Château Quintus | Saint Émilion Grand Cru
In June 2011, Domaine Clarence Dillon, owners of Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, acquired a beautiful estate in Saint-Emilion, today renamed Château Quintus. In October 2013, Château Quintus in turn acquired the neighbouring property, Château L’Arrosée, and these two exceptional estates are now united in order to produce one of the very finest wines of Saint-Emilion.
Quintus has a history that dates back to the earliest days of Saint Emilion and the two estates that now make up the newly formed Château Quintus have in the past enjoyed a similar renown. Both vineyards were cited as Saint-Emilion First Growths between 1868 and 1949 (Cocks et Féret) and were also among the finest estates to earn the Gold Medal for Saint-Emilion in the Exposition Universelle de Paris of 1867.
Perched on a 62-meter-high limestone hillock, Château Quintus is located at the south-western end of the Saint-Emilion plateau. Surrounded by some of the most eminent estates in Saint-Emilion, the property boasts some of the finest land and exposures in the region. The originality of this extraordinary terroir lies in its diversity of soils, slopes and orientations. Made up of 28 hectares of vines that have today attained an optimum average age of 30 years, the estate naturally wraps itself around a high natural promontory and also offers 360o breath-taking views across to the village of Saint-Emilion and over the entire Dordogne valley.
The vines of Château Quintus extend over a remarkable landscape. The form of the land itself is characterised by a stratum of limestone that lies in criss-cross shelves across the south-facing slopes of the plateau. The limestone to the north of the property is replaced by a varied mixture of clayey sands and gravels, dipping towards the south. Merlot represents 66% of the surface in production and the rest, 26% is planted with Cabernet Franc and 8% with Cabernet Sauvignon.