Toulouse, France
Tasted Saturday, May 22, 2004 by Will with 1,526 views
Here we go for the big event of the week-end, a verticale of Palmer from 1970 to 1992 with 17 bottles (some vintages are missing but not the important ones) and 1 ringer (which I actually knew was a Trois Chardons 83, made by the same winemaker than Palmer).
The wines were served by flights of 3, with always the first one being the oldest of the 3 and the last one the youngest. Only the first 2 flights (out of 6) were served without food, the next 2 with a Navarin d'agneau (navarin of lamb) and the final 2 with a Gigôt d'agneau with beans (leg of lamb). All the food was cooked to perfection and the meat was exceptionnally good: one participant provided the very young lamb, killed recently and basically the whole of the lamb was used in the 2 courses! Unfortunately the consequence was that it was hard to compare wines between flights since the conditions had changed so drastically: with or without food makes such a huge difference!
All the vintages were revealed after each flight, but since 6 vintages were missing we couldn't double-guess the outcome, even at the end
In conclusion, a very nice verticale with the usual surprises, off-bottles and outstanding wines.
1974 Château Palmer 86 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Just by the colour and the nose you can guess it's an old wine. So far so good. Unfortunately the palate is a bit weak, lacks structure and the alcohol is perceptible. The finish is nice but a bit dry. I made a wild guess and said '74. Good start!
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1987 Château Palmer 87 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Ruby colour, powerful nose showing lots of density in the wine, earthy aromas (red beet) on the palate. I found it really good and thought it was the '86. It was "only" the '87! Nice surprise.
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1992 Château Palmer 80 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Weak, reserved nose, weak palate showing no particular aromas, shut-down wine, totally uninteresting. I said '92 but this wasn't hard to guess. Even more disappointing than I expected.
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