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Wine Description
The Story
Vintage after vintage, the wines of Château Palmer express our vision of an exceptional wine. We believe that it is born of the mysterious trilogy – terroir, history, memory – and all of our efforts are concentrated on bringing it into the world. Distinction, high standards and commitment are the values that guide every choice we make from the vineyard to the table where the wine is served.
Knowing
Knowing your terroir, your grapes, and your wines – this is a threefold enterprise of patient observation. What seems to be a given is in fact a matter of exacting standards at every moment. To know the terroir you have to become intimately familiar with it. We strive to know the grape variety, subsoil, and exposure of each and every plot but also of each and every row within the plot, as we regard every vine as a unique individual. To know our grapes well, we closely monitor their development until maturity. To know our wines, we taste the batches, the vats, the barrels, and the bottles again and again.
Understanding
Progress in œnology has provided us with insight into the development of wines. Progress in agronomy has given us a better understanding of the life of our vineyards. This makes for more precision in our interventions as much in the winery as in the vineyards. Applying the best technical innovations in a spirit of reconciliation between science and craftsmanship, we use all relevant means to reveal the unique character of the Palmer terroir with each new vintage.
Creating
With the grapes that nature offers us, our job is to create the best possible wine. Is this craftsmanship or artistry? No doubt both. Like skilled craftspeople that love their trade, we select and blend the batches with meticulous care. And like artists, we let ourselves be swept away by the work that is born, as it imposes itself upon our will, surprises, amazes and transcends us.
Kindling desire
Ultimately our goal is to make Château Palmer wines as desirable as can be. To achieve this, everything we do, whether we work in the vineyard, the winery, or in the offices, is informed by high standards and a sense of detail Nothing is left to chance, not the choice of paper for a label, or that of an etching for the wood crates, or of a theme for a reception.
Wine Information
An exceptionally hot and dry April give to the vines a ten-day head start on their usual growth. But from the end of April until the end of August, the weather was generally cool and damp. The flowering took place during a period of beautiful, sunny and dry weather but was prolonged due to the cool and rainy weather that following .
The ripening conditions for the grapes were a constant source of stress. From mid-June through July, we removed of secondary shoots and bunch thinning which allowed us to maintain a good aeration in the clusters. The weather remained cool at the end of July, so we responded in most areas of the vineyard by painstakingly thinning the leaves around the clusters, letting the berries enjoy a maximum exposure to sunlight.
A the end of August, our first tastings of the grapes showed that they already had an excellent aromatic potential. September began with the arrival of an east wind that concentrated the berries and accelerated their ripening. The harvest began on the first parcels of Merlot on September 20th, following three weeks of beautiful weather, with cool mornings and mild, sunny afternoons.
Harvest dates: from 09/20/2007 to 10/02/2007
Blend
Merlot: 49%
Cabernet Sauvignon: 44%
Petit Verdot: 7%
Ageing potential
2012-2024
Tasting
Tasting notes from Enrico Bernardo, 12/01/2011:
Intense ruby-red with deep purple highlights.
Nose with hints of vanilla, raspberry, redcurrant, and bay leaf, with understated oak.
Beautiful balance between alcohol and tannin on the palate. Concentrated with rich tannin and attractive freshness.
Warm, generous aftertaste. Deserves further ageing in order for the alcohol and tannin to integrate into the structure.
Press Review
The Wolrd of Fine Wine, Michael Schuster, 12/20/2011
« Fine, sweet, ripe-fruit nose, which should make a lovely bouquet: nicely balanced, fresh, moderately rich middleweight, with a fine dry tannin frame: sweet, generous fruit, with notable complexity fot the vintage: ripe, minerally and long across the palate, but with a firmness of tannin that will need some time in bottle to mellow, an excellent, mineral-infused length. »
The Wolrd of Fine Wine, Michel Bettane, 12/20/2011
« Really my style of nose: great delicacy and great intricacy between cedar, leather and pepper. A noble texture and great finish. One of the most promising wines of the vintage. »
Wine Journal erobertparker.com, Neal Martin, 10/20/2011
« Tasted blind at the 2007 Bordeaux horizontal in Southwold. The Palmer 2007 has a very fine bouquet with macerated dark cherries, loganberry, cedar and a touch of graphite. Very good definition and lift. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent tannins, some lovely ripe Merlot lending corpulence and lushness, though without compromising structure. The breeding is evident here and it represents one of the finest wines of the appellation this year. »
La Revue du Vin de France n°548, Olivier Poels, 07/01/2010
« Le vin séduit par sa belle rondeur et son côté souple et en même temps très gourmand. Ample et de bonne constitution, avec une expression juteuse du fruit, il est délicieux aujourd\'hui. »
Beverage Media, Roger Morris, 04/01/2008
« Beautiful Cabernet nose, good structure and length, dark cassis and walnut flavors. »
Decanter, Steven Spurrier, 04/01/2008
« Black-red. Lovely, very rich concentration of velvety, spicy fruit with great depth but not over-extraction. Impressive persistence with good density of tannins to back it up. »
