Chateau Palmer Margaux Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Palmer Margaux Third Growth, Bordeaux wine producer profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

The birth of Chateau Palmer dates back to 1814 when the estates namesake, Colonel Charles Palmer arrived in France with the army of the future Duke of Wellington. The owner of the Margaux estate at that time was the recently divorced Madame de Gascq. She was trying to sell the Bordeaux wine producing property. When she met Palmer, she told him in no uncertain terms that the The Bordeaux wine they produce is as good as Chateau Lafite! Obviously Palmer must have agreed. It was not much after their meeting that he purchased the famous Margaux estate and like many Bordeaux chateaux owners of their time, he renamed it Chateau Palmer.

Palmer started to increase the size of the Chateau Palmer vineyard holdings. He continued purchasing more land for much of the time he owned the estate. The vast majority of growth took place between 1816 and 1831. Much of the vines were located throughout the some of the best terroir in the appellation in the Cantenac, Issan and Margaux sectors.

In 1843, Palmer, who had been promoted to Major General was forced to sell Chateau Palmer. He sold Chateau Palmer to the Pereire family. Perhaps in some small way, his decision was due to the fact that like him, the family was not already in the Bordeaux wine trade. Their primary business was in railroad transportation and banking. In 1853, they became the new owners of Chateau Palmer.

The Pereire family invested a lot of money into improving and modernizing Chateau Palmer. They replanted and restructured the vineyards. One year after the historic 1855 Classification, they constructed the now famous, picturesque chateau and outdoor village of Chateau Palmer.   Due to the phylloxera epidemic, wars and the great depression, the Pereire families descendants were forced to sell Chateau Palmer.

In 1938, four families of some of the wealthiest Bordeaux wine merchants joined forces to buy equal shares of Chateau Palmer. The Ginestet family, the Miailhe family, the Mahler-Besse family and the Sichel family joined together in their ownership of Chateau Palmer. In time, the Mahler-Besse family and the Sichel family bought out the other two families holdings.

The two majority shareholders of Chateau Palmer are both well known and respected Bordeaux wine negoicants. In all, there are 22 different share holders of Chateau Palmer. Of the two main shareholders, the Mahler family comes from the Netherlands. The Sichel family are also very successful wine merchants. Following world war 2 and the damage caused by the German occupation, things began to change at Chateau Palmer. In the 1950′s, the Left Bank estate was managed by Jean Bouteiller, the son-in-law of Frédérick Mahler, the majority shareholder at the time.  Having spent forty-two years as the director of Chateau Palmer, Bouteiller retired and was replaced by the young, energetic agronomist and oenologist Thomas Duroux in 2004. This allowed Thomas Duroux to return to Bordeaux after spending time managing estates in Italy. Since the arrival of Thomas Duroux, Chateau Palmer has entered a golden era for the historic Medoc chateau. 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010 are some of the finest wines ever produced at the Margaux property.

Chateau Palmer, like many of the top estates, interested in making the improvements needed to make the best wine possible. This seems like an on going process at the chateau. The vat rooms and chai of Chateau Palmer were entirely refurbished in 1995. Since then, they have added 42 temperature controlled, conical shaped, stainless steel vats that were designed to provide the vinification on a parcel by parcel basis, allowing for much more precision in the wine making. Today, Chateau Palmer has 2 cellars. One cellar is known as the 1st year cellar. In that area, they keep the barrels with the wine from the current vintage. The wine remains on that room for one year, until it’s replaced with wine from the following vintage.

Renovations took place at Chateau Palmer starting in 2010 in the harvest, grape reception area, the vat rooms and barrel cellar. The sorting facilities and bottling were also updated. There is also a new room dedicated for tasting. The entire, picturesque village of Chateau Palmer was also updated. The old pumping system was replaced by a system that moves all the grapes by gravity. They also built a small cellar devoted to experimental wine making projects, like producing white wine and even a sweet, white, Vin de aille. A new barrel cellar was created to allow each vintage to age without being moved.

Chateau Palmer and its Alter Ego are the two wines produced by the estate. Chateau Palmer also makes a small amount of white wine that is not available commercially. Alter Ego made its debut with the 1998 vintage. Because it comes from different plots and is produced with a different blend than the Grand Vin, Chateau Palmer does not view this as a second wine. They produce and market the wine as its own, unique wine.

In 2004, Chateau Palmer released their first vintage of an amazing and unique new wine to Bordeaux. Previously known as Palmer, “Historical XIX Century Blend,” this newly renamed wine, “Historical XIX Century Wine” was fascinating to smell, taste and dream about. Only 100 cases of this beauty were produced. However, it’s truly worth the extra effort to seek out a bottle or two.

