Chateau Palmer with Thomas Douroux

[Comte Flaneur]

Almost exactly 16 years ago Thomas Douroux took over as winemaker at Ch. Palmer after completing a three year spell as the winemaker at Ornellaia. He has overseen the transition to a biodynamic regime at Chateau Palmer.

Tonight we tasted six wines, as usual with the 67 Pall Mall format, and was really was a game of two halves with the pre and post Duroux era wines on show, starting with the youngest wines first, five years apart.

2015 - 14% abv, 50% cab sav, 44% Merlot and 6% petit Verdot

Wonderful juicy wine, with exuberant pure focused fruit, velvety tannins, rich red and black fruits, so poised and with such precision. 97 pts

2010 - 14% abv, 40% CS, 54% M, 6% PV

Profound, more layered and structured than the 2015, a serious wine with great depth and complexity, with some Margaux berries poking through. Another thoroughbred from the 2010 stable. 98 pts

2005 - 14% abv, 53/40/7

Duroux’s first vintage, a sunny and exuberant wine, big framed and still quite tannic, with intense fruit aromas; it has evolved well since I last tried it a few years ago; as Doroux noted it only lacks the precision of the 2010/15, one of the alleged benefits of the new biodynamic approach, but it is still a great 2005. 96 pts

2000 - 13% abv 53/47

More evolved with truffly aromas this now appears to be approaching its plateau of maturity. Although it has been tannic and austere for most of its life it is now transitioning into a beautiful old school Palmer. 94

1995 - 12.5% abv, 51/40/9 (PV)

Older school aromas, still a somewhat austere persona, spicey, tomato leaf and white pepper. Compared to the other wines here it appears to lack aromatic complexity and generosity. But I know that this is a very good wine on its own, especially with food, but outclassed here. 91

1990- 12% abv (that was written on the bottle)

Delightful old school Palmer, which is singing its wares, with elegance, charm and beautiful aromatic complexity. A beautiful resolved Palmer. 96

Clearly there has been big changes wrought under Thomas Douroux’s stewardship. Arguably he has succeeded in raising Palmer to the level of the first growths and at still half the price.

His recent wines have great precision, and the warm vintages we tried - 2005, 2010 and 2015 - are high in alcohol. Referring back to his days of making Ornellaia and Masetto he seemed to be dismissive of the alcohol level as a somewhat irrelevant statistic. Only time will tell.

No question these are fabulous wines, I would love to try his 2016 and 2019 which are naturally lower in alcohol. I suspect these are the wines I would want to own if I could afford them.

[Musigny 151]

Thanks for the notes. Coincidentally I was talking to a friend about opening several bottles of the 2005 for our Zoom group. I have not tasted it since the en primeur 2006, liked it enough to buy a case. He advised holding off a few years.

Every year I used to go to Palmer hoping to find the makings of a wine that could rival the 1961, one of the top three wines I have ever tasted. Each year, I would say to myself, yes that was good, occasionally very good, but never young 1961. In 2011, I went to taste the the 2010s. As usual just before the Grand Vin, Thomas served the Alter Ego. Not a wine I particularly valued usually. This one was shockingly good. As good as many Palmer Grand Vins. Then I smelled the 2010 Palmer. It did reminded me of the 1961; this was profound and seamless, complex, but so precise, one of the few barrel samples I gave 99-100. I have bought some; it is one wine I hope to taste fully mature.

You are absolutely right. This is First Growth quality ar a fraction of the price. It may not have the storied reputation of a Margaux or a Mouton, but it has the quality, and that sexy, sexy label.

[tim]

I also participated in this tasting. I'll admit that I was less impressed than I expected to be with the wines. I didn't take detailed tasting notes, but here are my impressions:

2015: Big, expressive nose, somewhat reserved on the tannins. This was clearly much younger than I am used to drinking. Did not taste like typical Bordeaux to me, more like a cross between old and new world. Needs a LOT of time to come around. Although it had the tannic backbone, it wasn't austere in any way. 94 points.

2010: Young, floral, massive. Just beautiful. Bold tannins, a wine that stayed with you long after you had your last sip. 96 points.

2005: This was completely closed on the nose when I poured it. I think it is in a dumb phase. It eventually opened up but was difficult to judge. Complexity on the palate, starting to show its secondary and tertiary characteristics. 93 points but could be more.

2000: I really enjoyed this one. In a great place, but seemed very different style than the previous three. Not as floral, more earthy than the others. 95 points.

1995: Someone mentioned that it had a hint of tomato leaves, and I agree. In fact, this is one of the characteristics that I often get out of aged Margaux (with the exception of Chateau Margaux). People think I'm crazy. Overall very nice and mature, would be a beautiful wine for a meal. 94 points.

1990: Most people loved this. I wasn't as impressed. Again the tomato leaves, but much more pronounced. It had shed all of its baby fat and was just going into maturity, showing a great deal of complexity on the palate. But it was not as much to my taste. Still, the quality was there. 92 points.

