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Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot blend. Winemaker Sam Middleton. Vineyard is planted to 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 5% Malbec and 5% Petit Verdot. The percentage of each variety that goes into the final blend changes with the vintage. ‘The greatest influence we have over the quality of this wine is deciding when to pick each variety.’ Fermentation on skins for around 12–14 days, followed by 22 months of barrel maturation, with 25% of the blend in large-format oak (1,500 litres or larger), and 30% in new 225-litre barriques. The remaining wine is matured in 2- to 5-year-old barriques. Minimal fining and filtration prior to bottling. Average yield 35–40 hl/ha (2.5 t/acre). Same depth as the 2016 but a bit bluer. Fresh and just the right side of austere. But definitely dry on the end. Correct but not opulent. But I’m sure it will age well. (JR)
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Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The epic 2021 Quintet, a blend of all five key Bordeaux varieties, is compact and refined. It offers up layers of graphite, dark cherry, cranberry and violets laced with gentle spice–an exceptional blend of power and delicacy. Beautifully defined on the palate, its firm, gravelly tannins are immaculately balanced, delivering a long, controlled finish. The tannin quality here marks this as a great vintage. The 2021 is very closed right now, but its spellbinding balance and length will see it age remarkably well, likely for two decades and more.
It's no secret that the Quintet is one of my favorite Cabernet blends in Australia. I collect a few bottles for my cellar each year because of three reasons: they speak of site and place eloquently and gracefully, they age in the same manner, and despite every and any season, the dry-grown vines prevail. I love the vintage variation through the lens of house style; these are natural feeling, unforced vineyard wines and a proud statement of what is possible in the world of global Cabernet, and Australian Cabernet more specifically. So, the 2021 Quintet comprises 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, Cabernet Franc 17%, Petit Verdot 6% and Malbec 2%. On the nose, there is a forest of red berries—mid-weight and balanced in their flow of aromatics. It has notes of pomegranate, cassis, a hint of cocoa, graphite and tobacco, star anise and salted licorice. In the mouth, the calling card of this estate is undoubtedly the tannins, and they flow and weave through the fruit at every turn. This is a silken wine, the tannins like carded silk. If you've ever carded fleece or a raw substrate like that, you know the satisfaction and progress of that process. The tannins here have that open-weave, unfettered feeling—they are what they are and are not created/built/etc. There is nothing forced here. The season has yielded a balanced and fine wine, and the tannins feel like they plume through the fruit, like blood in the water. I cannot separate the fruit from the tannin. It's chewy. Excellent. I'm looking forward to seeing this again in a decade.
Among the ten vintage flight that I was privy to, this is arguably the finest of them all, sitting pretty alongside its rival, the stunning 2015. Medium-bodied, taut and understated, as the Quintet always is. Graphite, pencil lead, blood plum and a fleck of red and black currant. The wine\'s signature, a kit of gorgeous, sinuous tannins that reflect the later picking windows of more recent years. This could easily be nudged up a point. Best after 2028.
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Product details
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec/Auxerrois/Cot, Petit Verdot
Red
Dry