving width and depth to the body. Not streamlined as such as the texture and tannins are more present but there’s a nice vein of minerality that keeps the direction. Sweet, sour, tart and chalky. A bit firm, but there’s great structure. Generous and super charming. Easy to drink. 12 months ageing, 38% new. 25% grand vin production, this year with a little more Merlot where last year had more Cabernet Franc.

Bright and packed full of intense fruit at the same time, this is a confident wine with lots to say. Lashings of blackcurrant and cherry - ripe and full, with high acidity but the two in total balance leading to quite an impressive whole. Vibrant and upfront, I like this. It’s perhaps lacking a touch in nuance but for sheer enjoyment with lots of fruit and structure this is great.