A big, velvety textured wine, especially in the vintage, the 2020 Château Quintus offers a gorgeous array of pure crème de cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as leafy herbs, graphite, and chocolate. These all carry to a full-bodied Saint-Emilion with a round, mouth-filling texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish. This estate has been firing on all cylinders of late, and this should be in the same realm as the 2016, 2018, and I suspect, the 2019.

The 2020 Quintus is very delineated and focused on the nose, offering ebullient black cherries and raspberry fruit, crushed stone and a subtle marine element that develops with aeration; great energy here. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins, a perfect line of acidity and just a slight bitterness that imparts the necessary tension and sapidity on the finish. This is a very suave Saint-Émilion that will be difficult to resist in its youth.

The 2020 Quintus is a blend of 62.5% Merlot and 37.5% Cabernet Franc, weighing in with an alcohol of 15.4%. Displaying a deep purple-black color, it leaps from the glass with bold notes of crushed blackberries, boysenberries and stewed plums, plus suggestions of chocolate mint, clove oil, lilacs and star anise. The full-bodied palate is densely laden with rich black fruits and floral accents, framed by well-balanced acidity and finely grained tannins, finishing with great length and impressive energy. Judging from this barrel sample, this is the finest, most complex and complete Quintus yet—bravo!