Palmer 2019

Powerful, concentrated and textured black cherry, cassis and blueberry fruits, laden with black truffle, cocoa bean and liquorice root. Reduction on the first nose gives a gunsmoke edge, this is full of personality and opens to show fresh acidities and finessed tannins. Such a good vintage at this estate, one to cellar for a good few years and then luxuriate in when it's ready. 40hl/h.

Tasted blind. Deep, glowing crimson. Intense and intriguing. Sweet start, and very long and dramatic. Polished tannins here in abundance and a certain glow. Incredible length. Nuances on the finish. Something minerally, too. So long! 14%. Drink 2030 – 2055

The 2019 Château Palmer is even richer, with a stacked, full-bodied, concentrated profile as well as beautiful notes of ripe black cherries, blackcurrants, lead pencil, tobacco leaf, and chocolate. I love its mid-palate, it has building, ripe, yet substantial tannins, tons of fat and glycerin, and a gorgeous finish. I don't think it will ultimately match the 2009, 2016, or 2018, but it's nevertheless a brilliant wine as well as one of the stars of the show from Margaux. It will benefit from 7-8 years of bottle age (it already offers pleasure) and have 30-40 years of overall longevity.

53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot. Barrel sample.A joyous wine that bristles with zest and energy. Clearly not the super-concentration of the 2018 (when the mildew-reduced yield was only 11 hl/ha), but rich and profound and a degree more elegant. Morello cherry and dark-fruit aromas. Beautiful texture, the tannins present but refined. Fresh and vibrant with a long, palate-cleansing finish. (JL)Drink 2028 – 2045

The 2019 Palmer was always going to be stylistically a completely different kettle of fish than the preceding vintage. It was bottled in early August 2021. As winemaker Thomas Duroux foretold, it’s a much more classically styled Palmer, offering blackberry, briary and pressed iris petals scents rather than violet, along with a distinct marine influence; a touch of sea spray comes through with time. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, tightly knit on the entry, and very fresh and saline, with just a very slight bitter edginess toward the almost Côte de Nuits–like finish (especially returning to my glass after 20 minutes). Quintessential Palmer, this will require 4–6 years in bottle. 2027-2055

A blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2019 Palmer is deep purple-black in color. It needs a little swirling to reveal a powerful core of plum preserves, blueberry compote, and creme de cassis scents, leading to nuances of licorice, mocha, black olives, and lavender, with a waft of fertile loam. Medium to full-bodied, it is rich and generous in the mouth with a firm backbone of ripe, rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and fragrant. It maintains that flamboyance and opulence that is Palmer, yet with breathtaking restraint.

Rich black cherries and damson fruit, together with tighter sour plum, anise and fennel, holding your attention from the first moment. Another hugely successful vintage at this property, showcasing an elegant, finessed tannic structure that hides a punch of power and concentration. As it opens, cocoa bean, liquorice and a saline-streaked minerality inch across the palate. Large-sized oak casks used for ageing. Tasted twice over two months; once as part of a vertical and here on a day of tasting other 2019s. This comes in at just a breath underneath the score during the vertical but it is unquestionably a Palmer to savour. 60% new oak.

Silky, rich and nuanced black cherry and bilberry fruit, touches of cocoa bean, liquroice, sour plum and fennel, all utterly enveloping. It unrolls slowly, building momentum with carefully placed tannins, delicate yet with a punch of power and concentration underneath. Large sized oak casks for ageing introduced alongside barrels, 60% new oak. Harvest September 19 to October 11.

Iris and violet aromatics swirl out of the glass. In the mouth, things are velvet in texture and packed with concentrated cassis puree and blackberry fruit, gentle spice, soft charcoal and sappy tannins, with the whole thing just slowly slowly expanding and building through the palate, tightening its grip as it reaches the close of play. The Palmer signature of energy and precision is here in spades, and altogether the wine is both measured and elegant, with textbook floral Margaux character, while being extremely juicy, creamy and enjoyable, with a mouthwatering salinity on the finish - up there with the very best vintages of this estate. Low SO2, as has been the case for a few years now in line with biodynamic principles. Back to normal yield this year of (a very welcome I would imagine) 45hl/ha. Harvest September 19 to October 19. 60% new oak, likely to be in barrels for the first year then large sized oak casks for the second year. 55% of overall production in the 1st wine. Drinking Window 2028 - 2042