2018 Château Palmer Margaux Grand Cru Classé
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How full and heavy the wine feels in your mouth, like the difference between skimmed milk and cream. More alcohol, sugar and oak ageing make a wine fuller.
The drying, grippy feel on your gums and tongue, as with strong tea. It comes from the skins and seeds of black grapes and from oak, and softens with age.
How much sugar you taste, from dry to sweet. Fruity is not the same as sweet: a dry wine can taste of ripe fruit.
How fresh and juicy the wine is: acidity makes your mouth water. High acidity tastes lively and refreshing, low acidity soft and round.
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The bars follow how sommeliers taste (WSET): body, tannin, sweetness and acidity, each from low to high.
Body: powerful. Fuller than most red wines from ; 14.5% alcohol.
Tannin: firm. Aged in oak.
Sweetness: dry. Red wine from is almost always dry.
Acidity: medium. The temperate climate of .
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Log inFrom December to July, incessant rains caused the development of mildew. In the summer, the vines concentrated their energy on the remaining grapes. Their power reached an exceptional level. All this led to an unprecedented decision: every lot would be selected for the blending of Château Palmer. A rainy winter accompanied the dormant vines, which caused the soil to become damp and the buds to form late. Despite our care, the rain that continued to fall during the spring months, combined with very mild temperatures, led to the development of mildew with an impressive virulence. Fortunately, the weather improved dramatically under exceptional conditions.
The summer was hot and dry. The véraison began in the first week of August and allowed the process to catch up on the delay. In August and September, the sun was ideal, the nights were cool and there was not a drop of rain. All these conditions combined allowed an exceptional degree of maturity. Due to the low yield, the vine concentrated all its energy on the remaining bunches, leading to a tannic and aromatic concentration in the grapes rarely seen in the estate's past. Sorting was of paramount importance this year. The daily tastings during the winemaking process confirmed the incredible qualitative potential of the harvest. Each plot was exceptionally powerful and concentrated, which led us to make an unprecedented decision: that they would all be part of the final blend of Château Palmer. A vintage that will undoubtedly make history...
The grapes were harvested from September 13 through October 10. The wine is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot. With yields of just 11 hectoliters per hectare, Château Palmer produced only about a third of a normal harvest. There will be only about 6,000 bottles of Palmer in 2018. There will be no second wine this year. “But,” said Technical Director Thomas Duroux on the bright side, “in 1961 we only got 12 hectoliters per hectare.” The problem was powdery mildew during the first part of the growing season. It didn’t help that Palmer’s commitment to organic/biodynamic viticulture was simply not enough to prevent the latest wave of powdery mildew infections that hit after the rains of July 4. “The mildew was so aggressive this year,” sighed Duroux. “Even after the forests were closed, the mildew persisted. It was very difficult to deal with; there are no rules.” Fortunately, it became dry and warm soon after, which provided optimal conditions for the ripening of the rest of the harvest. “I have never seen such concentration and such depth in the ripening berries in my career. Our decision was to take our time. A very important factor was to harvest each plot with perfect phenolic ripeness. It took us more than a month to harvest just 600 hectoliters!” Duroux concluded our conversation by saying the following about the winemaking: “We had to be very careful with the extraction. The IPT in 2010 – a tannic vintage – was 65. This year it was 85. This is the most powerful Palmer ever.” The result is simply breathtaking, my perfume award for 2018 goes to Palmer".
The wine is deep purple-black in colour, the nose is a bit reserved at first, but with insistence it slowly emerges and shows violets, wood, bark and iron ore with exponentially growing notes of crème de cassis. Later follows black plum jam, hoisin, Christmas cake and red roses with hints of earth, spices and ground black pepper. Full, concentrated and downright powerful in the mouth, with a solid structure of firm, deliciously soft tannins and masses of fragrant accents, with a very long and very spicy finish. WOW!
FACT : In the Tab: Attachment you will find the official fact sheet of this beautiful wine. We will automatically send it to you when you order this wine. The wine is in our conditioned Wine Warehouse and if you come to collect the wine you will often also receive a nice discount. You will see the possible discount immediately if you choose Collection on the Checkout page. We are located almost next to the Rijksweg with plenty of parking. Click here for address.
Character
The wine
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Parker
The Wine Advocate
RP (97-99)
Reviewed by : Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The 2018 Palmer is composed of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot. Grapes were harvested September 13 to October 15, and the wine has a 3.83 pH and 14.3% alcohol. Very deep purple-black in color, the nose is a little reticent to begin, but with coaxing, it slowly emerges to show fragrant violets, underbrush, mossy bark and iron ore with exponentially growing notions of crème de cassis, Black Forest cake, plum preserves, hoisin, Christmas cake and red roses with wafts of dusty earth, Indian spices and cracked black pepper. Full-bodied, concentrated and downright powerful in the mouth, it has a solid structure of firm, wonderfully plush tannins and masses of fragrant accents, finishing very long and very spicy. By the time I finished tasting this, the nose had exploded in this fragrant bomb of fruit, earth and floral notions. This is one of those 2018 wines that has a beguiling brightness that comes from the many floral, spice and mineral accents among all that rich fruit. WOW!
