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  • Country ranking ?

    666
  • Producer ranking ?

    18
  • Decanting time

    5h
  • When to drink

    from 2020
  • Food Pairing

    Skirt Steak with Pomegranate Sauce

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The 2014 Palmer builds on the promise that it showed in barrel. It is clearly a more understated and nuanced Palmer from winemaker Thomas Duroux this year, but a Margaux with exquisite delineation and precision, hints of blackberry, boysenberry and a touch of pencil box. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannin. It feels supple and lithe in the mouth. It will not have the depth and power of the subsequent 2015 Palmer, yet the 'flow' is very sensual and the Merlot (45% of the blend) just lends it roundness and a caressing texture. What a beautiful Margaux and I bet it will be deceptively long-lived.

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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. 

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Wine Information

In 1814, General Charles Palmer purchased the wine estate of Madame de Gascq, and subsequently gave it his name. Two hundred years later, Château Palmer continues to write its own history from one vintage to the next. 


Early in the summer, the sun had played and endless game of hide-and-seek. But when the 2014 harvest ended on Tuesday, October 14, it was under the same glorious sun that we had enjoyed all throughout September.
Everything had started quite well: a rainy winter had allowed the estate to renew its water reserves. In the spring, flowering went well, despite a few cases of poor fruit set among the older Merlots. At this point, we had high hopes for the quality of this new vintage.
But beginning in July, the weather became unstable and the vines focused on their fine foliage, to the detriment of their grapes. The month of August wasn't much better, veraison was slow and the berries began to swell . . .


Luckily the sun finally returned at the end of August. Little by little, September’s extraordinary weather conditions modified the profile of the 2014 vintage. The difference in veraison between the vines diminished and the size of the berries decreased, concentrating all the elements that make up this new vintage: sugar, anthocyanin and tannin levels all increased.
On September 22, we harvested the first plot, beginning with some young Merlots. The particularly good weather allowed us to harvest perfectly ripe grapes, with no risk of botrytis.
In the cellar, the spotlight was on innovation. After two years of experiments in reducing the level of sulfur in our wines, we decided to not add any sulfur to the harvested grapes to let them immediately express their complexity.
At this stage the wines of the 2014 vintage are an excellent reflection of the diversity of the estate’s plots. Each personality is expressed in these two blends as if a veil had been lifted. It is without a doubt one of the first results of our biodynamic approach.


Harvest dates: from 09/22/2014 to 10/14/2014

Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon: 49%
Merlot: 45%
Petit Verdot: 6%

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Vintage 2014

Bordeaux Vintage 2014 - is not a great vintage like 2005, 2009 or 2010 but it will be able to secure a position as one of the very good vintages of Bordeaux.

Generally scheduled between the end of March and the beginning of April, Primeur Week in Bordeaux is always an exciting time because it allows a first glimpse of the latest vintage. The sheer number of wines available for tasting is impressive and a week almost seems short. This is why the Union de Grands Crus offers a well-organized blind tasting for the press every morning of the week. The previous weekend, the Grand Cercle des vins de Bordeaux organizes blind tastings of more than 200 samples. These impressions are supplemented by tastings in different Châteaux and tastings organized by the Bordeaux trade. Therefore, some wines may be tasted twice or even more often during this week to check quality and style.

 

An interesting fact is the weather situation. Low weather pressure means wines can close, while high weather pressure presents wines in a more open and flavorful style. This year the wheat was pretty bad during the first few days of the tasting week, but improved a lot in the second half of the week. This had an influence on the tasting notes in general which must be taken into account. Another effect was the late harvest in 2014, which shortened the period between harvest and early tastings by up to a month. A month less time for maturation has effects on the tasting results, which is another aspect to consider, always keeping in mind that each tasting result remains a snapshot and is not an absolute judgment and definitive.

 

The year 2014 started early with bud burst about 10 days before the average of the last 10 years. At the end of May, flowering began on the first terroirs in heterogeneous conditions, while the later grape varieties such as Cabernet-Sauvignon and Franc as well as the later terroirs benefited from a warm and sunny period at the beginning of June. July and August were quite cool and wet and in the second half of August the winegrowers prepared for an even worse vintage than 2013 but at the end of August everything changed. A splendid Indian summer in September and October saved the quality. The harvest began for the white grapes three days later than in 2012 but two weeks later than in 2011. For the red grapes, the harvest began with the Merlot at the end of September and ended with the Cabernets in the second fortnight of October. The cool climate during summer provides higher acidity, the Indian summer is responsible for good ripening.

 

The dry white wines are of very good quality showing crisp acidity and ripe flavors. Noble sweet white wines also benefit from the higher acidity balancing the opulent sweetness. Therefore, this vintage looks more elegant. The presentation of red wines depends a lot on the grape varieties and terroirs. Overall, the red wines are at a higher level of quality than the previous three vintages. Saint-Emilion is excellent on the limestone plateau and generally shows very good wines.

In Pomerol, the center of the plateau was advantageous over the surrounding areas. Fronsac was a very positive surprise for 2014. In the Médoc, the southern part turned out to be more heterogeneous than the northern part, where especially Saint-Estèphe was homogeneous and excellent. South of Bordeaux, Pessac-Léognan presented a very homogeneous image of a very good level of quality with exceptional wines from Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion.

One final observation: this vintage digests oak wonderfully. Oak is not even evident in wines with 100% new oak barrels for maturation. Now there are about twelve months left for the maturation of the 2014s until bottling in 2016. A lot can happen during this period. Let's see how the wines will present themselves after bottling, it will again be a very interesting tasting. 2014 is not a great vintage like 2005, 2009 or 2010 but it will be able to secure a position as one of the very good vintages of Bordeaux.

by Markus del Monego MW

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Tasting note

color

Deep

ending

Long, Round and Pure

nose

Wide, Fresh, Ripe and Seductive

taste

High in Acidity, Warming, Medium tannin, Concentrated, Well-structured, Youthful, Vigor, Toasty and Fragrant

Verdict

Exotic and Well-rounded

Written Notes

Deep colour. Intense blackcurrant pastille, herb. mocha aromas. Powerful and expressive with plentiful al dente tannins and piercing acidity, yet rounded soft blackcurrant fruits. Finishes chalky dry, long and tangy. Built for the medium to long haul. Impressive wine. 97 points

  • 97p

Ruby. Blueberries, fruity, some anise and spices, nuanced, bit tight, another slightly reductive Margaux. They need serious decanting at this stage. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, fruity, anise, some spices, fresh, nunaced, bit leaner body, refreshing, detailed, long. 95

  • 95p

Big wine but still showing aristocratic touch, high acidity, strong structure, excellent depth, richness and long meaty finish.

  • 96p
2014 Palmer - Espresso bean, truffle, floral, plum and earthy scents pop quickly as your nose meets the glass. A polished and elegant debutante wrapped in a gown of velvety tannins, this wine is fresh, clean and pure leaving you with a sensuous drape of lingering fruits. This wine is the first fully biodynamic vintage for the chateau. Produced from a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, the reached 13.5 alcohol with a pH of 3.6. It represents 55% of the harvest, which took place between September 22 and October 14. 94-95 Pts
  • 94p
Dark purple red with violet hue and almost black centre. Well structured and quite elegant nose with persistant character, dark berries, mild spices and hints of minerality. On the palate well structured with good weight and length, firm but balaned tannins, long lingering fruit in the finish, hints of toasted flavours in the aftertaste. A wine with excellent potential.
  • 95p
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Information

Origin

Margaux, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

No Potential

Fake factory

None
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