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2012 CHÂTEAU PALMER 3ème Cru Classé Margaux, Lea & Sandeman

CHÂTEAU PALMER

2012 3ème Cru Classé Margaux

Grapes Petit Verdot, Cab Sauv, Merlot
Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
District Left Bank
Sub-district Haut Médoc
Village Margaux
Classification 3ème Cru Classé
ABV 13.5%

48% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot. On first impression you'd assume this had much more Cabernet than the Alter Ego - but it's only 6% more. A tighter weave, pencil box, spice, generous fruit and fine tannins. Finishes well if not particulalry long with a hint of damson. Lovely wine. Rating: 93 L&S (Apr 2013)


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The 2012 Palmer has a more backward bouquet than the 2008 Alter Ego, quite Pauillac-like in style with graphite infused black fruit. Commendable freshness and focus, though not powerful in style. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins, fine acidity, silky smooth with a clean and precise finish; white pepper and tobacco linger on the aftertaste. Curiously, a second bottle at the Bordeaux Index tasting displayed a slight greenness on the aftertaste that prompts me to be cautious with my score. Perhaps that will assimilate with time? Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Sept 2022)

The annual release of 10 year old Château Palmer, and this time it's an often-underrated but delicious vintage that sits in the shadow of the most prestigious years of the last decade. Proof of how slowly this wine ages, it is packed with blueberry and cassis fruits, a shot of mint leaf, mandarin peel, sage and dark chocolate, with shoulders and a serious architecture, bigger than you might expect for a vintage with such an easy-drinking, gourmet reputation. I last tasted this vintage around eight months ago and it has opened up further since then, often the case as wines shift around the decade mark, and this is an upscore. A moment when Palmer was fully committing to farming biodynamically, doubling its coverage to almost 15 hectares, and had just unveiled a new cellar. Harvest October 1 to 15, Sabrina Pernet technical director, Thomas Duroux director. 68% new oak. No rush to drink, and has many decades ahead, but you can begin thinking about it. Drinking range: 2023 - 2042 Rating: 95 Jane Anson, Decanter (Aug 2022)

Bitter black chocolate, grilled rosemary and cedar and smoked earth, there is momentum and life through the palate, a Palmer that has succulence and pleasure and will be ready to drink now and over the next few decades, providing a welcome pause in the vintages that need long cellaring. It has persistency and gentle cinammon and sage spice. Low yields, around 28hl/h. Harvest October 1 to 15, 60% new oak. Rating: 93 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (Mar 2022)

Château Palmer

Margaux Troisième cru 1855 What is now Château Palmer was originally part of a larger Château d'Issan but was divided among heirs and came into the ownership of the Gascq family in 1748. The widow of the last of the Gascqs, in 1814, and apparently having met him on a stagecoach, sold the estate to an Englishman, General Charles Palmer, and Château de Gascq became Château Palmer. He extended the estate and built quite a reputation for his wines (especially in London) but financial difficulties forced him to sell up in 1843 and, by the time of the 1855 classification, the reputation of Château Palmer had slipped sufficiently to rate "only" 3rd Growth status - a status it has exceded for most of its subsequent history. The present château was built at the end of the 1850's. In 1938 the Société Civile de Château Palmer was formed to take ownership of the estate, with the Sichel and Mähler-Besse families as leading shareholders, a situation which persists to this day. Château Palmer sits between Margaux and Cantenac, just east of Issan. The 55ha of vines are planted to 47% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with the balance being Petit Verdot. The Grand Vin spends 21 months in wood (45% new). The second wine is Alter Ego de Château Palmer. In the best years of General Palmer's reign, the wines of Château Palmer were regarded on a par with those of Château Margaux and, indeed, during the worst years of the 1960's Palmer probably had a better reputation. Today, despite huge improvements by its neighbours, Palmer sits very squarely as the leading Margaux estate that isn't actually Château Margaux.

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