Château Quintus

The château

When Domaine Clarence Dillon, the owner of Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, bought Château Tertre Daugay from Comte Leo de Malet-Roquefort in 2011, it renamed it Quintus, Latin for a fifth child: it was the group’s 5th estate. Château L’Arrosée followed in October 2013, and Château Grand-Pontet, 14 hectares in one parcel, in September 2021, from the Pourquet-Bécot family. Three classified names went into one wine, and none of them is in the classification of 2022; Quintus is sold as Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, with no rank.

The estate is 45 hectares, 42 of them planted, on a limestone promontory that rises to 62 meters over the Dordogne valley, with slopes facing north, west and south. The soil is a mosaic of limestone, clay and clay with limestone rather than a single block, and each plot is picked and made in 3 selections: the top of the slope, the middle and the foot. The wine is made in wooden and stainless steel vats, extracted by pumping over, and raised 12 to 18 months in French oak. Le Dragon de Quintus is the second wine and Saint-Émilion de Quintus the third; the dragon itself is a bronze by Mark Coreth, with a wingspan of 6 meters, standing on the promontory.

Prince Robert of Luxembourg is chairman of the group. Mariette Veyssière, the 5th generation of her family in Saint-Émilion, has managed Quintus since the end of 2013; Claude Diligeart, the cellar master, has worked here since 1990, through all 3 ownerships; Pauline Comin has run the vineyard since June 2023. The estate has held Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms) since 2018 and ISO 14001 since 2019, and keeps a 2 hectare belt of natural gardens and terraces, where 800 useful insects of 200 species and 80 kinds of wild flower have been counted.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Classification

No classification; built from 3 growths that were classified before the merger

Owner

Domaine Clarence Dillon, since 2011

Direction

Mariette Veyssière, since the end of 2013; Claude Diligeart, cellar master, here since 1990; Pauline Comin, vineyard, since June 2023

Vineyard

45 hectares, 42 planted, on a limestone promontory rising to 62 meters

Soil

Limestone, clay and clay with limestone Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale since 2018; ISO 14001 since 2019; a 2 hectare belt of gardens and terraces

Cellar

Wooden and stainless steel vats; 12 to 18 months in French oak

Wines

Château Quintus; Le Dragon de Quintus; Saint-Émilion de Quintus

Built from

Château Tertre Daugay, 2011; Château L’Arrosée, October 2013; Château Grand-Pontet, September 2021

Took in

Château Grand-Pontet; Château L’Arrosée