CHÂTEAU PALMER

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. Drinking range: 2024 - Rating: 98 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Jan 2021)

Remarkably concentrated, this nearly oozes fruit, with waves of cassis, plum reduction and warmed cherry preserves on full display, all carried by a dense yet polished and seamlessly embedded structure. A backdrop of violet, lilac and pastis accents add to the nearly enveloping feel, and yet with all that depth and concentration, this is a vibrant, pure expression, thanks in part to a riveting iron spine through the finish. A standout in many ways in this vintage. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2028 through 2040. Drinking range: 2028 - 2040 Rating: 98 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Jan 2021)

A massive beast of a wine, the 2018 Palmer checks in as a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 7% Petit Verdot that comes from mildew decimated yields of 11 hectoliters per hectare. The vineyard manager commented that he had never seen conditions so favorable for mildew during the spring, and with the estate holding fast to their biodynamic viticulture, the result was a loss of over 70% of the normal production. Unsurprisingly, with barely any grapes to go around, no Alter Ego was produced. The 2018 reveals a saturated plum/purple color as well as a dense, full-bodied style that carries loads of plum, blackberry, and currant fruits as well as notes of scorched earth and graphite. The tiny yields certainly resulted in a massive, concentrated wine (it has the highest IPT ever recorded at the domaine), yet it lacks the purity and precision as well as weightless style of both the 2015 and 2016 at this point. Regardless, it's one thrilling, singular mouthful of a Palmer that has masses of ripe tannins, terrific balance, and a blockbuster finish. It's going to require upwards of a decade of bottle age and should live for just about forever. Rating: 95-97 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2019)

Black with barely a purple rim. Intense, concentrated cassis and blackberry, super-ripe but absolutely not overripe, a little bit of alcohol on the nose, lightly floral even with all this concentration. Very dark, almost a little tarry, black olive. Dark and rocky. On the palate, incredible concentration and density but with no thickness or astringency. So dense but so clean-lined and precise. Tannins are dry and compact but smooth and there’s an amazing freshness that seems to come from the compact tannins. And your mouth feels clean on the finish. So moreish even though at the moment you would have to take small sips. Great finesse to the texture even in such a big wine. Dark, dark and savoury on the finish. No sweetness even though the fruit is pure and ripe. Drinking range: 2028 - 2045 Rating: 18.5 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2019)

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! Rating: 97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Apr 2019)

It is the essence of cabernet fruit with density that is so thick that it has the texture of grape puree. Full body and melted tannins that give the wine a sense of velvet. Very soft and juicy. With air, it goes to bright, crushed black currants. Tar. Fresh tannins give it energy. I have never tasted anything like this in all my 38 years as a wine critic in Bordeaux. From tiny berries of cabernet sauvignon (53 per cent), 40 per cent merlot and seven per cent petit verdot. Rating: 94-95 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2019)

Thomas Duroux believes the 2018 vintage will be a landmark vintage for Palmer, and it is not hard to see why. The yields here, after a devastating attack of July mildew, were just 11 hl/ha, "equivalent to just one bunch per vine", he says. The picking began on September 13th, and it proceeded in a very calm fashion, parcel-by-parcel, picking only the bunches with perfect phenolic ripeness. It came to an end on October 15th. The various aliquots eligible for the grand vin were all of such high quality that they pretty much all went into this wine, and the eventual assemblage was 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 40% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot, and this left just a little Cabernet and Petit Verdot outside the blend. This was not sufficient to build a blend for the second wine, so it was sold off, and there is no Alter Ego in the 2018 vintage. The alcohol, despite the strong contribution from Merlot, is 14.3%, while the pH is 3.83. The sample is dark and shimmering as always, and the aroma fills the room from the glass. It is very fresh, aromatic and expressive, with dark and perfumed fruits, all black cherry, black rose petals, peonies, smoked black olives, with a lovely cherry softness. It is a truly dense Palmer on the palate, bold and broad, with amazing concentration and substance, but also a surging energy and acid freshness, while the tannic structure remains firmly wrapped up in the substance of the wine. It possesses an incredible energy though, and a fine length too. A very complete style overall, a fine balance of tightly grained tannic power and also precision, frame and flavour. This is so impressive, a really smart Palmer, with more power and substance but perhaps less haunting perfume than in some vintages. But I think in ten or twenty years time it is that structure which will matter. Should it have a higher score? Possibly. Rating: 95-97 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2019)

Dense and concentrated, this is a powerfully rich wine. It has a velvet texture that masks the tannins, which are solid, precise and impressive in structure. It is a great wine that comes from a very low-yield crop and it will age quite well. Rating: 98 Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast www.winemag.com (Apr 2019)

Possibly the most talked about estate in the vintage, with its mildew-induced 11hl/ha yields making waves all the way back at harvest time. They made it through though, and have made an exceptional wine that will clearly be discussed and enjoyed for years to come. There's no denying that the yields have had an impact - even in the colour you see a rich, velvety density with the violet edging that suggests a good pH (it's 3.83, so a touch higher than usual). There is a stunning sweetness to the cassis and bilberry fruits, and it retains the finesse and floral aromatics of Palmer even with the concentration, complexity and depth on show here. It also has the signature of the vintage, and despite the volume of tannins it feels silky and seductive, and you wonder if it will close down at all. This certainly has a long life ahead of it. Sadly there is no Alter Ego in 2018, for the first time since it was created in 1998, with the production of the grand vin down by about 50% on a normal year. Harvest ran from 13 September to 15 October, and 90% of production went into the grand vin due to the low yields. No sulphur was added to the fruit until after malo, and it is aged in 70% new oak, already barely discernible. Thomas Duroux said, by the way, that if mildew pressure happened again to this extent, he would treat despite his strong commitment to biodynamics. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Drinking range: 2028 - 2044 Rating: 98-100 Jane Anson, Decanter (Mar 2019)