With yields of just 11 hectoliters per hectare, Château Palmer produced only about one-third of a normal crop. There will only be around 6,000 cases of 2018 Palmer. There will be no second wine this year. “But,” Technical Director Thomas Duroux said, looking on the bright side, “in 1961 we did just 12 hectoliters per hectare.” The problem was mildew during the early part of the growing season. It didn’t help that Palmer is committed to organic/biodynamic viticulture, which in the end was simply not enough to stave off the final wave of mildew infection that struck after the July 4th rains. “Mildew was so aggressive this year,” Duroux sighed. “Even after the bunch closure, the mildew continued. It was very difficult to manage—there are no rules.” Fortunately, the weather turned dry and warm soon after this, offering optimum conditions for ripening the remainder of the crop. “I’ve never seen in my career such concentration and such depth in the ripening berries. Our decision was to take our time. A very important factor was to harvest each parcel at perfect phenolic ripeness. It took us over a month to harvest just 600 hectoliters!” Duroux finished our discussion by saying this about the winemaking: “We had to be very gentle with extraction. The IPT in 2010—a tannic vintage—was 65. This year it was 85. This is the most powerful Palmer ever.” The result is simply jaw dropping. My perfume award for 2018 goes to Palmer.
Published: Apr 23, 2019
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James Suckling
CHÂTEAU PALMER MARGAUX 2018
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Country : France
Region : Bordeaux
Vintage : 2018
Score : 98
Complex nose of black cherries, blackberries, dark chocolate and floral undertones with perfume-like character. It’s full-bodied with firm tannins. Elegant on the palate with structure. Savory and balanced, complex and layered. Long finish. Really lingers. This has really evolved into a beautiful white swan after a difficult debut from barrel! Tiny production. only 11 hectoliters per hectare. Try after 2024.
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Wine Spectator
No written review available.
Vinous
100
Drinking Window : 2030 - 2070
From: The Future’s Definitely Not What It Was: Bordeaux 2018 (Mar 2021)
The 2018 Palmer is a legend in the making. I had an inkling out of barrel, but such was its intensity that I wanted to assess it in bottle before I felt confident in saying so, because this could have gone either way. It storms from the glass with black fruit and floral scents, crushed violet and incense that knock your senses sideways while retaining brilliant delineation and focus. The palate is not quite as bold and brassy as when I tasted it from barrel, though I can vouchsafe that among over 20 vintages of Palmer that I have tasted at this stage, this is easily the most extroverted and powerful, displaying a kind of millefeuille of intense black fruit counterpoised by a razor-sharp line of acidity. This audacious Palmer was still revving its engines 48 hours after opening. There will never be another Palmer like this, sui generis. It was a massive risk. But by throwing caution to the wind, something extraordinary was born.
- By Neal Martin on January 2021
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- Troisième Grand Cru Classé en 1855
Château Palmer is located in the heart of the Margaux appellation in the Bordeaux wine region. The 66 hectares of vineyards have a gravel soil and the vines overlook the Gironde River. The area with its rich ancient history and nourishing microclimate is a fantastic environment for the vines. Here they can flourish and grow under the passionate care of the people of Château Palmer. Behind every great wine is a great terroir. This is also the case at Château Palmer, which is located on a long strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde. The land is well drained, rich in the deposits of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers. It is difficult soil for agriculture, but exceptional for grapes. Of course, the vines also need good care in order to perform optimally. And that is certainly entrusted to the employees of Château Palmer! Full of passion and love for the vines, they cultivate the demanding terroir. The people of this winery are more than just colleagues. Together they embrace the common core values of Château Palmer and are therefore extremely dynamic, curious, passionate, open-minded and determined. In short, they live for and with the vineyards.
Diep paars en vol van geur met geconcentreerde donkere besvruchten zoals cassis en zwarte pruim, bloemige tonen van viooltjes, complexe aarde- en kruidigheid met toetsen van hoisin, donkere chocolade en stevig maar soepel tanninewerk dat eindigt in een lange, uitgesproken afdronk. Dankzij die rijke fruitconcentratie, strakke zuurgraad en stevige tannines vormt deze Château Palmer 2018 een perfecte tegenhanger voor rood vlees, lam, wild en hartige stoofschotels; hij snijdt door vettigheid heen en accentueert geroosterde en umami-rijke smaken, vooral bij langzaam gegaarde bereidingen zoals langzaam gestoofd rundvlees, gegrild lamsrack met rozemarijn of wildhaas met donkere saus, waarbij zwarte peper, gerookte of gekarameliseerde elementen en reducties de harmonie nog verder versterken.
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