The wine, a blend of 85% Bordeaux from Palmer’s vineyards and 15% Syrah from the Rhone was produced as an homage to a wine that might have been released in the 19th century. The Bordeaux varietal’s are 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. Grapes from Palmer are not young vines. They were chosen because managing director, winemaker Thomas Duroux felt they would blend best with the Syrah. The production of the wine depends on the vintage. It was not produced in 2005 as it would taken too much Syrah to overcome the strong Bordeaux characteristics.  

It was also produced in 2006 and 2007. However, tastings have shown, subsequent vintages have not been as good as the debut release. Production of this wine has also increased. Chateau Palmer will produce the Historical XIX Century blend in 2010.

A few interesting points regarding labeling laws in Bordeaux which relate to this wine. Notice, the wine does not say Bordeaux. The wine needs to be sold a Vin de Table as all the grapes do not come from Bordeaux or Palmer. Also, Palmer and their Chateau logo has been removed from their historic label as all the grapes did not come from their estate. As a Vin de Table, the wine does not carry a vintage date. But, when you look at the bottom of the label, please note the lot #… L 20.04 which corresponds to the vintage date, 2004. The top of the capsule reads XIX. This changed with the release of the 2010 Historical XIX Century blend. From that point forward, the wine will be sold under the Vin de France designation. The lot numbering will remain the same. The wine will be marked L20.10.

Chateau Palmer also produces a small amount of dry, white Bordeaux wine. The production of white Bordeaux wine at the estate might seem like a new experiment. But that is not the case. In the beginning of the 20th century, it was customary at Chateau Palmer to produce a small amount of white wine for the personal use of the owners. That practice was discontinued at some point in the 1930′s. At the start of the 21st century, that tradition was revived. The first vintage for Vin Blanc de Palmer was 2007. The wine is produced from an unusual blend of 50% Muscadelle, 35% Loset and 15% Sauvignon Gris. Production hovers at close to 100 cases. If you think a 100 case production is going to make that wine hard to find, just try and locate one of the rare bottles of experimental, sweet white Bordeaux wines produced by Palmer from 100% Merlot blanc!

Chateau Palmer produces a sensuous wine of beauty. Everything that makes up a great Bordeaux wine is found in Palmer. Complex aromatics filled with spice, truffle, violets, spring flowers, earth and leather scents. Full bodied and rich, this wine personifies elegance in a Bordeaux wine. When mature, the textures experienced in Chateau Palmer are unequaled in other Bordeaux wines. Silk wrapped in velvet, with layers of satin and ripe berries. 

Chateau Palmer, with its gravel, sand and dirt terroir has deep roots, which is one of the keys to the wines unique quality and style. Most chateaux plant Merlot in clay soils. At Chateau Palmer, the Merlot is planted in gravel soils. This is part of the reason for the elegance in the wines of Palmer. Located next to Chateau Margaux, Palmer can produce a wine of equal quality in select vintages. And in some years, for example; 1961, 1966, 1970, 1983, 1989, 2004, 2008 and 2012, Palmer can produce a better wine! 

The 55 hectare Bordeaux wine vineyard Chateau Palmer is located in the Cantenac sector of Margaux. Most of the plots are situated on the plateau with a terroir of gravel and clay soils not far from the Gironde. The vineyard of Chateau Palmer is planted to 47% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot with vines that average 38 years of age. The estate has old vines, some of which date back to 70 years of age. The vines are planted to a density of 10,000 vines per hectare. 

The fruit is always hand harvested and sorted 3 times. To produce the wine of Chateau Palmer, vinification takes place in temperature controlled, cone-shaped stainless steel vats. There are more than 50 different vats that range in size from 70 hectoliters all the way up to 180 hectoliters. Vinification of Chateau Palmer is done on a parcel by parcel basis and by grape variety. Malolactic fermentation takes place barrel, although some of the production from time to time, can have the malolactic fermentation in vat. The wine of Chateau Palmer is aged in an average of 50% to 70% new oak for between 18 to 20 months.

The vinification of Alter Ego takes place in the same cellars and vats as Chateau Palmer. But the wine uses less new oak. On average Alter Ego is aged in 25% to 40% new oak for between 16 to 18 months.

Chateau Palmer produces between 8,000 and 10,000 cases of Margaux wine per year. Alter Ego is about 8,000 cases per vintage. Starting with the 2009 Palmer, the estate began using the Prooftag system to guarantee customers the authenticity of their Bordeaux wine.

  www.chateau-palmer.com