2019 Chateau Palmer Alter Ego de Palmer, Margaux, France (750ml)

WINEMAKER'S NOTES: 

With its dark red robe, the 2019 Alter Ego immediately impresses with its explosive aromatics. Subtle notes of red fruits evoking raspberries and redcurrants blend harmoniously with the floral fragrance of a field in spring. The sensation on the palate, initially refreshing, unfolds into a texture of great softness and length. This is Alter Ego at its best – a wine perfectly true to its identity.

Blend: 51% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Petit Verdot

TASTING NOTES:

Intense aromas of blackcurrants, cedar and ripe tobacco with hints of violets, following through to a full-bodied palate with extremely refined tannins that are well-integrated into the wine and are long and subtle at the finish. Such precision and harmony with structure. From biodynamically grown grapes.

- James Suckling, 96 pts. 

Cinnamon spice on the nose, with a patisserie edge to the fruits that gives a rich, creamy impression. As ever with the Palmer stable of wines, you can pick out the individual flavours clearly, with careful and precise delineation of cassis, bilberry, slate and tobacco notes, but overall this is an outstanding Alter Ego that puts the emphasis on pleasure. Tannins are extremely precise but feathery and pliable. An extremely low 37ppm of SO2 at this stage, in keeping with biodynamic principles and a desire to let the fruit speak.
Barrel Sample: 94

- Decanter, 94 pts. 

The second wine of Château Palmer, the 2019 Alter Ego De Palmer is rock-solid and reveals a dense purple hue as well as deep, rich, concentrated aromas and flavors of ripe black cherries, blackcurrants, tobacco, graphite, and chocolate. It might be the richest, most concentrated second wine out here, and truthfully, it tastes like a Grand Vin. Medium to full-bodied, layered, and textured, it has ripe tannins, a fleshy, mouth-filling texture, and a great finish. It's beautifully done.

- Jeb Dunnuck, 94 pts. 

The 2019 Alter Ego de Palmer is delineated and focused on the nose with blackberry, cedar and graphite scents. More austere yet still complex and one with the most cerebral Margaux aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, quite saline and peppery, firm and insistent grip with quiet assertive tannins on the finish. A Margaux that should be given a long-term lease in your cellar. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

- Vinous, 94 pts. 

Aromas of sweet cherries, raspberries, berry fruit liqueur, licorice and spices introduce the 2019 Alter Ego de Palmer, a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping wine with lively acids, melting tannins and a lavish core of ripe, creamy fruit. It's more immediate than the more muscular, powerful grand vin.

- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 91 pts. 

Caressing, offering plum and cherry sauce flavors, hints of ganache and tobacco, with a sanguine hint on the fresh humus-tinged finish. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.

- Wine Spectator, 90 pts.