It was interesting to see how the alcohol increased over the years. We were in the 12% range in the 90's but way into the 14%+ in the 2010's. I cannot believe that is simply a question of weather, but rather of style.

Here is a picture of Thomas Duroux when we had dinner at Chateau Palmer during BWE 2005:

palmer.JPG (252.6 KiB) Viewed 783 times

[Nicklasss]

Again Comte, very interesting note on top vintage of Chateau Palmer.

The comparison with 1st Growth is interesting. It is surely more a super second than a third growth. And i agree, a top left bank.

I think i never had a Palmer i did not liked, but the youngest i had is the 1999. I had the 1995 at AlexR's place in 2012 and it bested my 1995 Clinet that was excellent. The 1983 and 1989 are just up there with the best too. The 1986 and 1988 excellent too.

We had many Palmer at the Thursday night dinner of the 2018 Washington DC convention. Unfortunately, can't recall them all, as surrounded by lot of Champagne, few white Bourgogne and couple of different vintage Ridge Monte Bello...

Nic

[Nicklasss]

Thanks Tim for the different perspective. I don't know how many people are participating, but maybe more than one bottle of each vintage opened + transportation + etc... can make difference. But at least, you can do it!

The bottle of 1995 Alex opened in 2012 was more like your pour .

Nic

[JimHow]

Has any Palmer stunned me other than the 1983 that I recall sharing with Werner in NYC in the madness of NYC 2003?
I think we liked the '89 recently, I think in Denver, right?

[JimHow]

Oh, the 1999 Palmer as well... That was a beauty.

[tim]

By the way, I'll just note, every time I saw Jane Anson (the host) speak, I thought I was watching MEK's sister. It was fascinating.

[brodway]

Thanks for the notes...Palmer is probably one of my favorite Bordeaux....i find that Palmer is a quintessential Margaux character....Stefan calls it Margaux berries and its true there is something magical about its purple fruit... i thought the 2000 had more depth than the previous Palmers i've tasted but never had the pleasure of tasting the 1961...Have not purchased any since the 2000 Vintage as prices have skyrocketed....may be tempted to pick up the 2019 while its still within reach

[Comte Flaneur]

By the way, I'll just note, every time I saw Jane Anson (the host) speak, I thought I was watching MEK's sister. It was fascinating.

She won’t like that comparison

[marcs]

Clearly there has been big changes wrought under Thomas Douroux’s stewardship. Arguably he has succeeded in raising Palmer to the level of the first growths and at still half the price.

.

LOL the only way to make Palmer seem cheap!

I guess you could go further and say "as pleasurable as that one mediocre 2004 DRC I had and still at one-thirtieth the price"

[marcs]

I

It was interesting to see how the alcohol increased over the years. We were in the 12% range in the 90's but way into the 14%+ in the 2010's. I cannot believe that is simply a question of weather, but rather of style.

Here is a picture of Thomas Duroux when we had dinner at Chateau Palmer during BWE 2005:

I had no idea that Thomas Duroux had previously been at Ornellaia but that would certainly indicate a shift toward a high-alcohol style. Wasn't Ornellaia one of Michel Rolland's first big success stories in the 1990s? It seems like you would bring someone from there specifically to shift to a New World style.

[jckba]

Great notes once again Ian and Tim this time around and it was especially fun to see and compare and contrast btw each of your impressions.

I

It was interesting to see how the alcohol increased over the years. We were in the 12% range in the 90's but way into the 14%+ in the 2010's. I cannot believe that is simply a question of weather, but rather of style.

Here is a picture of Thomas Duroux when we had dinner at Chateau Palmer during BWE 2005:

I had no idea that Thomas Duroux had previously been at Ornellaia but that would certainly indicate a shift toward a high-alcohol style. Wasn't Ornellaia one of Michel Rolland's first big success stories in the 1990s? It seems like you would bring someone from there specifically to shift to a New World style.

But at least it doesn’t taste like a Super Tuscan

[Musigny 151]

I

It was interesting to see how the alcohol increased over the years. We were in the 12% range in the 90's but way into the 14%+ in the 2010's. I cannot believe that is simply a question of weather, but rather of style.

Here is a picture of Thomas Duroux when we had dinner at Chateau Palmer during BWE 2005:

I had no idea that Thomas Duroux had previously been at Ornellaia but that would certainly indicate a shift toward a high-alcohol style. Wasn't Ornellaia one of Michel Rolland's first big success stories in the 1990s? It seems like you would bring someone from there specifically to shift to a New World style.

That is until you meet him. Tremendously articulate, and very thoughtful.

[tim]

One of the interesting comments Thomas made was that many of the chateaux in the Medoc tend to put the Cab Sauv grapes in the best place and relegate the Merlot to lesser soils. Palmer made an effort to elevate Merlot on the left bank and had it planted in some of the better plots, and as such they have some of the oldest Merlot vines on the left bank.

He also commented that he is happy with the comeback of Petit Verdot, as for many years it was considered to be less desirable. I immediately thought of Danielle and her love of wines with Petit Verdot.