1999 Château Palmer Margaux Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note
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The first thing you notice is the bouquet of flowers in the perfume before discovering the essence of tobacco leaf, currants, plums and blackberries. The palate has lift, energy and layers of ripe sweet red and black fruits that linger. This is a beautiful Palmer that would be a success in any vintage. But, in 1999, this is a stunner! Drink from 2024-2040. 926 Views Tasted Oct 8, 2024Drinking at just about peak, the wine is intensely floral, with notes of roses, lilacs, and lavender. From there you find cigar box, tobacco, dark cherry, currant, and boysenberry, with a light touch of cocoa in the background. Popped and poured, the wine is silky, soft, lush, fresh, and spicy, with lift, freshness, and sweet, ripe, red fruits with peppery overtones on the backend. 4,959 Views Tasted Feb 15, 2022A beautiful nose of roses, black cherry, thyme, truffle and a light background note of cocoa make this fun to work with. On the palate, the wine shows silky, soft, textures, an elegant, fresh character and sweet cherries in the upbeat finish. This is fully mature. If you have a bottle, this is the sweet spot. I'd hit it over the next 10-12 years. 4,484 Views Tasted Feb 7, 2019The wine starts off with lilacs and thyme. With air you find cigar box, earth and unlit cigar wrappers. Lush, soft and silky, there is a refined quality to the ripe, dark, red fruits here that feels great. Decanted 45 minutes, this is drinking in the sweet spot today. It should continue at this high level for at least another decade. 7,234 Views Tasted Jul 26, 2018The color looks a bit advanced for its age, but that's the vintage. The nose is a treat, with its light dose of truffle, flowers, cherry pipe tobacco, incense, thyme and plum scents. Pure silk and velvet on the palate. The fruit displays a purity of sweet cherries. The medium bodied wine is fully mature and the fruit has just started to lighten. So, if you have this gem in your cellar, pop a cork, as it is not getting better with more age. This bottle was decanted about 45 minutes. Less air would probably be a bit better. The wine was made from blending 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot. 6,726 Views Tasted Jun 3, 2017The first thing you notice is the purity of the blackberry liqueur, followed by truffle, cedar, tobacco, thyme and plum aromatics. While that gets your motor running, the sexy, silky, voluptuous textures and decadent profile make their debut, finishing with plush, sensuous, dark fruits. What a beauty! In contention for wine of the vintage, this is really drinking well today with 20/30 minutes of air. 7,708 Views Tasted Jun 16, 2016This is really showing great today. The earthy, floral, blackberry nose continues until you're ready for the polished, silky, elegant, fresh, sensuous wave of fruit that hits your palate. Satisfying and complete. There are few if any older vintages of Palmer that are this good, close to mature, and for Palmer, sell for this little money in the marketplace today. 6,901 Views Tasted Dec 3, 2015This beauty keeps getting better and better. With an hour of air, the nose popped, the wine softened and the elegance expected started to shine, leaving you with truffles, blackberries, tobacco and floral scents and a smooth, silky, fresh, sweet black cherry core of fruit. Perhaps my memory is fading, but this seems to be showing even younger than the past time I tasted it! 6,086 Views Tasted Feb 15, 2015Roasted berries, forest floor, earth, truffle, blackberry and cherry pie scents get you excited about the wine. In the mouth, this is pure elegance, opulent textures and fresh, ripe black cherries. This is drinking great today and with time, it will get better. But there is no reason to wait to enjoy this beautiful expression of Palmer. This is one of the top wines of the vintage and sells for a very fair price, for a top vintage of Chateau Palmer. 8,884 Views Tasted Mar 27, 2013Tobacco, coffee, caramel, black raspberry, floral, lead pencil and cherry blossoms create the perfume. Silky, soft, refined and elegant in personality, this medium bodied vintage of Palmer is ready to drink. There is a lot of purity in the fruit, coupled with freshness, but it lacks the density of a great vintage. I'm not sure this will make old bones. I'd drink this over the next decade, or a little bit longer. 9,242 Views Tasted Jun 28, 2012Blackberries, boysenberries, coffee and cassis are only a harbinger of things to come. Very classy, stylish, sophisticated and elegant. Great concentration and balance. Still young. 99 will drink well early, but this is not close to maturity 5,677 Views Tasted Jul 1, 2006 |
When to Drink Chateau Palmer, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time
Chateau Palmer is not a wine for drinking young. The wine can be tannic, concentrated and reserved, in its youth. Young vintages can be decanted for an average of 2-4 hours, give or take. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume.
Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Chateau Palmer is usually better with at least 12-15 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage character. Chateau Palmer offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 15-45 years of age after the vintage.
Serving Chateau Palmer with Wine, Food, Pairings
Chateau Palmer is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.
Chateau Palmer is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Chateau Palmer is also good when matched with Asian dishes, rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta.