Region : Margaux
Grapes : 51% Cabernet Sauvignon,49% Merlot
Alcohol: 14.5%
Website: https://www.chateau-palmer.com/en
🏅 James Suckling 93 pts
🏅 Wine Enthusiast 93 pts
🏅 Jeb Dunnuck 92 pts
🏅 Wine Spectator 92 pts
🏅 Wine Advocate 90 pts
Values. Château Palmer is living history. It inspires respect, for its soils and its vineyards, but also for its wines. The result of centuries of viticulture and vinifications, honed by the pursuit of a singular vision. A style unto itself. A benchmark for all future endeavours. For at Château Palmer, change is never an end in itself, but a means to serve both today’s and yesterday’s wines. It’s the fruit of a precious freedom. The freedom to constantly reassess, to question, to never be afraid of taking carefully calibrated risks. With at heart, an unchanging ideal – to ever improve, not just for the wines, but also for their artisans and the environment all around them.
Biodynamics. Neither a preconceived idea, nor a posture. At first, biodynamics was simply an experiment, sparked by curiosity. The first trials in 2008 proved inconclusive, so meetings were organized with adherents of the method. Slowly, it became evident what truly lies at the heart of biodynamics: a return to the essence of farming. And thus an idea became a conviction – to turn the page on a monoculture, and to recreate a living agricultural organism, in all its diversity.
Now, sheep graze, grass grows, flowers and plants with healing properties bloom, and agrochemicals have disappeared. With biodynamics, complexity becomes a source of shared enrichment, where the fruits of human labour benefit people, plants, and all that surrounds. An exquisite equilibrium.
Community. The men and women of Château Palmer share more than a place of employment. Together they embrace common values: dynamic, curious, passionate, open-minded and determined, they live for and with the vineyards. This shared spirit is united in one place – the Village. Sited at the foot of the château, it was originally designed to house cellar masters, vineyard managers, vignerons and winemakers. Today still, it brings together all the estate’s know-how and knowledge. A community, without question.
The terroir. Behind every great wine is a great terroir. Château Palmer’s has a natural logic: a long strip of land set between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde estuary. Behind the alluvial land of the palus sits the Brauzes plateau, the first gravelly terrace. This is well-drained land, rich with the deposits of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers, but washed clean of organic matter.
Difficult soil for agriculture, but exceptional for grape growing. Yet the vines still need help to fulfil their potential. So the men and women of Château Palmer carefully prune leaf and shoot to create a natural balance, channeling the plant's vitality towards something greater – producing the finest possible grapes. What more natural expression for an age-old vine, its roots reaching deep into difficult soils, guided by a sensitive hand? Such is a demanding terroir.
The Vat Room. Fifty-four conical vats stand in alignment. Here, parcel by parcel, variety by variety, the freshly harvested grapes, their skin, seeds and juice intact, will arrive after sorting and pressing to begin their fermentation. It’s a pursuit of precision, enabling the expression of every nuance of each terroir.
The Tasting Room. A space as sparse as it is charged with emotions. Here, during numerous blending sessions, the outlines of each vintage are drawn. One by one the lots are tasted and classed, ready to be used – or not – in Palmer or in Alter Ego. Little by little, the blend is refined until, at last, emerging complete.
ALTER EGO Reinterpreting Château Palmer’s terroir
Spontaneity. That sudden desire to indulge without delay, Château Palmer wished to gratify. Thus, while remaining true to its philosophy, another expression of its terroir came to be. Since the 1998 vintage, a new approach to selection and blending has yielded this supple and rounded wine, distinguished by its freshness of fruit, crisp intensity and richness…from the moment out of barrel, it's all that’s natural, bottled.
🏅 James Suckling 93 pts
Aromas of orange peel, walnuts and berries follow through to a full body, with a luscious tannins and fruit structure. Long and delicious. The second wine of Palmer.
$930/bottle
Free delivery in Hong Kong for orders of 6+ bottles of wine, 3+ bottles of sake/spirits, or orders over $1,200;
Otherwise, $80 delivery fee per order (except remote areas) or free showroom pick-up during office hours.
