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Wine Description
The Story
Palmer and its Alter Ego are two nuanced expressions of the Château Palmer terroir, two interpretations of the variations offered by the climatic conditions of the vintage. These variations can be likened, in music, to symphonic pieces and their jazz adaptations, in the visual arts, to a classic painting and a contemporary rendering of the same subject, and, in literature, to an epic narrative in alexandrine verse and a prose poem.
Alter Ego was born with the 1998 vintage. It resulted from a new approach to selecting and blending devised to interpret the Château Palmer terroir differently without departing from the values that make the reputation of our wines – namely, finesse and elegance, aromatic richness, harmony and length.
Offering intense, crispy and juicy fruits, Alter Ego is a spontaneous uninhibited wine, soft and round as soon as it has finished barrel ageing. Its lush aromas and supple tannins make it a wine that can be appreciated in the first years after bottling.
At the end of the summer, the slowly maturing berries are regularly tasted to evaluate their potential. We pay attention to the taste of the grape, the thickness of the skin, and the resistance of the seed. By this time we already have a sense of what the wines will be like. We are looking for lush grapes for Alter Ego that will release the aromas of fresh fruit. Harvesting and vinification decisions are made based on the idea that we have of the Château Palmer and Alter Ego style. Final blend tastings usually come to confirm our intuitions. The batches chosen for Alter Ego are then blended and put into barrels to age for 18 months. The fruitiness and aromatic intensity are preserved by the use of a moderate percentage of new oak barrels (25 to 40%).
Wine Information
Characteristics of the vintage
The growth cycle got off to a good start in March after an especially mild (2-3°C warmer than average) and wet (it rained two days out of three from October to March.) winter. Fortunately, the fairly cool weather in April eliminated the risk of mildew. Thanks to mild, very dry weather, flowering took place quickly and evenly in May and June, mid-flowering on June 2nd. After a cool and particularly rainy month of July, the véraison occured without any problems before a major storm hit on August 15th (peak véraison took place on August 9th). The month of August was hot, but not excessively so. It was once again cool in September (2°C less than average). The grapes were ideally ripe and healthy on the eve of the harvest. Sugar levels were high – greater than 2000 and similar to 1999. Even though the summer of 2001 was not tremendously dry – which led to a lower concentration of phenolic compounds than the previous year – levels were very good, higher than in 1999. The Merlot grapes were picked at 13-14° potential alcohol, producing fruity, rich, and generous wine. The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes came in at 11.5-12.2°, and wine made from them has enormous finesse and very pure tannins. This blending of the 3 varietals has created a rich and subtle vintage, an almost perfect expression of the Palmer style.
Harvest dates: from 09/29/2001 to 10/11/2001
Blend
Merlot: 67%
Cabernet Sauvignon: 33%
Ageing potential
2015. To drink now.
Tasting
Brilliant and luminous, with an intense ruby color.
The bouquet first gives us aromas of red fruits (raspberries and cherries) followed by woody notes, fresh mint, musk and, after aeration, notes of face powder and violets.
From the outset, there is a delicious fruitiness, a smooth and round framework of tannins, supported by a delightful freshness. We find ourselves before an extremely elegant wine, well constructed, imposing a direct and upright presence. Its tenacity, well controlled, confirms the balance of the components and a refined quality texture. The wine leaves us enjoying voluptuous notes of fresh blackberries.
This fruity richness of this 2001 will be at its best (after having been decanted) before 2015.
