Chateau Palmer redux (long)

[Comte Flaneur]

MEK treated me to a Chateau Palmer dinner last night at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge (surprisingly the dinner was very reasonably priced). The chateau was represented by Chris who is their representative for Europe and the Middle East. Fortuitously we were sat next to him rather than the sommelier because (unlike his sparring partner) Chris turned out to be a fountain of interesting factoids.

Chateau Palmer went fully biodynamic in 2014, and is among the handful of estates pioneering this approach, led of course by Pontet-Canet, and including Climens. As you know. The justification is that chemicals have only been used for 40 of the 2000 years of the vineyard’s history, and if the estate continues to use chemicals the soil will eventually die. Clearly the estate had aspirations in that direction for some time because the grapes used to be picked by 15 and 16 year old Danish school girls until that was ruled discriminatory. In the Margaux appellation Ferriere and Duforts-Vivens are going down the biodynamic route. A lot of vine workers are going down with cancer related to spraying of chemicals...expect a lot of law suits on this over the coming years. 

Chateau Palmer has five wines and we tried four of them:

Vin Blanc de Palmer – production is only 2000 bottles a year, of which 1000 are kept back at the estate. The remainder are distributed by the estate. Thomas Duroux planted five white varities: sauvignon blanc, sauvignon gris, Semillon, muscadelle and lauzet. The latter grape is not permitted in the appellation so any wines made with lauzet becomes Vin de France (formerly known as vin de table).

The first vintage of VBdP was 2007. The 2014 which we tried was IIRC one third each of Semillon, sauvignon blanc and sauvignon gris. This was vibrant, with decent fruit but still a bit tight. Given its rarity the price is astronomical.

Alter Ego – normally production is 12k cases. We tried the 2011 which had 15% petit verdot in the blend, and where production was severely curtailed by hail in early June and scorching weather in July. Chris of course insisted that Alter Ego is not a second wine, but an alternate one. It is intended for consumption between age 5-15, a much earlier drinking window than the GV. Chris pointed out that the old second wine, Reserve du General, which was discontinued in 1997, was the 10% of the production that didn’t go into Chateau Palmer. These days the 90% is roughly equally distributed between the GV and Alter Ego, with the remaining 10% (which used to go into RdG) being sold off as generic wine. He directly compared the relationship of Clos Du Marquis (no longer deemed a second wine) with the LLC GV.

This is the second time I have tried the 2011 AE - the first time was at the estate a year ago – and I found it underwhelming, and a bit too young. It should evolve into a pleasant quaffer but nothing more serious than that. It would be interesting to try the 1998, the first vintage of AE. At the end of the tasting we were served out of a Jereboam Alter Ego 2009, which had an impressive core of ripe exuberant cassis fruit and was a tad hot on the finish. It was better than the 2011 but there are plenty more interesting wines to go chasing at that price point. 

Chateau Palmer – after the Alter Ego 2011 we stepped up to the 2007 Grand Vin, and a big step up it was too. It was a difficult vintage weather wise, especially as the rain always fell at the wrong time. So it fell into the category of a "complicated" vintage rather than a "good/great" vintage. The 2007 Chateau Palmer had an alluring nose of ripe vine tomatoes and a palate characterised by soil and tobacco notes. An utterly charming wine which has proved to be a knockout on the restaurant circuit and for certain Middle Eastern airlines. The chateau has very little left. By the way Palmer sells a lot of wine in the ME, and more in Japan than in China. 

Chateau Palmer now has an aggressive pricing strategy because the proprietors feel they are making great wine (agreed), which is now on a par with Chateau Margaux (hmmm...) but expect Palmer to be priced comfortably above Leoville-Lascases, for example, going forward. Talking of LLC, Chris was adamant that Palmer does not use reverse osmosis. He even looked me in the eye. Whether they have the means is a slightly different question but I am prepared to take him at his word. 

Next up we had a pairing of the 1989 and the 1999 Grand Vin, both top notch vintages. The 1989 was quite subdued but had an underlying class and finesse that was almost captivating. Clearly this is a wine where the best is yet to come and it could emerge into one of the very great Palmers. People round the table were surprised 1. How good the 1999 was and 2. How backward it was for a 1999. I wasn't. Last night it was showing a bit more than the 1989. How does it compare to the 1999 Chateau Margaux? I would give the Margaux the nod because it has extra layers of Delphic complexity. Very happy to own both, however.

The next wine, as I anticipated, was the Historique. I tried the 2004 in Connecticut, and I concluded this is a marketing gimmick. But there is a history behind this when Thomas Douroux visited a Californian collector just after he took over the estate in 2004 and was treated to a Palmer from 1869 with Hermitage added. So TD impulsively decided to make a 'historical blend' with 10-20% Syrah sourced from the hill of Hermitage, but he won't reveal exactly where exactly from. Whereas I was disparaging about the 2004 I think the 2013 works rather well with Hermitage. I didn't catch if there was merlot in the blend. I assume so. Duroux made historical in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2013.

