Chateau Palmer 2014 Margaux 《Terroir Collection - TF1117A》

Region : Margaux

Grapes : 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot

Alcohol: 13.5%

Website: https://www.chateau-palmer.com/en

🌟Second Apostle-"The Drops of God"

🌟Margaux 3eme Cru GCC

🏅 Wine Enthusiast 97 pts

🏅 James Suckling 95 pts

🏅 Jeb Dunnuck 95 pts

🏅 Vinous 95+ pts

🏅 Decanter 95 pts

🏅 Wine Advocate 94 pts

🏅 Wine Spectator 94 pts

🏅 JancisRobinson 18/20 pts

🏅 Vivino 4.5

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.

🏅 Wine Enthusiast 97 pts

It's easy to call this a beautiful wine—it's dense and lush, with great layers of black fruit and acidity. The first fully biodynamic vintage from this estate has certainly yielded impressive ripe fruit, with structured tannins and dark berry flavors that linger long. It has enormous potential. 

🏅  James Suckling 95 pts

This really develops wonderfully in the glass starting out earthy with mushrooms and spices and then turns to dark fruit such as blackberries and blackcurrants. Full-bodied, very intense and minerally. Firm and silky tannins and a long, long finish. From biodynamically grown grapes.

🏅 Jeb Dunnuck 95 pts

Its deep ruby/purple-tinged color is followed by a rich, opulent bouquet of blackcurrants, black cherries, chocolate, and tobacco, with hints of graphite and background oak. With more texture and mid-palate depth than most in the vintage, this terrific 2014 is medium to full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, layered and as hedonistic and sexy as it gets in the vintage. Give bottle 4-5 years and it should drink nicely for two decades.

🏅Vinous 95+ pts

The 2014 Palmer is endowed with serious depth and intensity. Black cherry, bittersweet chocolate, spice, leather, tobacco and menthol infuse the 2014 with striking midpalate depth, unctuousness and texture. Silky, plush and polished, the 2014 will likely offer a very long window of pure drinking pleasure. It is one of the sexiest, raciest 2014s readers will come across.

🏅 Decanter 95 pts

Robust fruit from low yields but no less elegant. Wonderful richness, texture and structure, this will become a superbly balanced wine of great beauty.

🏅Wine Advocate 94 pts

The 2014 Palmer builds on the promise that it showed in barrel. It is clearly a more understated and nuanced Palmer from winemaker Thomas Duroux this year, but a Margaux with exquisite delineation and precision, hints of blackberry, boysenberry and a touch of pencil box. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannin. It feels supple and lithe in the mouth. It will not have the depth and power of the subsequent 2015 Palmer, yet the "flow" is very sensual and the Merlot (45% of the blend) just lends it roundness and a caressing texture. What a beautiful Margaux and I bet it will be deceptively long-lived.

🏅Wine Spectator 94 pts

This has a fresh, energetic feel, with lots of bramble-edged grip pushing the core of raspberry, plum and cherry coulis flavors. The finish is very pure, punctuated by lively floral and iron notes. Flaunts minerality in the end.

🏅JancisRobinson 18/20 pts

Bright, dense crimson. Meaty and fresh. Massive precision. Edgy but with great fruit in the middle and masses of energy. Refined and racy. Quite a strong statement. For the lovely long term. So long.

$1850/bottle