Press Review
winereviewonline.com, Michael Apstein, 03/01/2006
« Despite the dominance of Merlot, the 2001 remains slightly hard and not yet ready to drink. But the balance is there, and the haunting aroma and lingering finish suggests it will continue to evolve nicely over the next several years. »
ChinaDaily, Maggie Beale, 05/01/2005
« the 2001 vintage is subtle, smooth and balanced. The sensual bouquet gives hints of those wonderful candied fruits the French make for celebrations. »
The Vine, Clive Coates, 04/01/2004
« Medium-full colour. The tannins are quite round but a little dry at the end on the nose. Ripe, almost sweet. Medium body. A slight hardness at the end. Quite good. »
Carnets de dégustation, Jean-Marc Quarin, 05/01/2003
« Le 2001 a tenu ses promesses depuis les primeurs l'an dernier. Sa coloration est normale, son nez fruité. La bouche caressante, ronde et affriolante offre un plaisir inénarrable. Finale séveuse et finement boisée. Ne pas hésiter à le goûter jeune. »
La Revue du Vin de France, 05/01/2002
« Encore une fois, il justifie parfaitement son nom, car c'est un vin très proche de Palmer par sa finesse de texture, sa rondeur charmeuse et la race de son fruit: un second vin qui vaut beaucoup de premiers ... »
Vinifera, Jacques Perrin, 05/01/2002
« Cette année, l'Alter Ego représente 36 % de la récolte et l'assemblage est identique au 2000. Le nez offre une bonne intensité sur des nuances de fruits mûrs et d'épices douces.
Bouche assez souple, délicatement satinée dans sa texture et qui révèle une chair gourmande aux notes de violette.
Finale d'une longueur moyenne.
»
Weinwisser, René Gabriel, 05/01/2002
« Mittleres, leuchtendes Rubin mit lila Reflexen. Erdiges Bouquet, Tabak, unreife Pfaumen, tintige Aromen. Im Gaumen Zwetschgenschalen, Teernoten, viel Terroir, wenig primäre Frucht, recht gehaltvoller Körper. »
Wine Magazine, 05/01/2002
« "Generous, raspberry fruit with a touch of oak on the nose. There's a hint of grassiness to the palate, but enough silky, raspberry fruit balance and length to make this very enjoyable." CM »
Carnets de dégustation, Jean-Marc Quarin, 03/01/2002
« Régulièrement bon depuis sa jeune existence. Du goût. »
Gault & Millau, Bernard Burtschy, 03/01/2002
« Les arômes de cassis et de cerise sont très purs et la bouche, souple et gourmande, révèle un fruit superbe. La finale de fraise et de framboise est soyeuse, ce qui en fait un vin de friand tout en fruit avec de beaux tannins fins. »
Vins & Vignobles, D. Cobbold, 03/01/2002
« Le nez est attrayant avec des arômes fins. En bouche, le vin possède un très bon fruit, tendre et vivace. Il est lisse et souple, parfait pour un second vin qui doit être bu assez jeune. »
Decanter, 12/01/2001
« Lots of cassis fruit, oak showing, a lovely smooth wine with succulent fruit. very attractive drinking in the short term. »
Carnets de dégustation, Bettane & Desseauve, 03/01/2001
« Alter Ego représente 36% de la récolte du Château Palmer, le grand vin constituant la moitié d'icelle. Encore une fois (et comme toujours depuis la création de ce vin), il justifie parfaitement son nom, car c'est un vin très proche de Palmer par sa finesse de texture, sa rondeur charmeuse et la race de son fruit: un second vin qui vaut beaucoup de premiers... »
Vintage 2001
Bordeaux / The year 2001 is known as the year of the winegrowers. The whole of Bordeaux suffered from a lot of rain and the resulting noble rot. Sauternes has been producing its best wines for decades, and there is good reason to talk about the Sauternes revolution. The best wine of the year is clearly Yquem. Parker's hundred-point Yquem sold for 300 euros en primeur, and today the price is 600 euros per bottle.
For red wines, the year was difficult. Cabernet Sauvignon, thanks to its thicker skin, did better than Merlot. The cold, rainy and cloudy growing period caused the grapes to ripen too slowly. The areas had to work more intensively. The grapes were rather small and produced concentrated wines. Latour can be considered the best buy. Good buys also include Ausone, Pétrus and Le Pin.
Sauternes Vintage Report: Rapid appearance of botrytis on ripe grapes, rich in sugar. Ideal October: brief rainstorms, high temperatures, windy and sunny afternoons. Very sweet but balanced wines with pronounced noble rot and remarkable complexity. A memorable year and very uniform success for all liqueurs.
