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06, 04, 02 ,00 Alter Ego and 03, 01, 98, 96 Ch. Palmer - Printable Version

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- TheEngineer - 02-03-2009

Event was titled "Exploring Margaux’s Superb Chateau Palmer and Alter Ego with Bernard de Laage de Meux"

This tasting was part of the Boston Wine Expo that took place late in January. I am very late in writing this. Bernard is the International Export Manager for Palmer so tasting with him was very educational. Learned a few things about Palmer that I did not know, such as (1) Palmer usually has a larger portion of merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon and that only in 2006 did they start to use Petit Verdot to add some aromatics. They joked that they generally had little use for Petit Verdot but now that it is ripening well, they do use it in the blend.

The wines were tasted from youngest backwards and the four Alter Ego de Palmer were first up:

2006 Alter Ego de Palmer: Good solid nose, nice almost sweet ripe fruit, good concentration of black and red fruit, spicy, tobacco, very deep in color. Medium plus bodies with a long persistent finish, very elegant. Good levels of ripeness, acidity, freshness, a bit hot on the finish but very pretty wine. Good firm attach, fresh, round mid palate and fine tannins. B+

2004 Alter Ego de Palmer: The stressed vines from the hot 2003 vintage lead to a huge amount of bud growth in 2004. Deep brooding nose, dark sweet fruits, tobacco, spicy in the background. Hints of vanilla and cinnamon. Good concentration, soft entry supple and again a great freshness, crispy, red fruit flavours, tannic but fine, a bit grittier but good structure, and a long finish. B+

2002 Alter Ego de Palmer: slightly muted nose, tobacco, elegant feminine, but still good levels of concentration, especially for an ’02. Medium bodied wine lighter in flavour but with deep dark fruits, tannic, some start of development of wine, cedary, peppermint. Tannins are a bit rough still and could use a bit more time to come around. Nice for the vintage.B-

2000 Alter Ego de Palmer: More merlot in this vintage (60/40 merlot to cabernet sauvignon) and it was really evident. This is still a very young wine, very ripe, very elegant, deep rich but restrainted. Delicate aromas of red and black fruits, mocha, hits of mushrooms. Wine had plenty of power, very young still but the tannins are velvety. A-

2003 Chateau Palmer: for the vintage, this wine was not overtly ripe. The wine is ripe but is shows a nice level of complexity, still elegant but noticeable power now. Some plumy nose, fresh dark brooding wine. Bernard noted that this wines has not shown any evolution since day one. Tastes the same now as it did a few years ago. The winery has no guesses as to how this wine will evolve. Good depth, very ripe fruit, plumy flavours, peppermint, still very fresh, good balance. Tannins are all very soft. A-

2001 Chateau Palmer: Palmer considers this vintage their benchmark and most traditional. All the characteristics come through strongest in this vintage. Good levels of concentration, pencil lead, restrained but powerful. Good velvety tannins that could use a bit more time but really approachable now. A-

1998 Chateau Palmer: Rain forced early picking of Cabernet Sauvignon. Good solid nose, black berries, black cherries, cedary, smokey, coffee. Very soft palate but still a very solid wine. Tannins are softened but can still go some more. Powerful nose, full bodied. A

1996 Chateau Palmer: Cooler climate, but elegant almost burgundian nose, Very elegant, but still high levels of concentration. Nice secondary notes, but wine is very closed. Deep brooding fruit, spicy, hint of green pepper (but not bad), Medium plus body, very elegant and restrained. Still very fresh, very long finish and great persistence. Unfortunately wine was very closed and might need more than just a few years for it to come back out. Great density, power and smooth velvety tannins. A


- wondersofwine - 02-03-2009

Thanks for posting your notes, Engineer. Sounds like a nice tasting.


- brappy - 02-16-2009

Sorry I missed this. Great notes! Thanks for the read.

I've never had much Palmer. One of my bosses has a love for this producer, so what I have had usually ends up as a gift (Christmas) or something. At the moment, I have only 1 '00 left.

Anyway, once again, great notes! Thanks.

mark