Dragon
de Quintus

Winter is quite dry and within seasonal averages. The lack of rainfall continues at the beginning of spring and budburst comes about at the end of March, in the more precocious plots. A spell of frost lasting several days takes hold immedia tely afterwards and leads to a pause in budburst, as well as a halt to the vine’s growth, but ultimately it causes very little lasting damage. The warm weather arrives as ear ly as April and continues into May, with an early flowe ring. During the heat wave that comes in mid-June, the teams reduce their green work considerably to protect the grapes. This strategy is beneficial, because the grapes continue to ripen without the slightest sign of sun scald. Summer is sun-drenched and light rain showers during the week of August 10th cool down the soils and make ripening consistent. The harvest at Château Quintus started on September 7th, with the grapes in excellent health. This makes it the earliest harvest since the establishment of the property in 2011. Firstly the young vines are harvested and then plots at the top of the slope, facing south. Considerable intra-plot selection is done in the vineyard to bring out the very best from each plot. Smaller in size this year, the grapes are of extraordinary quality; they are concentrated and present a superb range of aromas and flavours. The harvests are gathered serenely up until September 28th, in perfect weather conditions. As soon as the harvest is gathered, it is evident that the 2022 vintage follows irrefutably in the footsteps of very promising vintages such as 2019 and 2020.The clay-limestone soils of Saint-Emilion, particularly those of Quintus, are thriving this year thanks to their ability to retain coolness, allowing the grapes to adapt to early periods of heat and drought.