2021 Mount Mary, Quintet

Denne store årgang kommer fra et år uden ekstremt vejr – i stedet var hele året fuldstændig perfekt for Mount Mary, hvor de fem sorter til Quintet kunne modne langsomt og stabilt indtil de kunne høstet i absolut perfekt tilstand. Den uimodståeligt smukke næse med solbær, diskret vanille, brombær, youghurt, rosenblade, grafit, tobak og topklassefad. Smagen er noget af det reneste, smukkeste og harmoniske man kan drømme om i en Cabernet og man kunne igen gætte Lafite på denne sensationelle udgave, som er koncentreret og intens, men ikke har vægt eller sødme i sine toner, men bare som en drøm i sin perfekt modne renhed. Ganske sensationel, så utroligt klassefyldt og så balanceret og lovende, er dette tæt på idealet for et ”Bordeaux-blend”, og så er det ikke engang en Bordeaux! Mageløs fantastisk udgave. (-2060+) *****

98 points Robert Parker Wine Advocate: ”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."

98 points James Halliday: "A blend of 45/30/17/6/2% cabernet sauvignon/merlot/cabernet franc/malbec/petit verdot. Fermented with whole berries and at different temperatures, depending on the variety. All varieties are matured in both barriques and 1600L foudres for 12 months then racked into barriques (35% new) for another 10 months before blending and bottling. A saturated purple-red. This is a special Quintet (and I don't say this lightly) from the first. Aromas of blackberries, blackcurrants, dark cherry skins and crushed violets. A whisper of pencil-shaving oak. An elegant, concentrated, pure and structured wine that will become even more special with time. As I was tasting it, Radiohead's opening track from Kid A came to mind. Everything in Its Right Place, indeed."

98 points James Suckling: ”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."