[JCNorthway]

Great notes from a very nice tasting evening. Glad to hear more reinforcement about the 1999 Palmer. I'm sitting on just two bottles and trying to keep them hidden a few more years.

[AKR]

Very interesting color. Thanks for sharing.

[stefan]

Very interesting report, Ian. Thanks!

[JimHow]

Happy birthday old man, say hi to MEK for us.

[dstgolf]

Sounds like a grand birthday celebration. I understand adding the Hermitage to the mix in weak vintages to add backbone/structure as they did years ago in Bordeaux adding Syrah. Not sure why they felt they needed extra power in 2010. Would be interested in trying it though.

Nice story once again and look forward to the next episode.

[Nicklasss]

Nice summary and of course happy birthday.

I never bought any bottle of Chateau Palmer. In the past, i was near buying a few bottles of the 1989, but never did it.

I have enjoyed every Chateau Palmer that other wine lovers poored for me. The 1983 is probably my favorite, and one of the top red Bordeaux I had.

Nic

[AlexR]

Hi Ian

Chris told you: "Alter Ego is not a second wine, but an alternate one". What in the name of Zeus does THAT mean? I think you need to be a Jesuit priest or an expensive lawyer to follow that sort of reasoning.

I have one bottle of the 2004 Palmer "hermitagé" and hope it is better than your memory of it.

When I went to New York a while back, a bunch of guys from the Wine Lovers Discussion Group arranged a meal on the theme of "Bordeaux from unfashionable vintages". I brought a 99 Palmer with me on the plane.
This was wonderful and showed that consumers need to be open-minded... (such as the 2007 your drank).

When you write "Chateau Palmer has five wines and we tried four of them", is the fifth one the wine sold in bulk?

All the best,
Alex R.

[Nicklasss]

What I understand (and I did not read about it, or search for any kind of information about that) is that there is the first wine (grand vin) and all others (second, alternate one, third, bla bla bla). The others only merit, is that they are crafted by the same persons that made the grand vin. Period. And they are made of what? Grape from unretained wine for the grand vin, or young vines, or other separate plots from the plots than make the grand vin. And i guess that some raw material (grapes or wine) for others wines come from unclassified plots, from the same AOC. If not, let say you're making wine A (the grand vin, second classified growth) and wine B (the other wine, from the remaining plots classified, but that did not go in the Grand vin), why you don't call your other wine Chateau A number 2, deuxième cru classé?

Well right or wrong, guess it is, like AlexR wrote, very obscure...

Nic

[Comte Flaneur]

Alex, Nic it is a Vin de Paille, apparently made from 100% merlot blanc!

[AKR]

Hi Ian

Chris told you: "Alter Ego is not a second wine, but an alternate one". What in the name of Zeus does THAT mean? I think you need to be a Jesuit priest or an expensive lawyer to follow that sort of reasoning.

I have one bottle of the 2004 Palmer "hermitagé" and hope it is better than your memory of it.

When I went to New York a while back, a bunch of guys from the Wine Lovers Discussion Group arranged a meal on the theme of "Bordeaux from unfashionable vintages". I brought a 99 Palmer with me on the plane.
This was wonderful and showed that consumers need to be open-minded... (such as the 2007 your drank).

When you write "Chateau Palmer has five wines and we tried four of them", is the fifth one the wine sold in bulk?

All the best,
Alex R.

I think I was there at that dinner, and it was a truth universally agreed upon that the 99 Palmer did not count as a candidate for being unfashionable

Of course that didn't stop us from delighting in it.

The whole "Alter Ego" is not a second wine is also a confusing statement/concept to me.

If its a dedicated vineyard, with a common owner/vinification team, why is not just named as such, and sold that way -- sort of like Leoville Barton and Langoa Barton are? or Haut Brion and LMHB? or Calon Segur and Capbern etc.

[DavidG]

Another fabulous report. You are living well, Ian, happy birthday and many more! Keep up the good work!

[jal]

What a great tasting! informative and delicious. Happy birthday Ian, may you reach many many milestones.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for all your kind words

I opened a Penfolds Grange 1983 last night but it lost its mojo....however tonight it re-discovered it...strange!

[marcs]

I don't think of the 99 Palmer as obscure or surprising in any way. Hasn't it always had a legendary reputation as one of the wines of the 1999 vintage, with a price to match?

I lucked into couple of bottles early on and unfortunately have long since drunk them, but they were consistently fantastic. Don't think that wine ever shut down.

[JimHow]

Indeed, both the 1999 Palmer and 1999 Chateau Margaux have been borderline epic in my book.