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Mount Mary Quintet

There is an effortless, harmonious, silky, graceful approachability to Quintet that makes it enticingly appealing and instantly recognisable. This is cabernet sauvignon (almost half) and friends (one third merlot, a good dose of cabernet franc and a dash of petit verdot and malbec) of perfectly ripe, deep black fruit character, yet utterly restrained at a refreshingly medium-bodied 12.7% alcohol. Blackberries, blackcurrants and dried flowers are all recognisable from the outset, before a slowly rising intensity of refined violet and rose petal perfume emerges. Fruit definition is encased in an unashamedly elegant shell, with acid and tannin seamlessly integrated; at once tart and refreshing, finely structured and textural, approachable and long-lived. $99 at Randall’s (2008).