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Château Palmer vertical
Burg Layen, Nahe, Germany
Tasted March 29, 2014 by mwanasheria with 833 views
Introduction
A vertical tasting of Château Palmer at Burg Layen. This was on one of the very first warm days in spring, so we went into the cool cellar after a nice day outside. The Palmers were all fabulous, with some nice surprises.
Flight 1 - The Palmers. (12 notes)
The tasting consisted of twelve vintages of Palmer including 83, 89 and 05.
Red
1979 Château Palmer
89 points
Acidity very present, forest floor, red fruit seemingly on the retreat, slightly thin but really very pleasant. Drink up.
Red
1980 Château Palmer
87 points
A nice surprise, I hate to admit but I continue to like the 1980 Bordeaux ... Obviously a bit thin and watery, but fresh, simple, nice acidity and with an attractive finish. A nice wine to be had a glass of on the terrace before dinner. Obviously prices of the 1980 Palmer, Haut Brion etc. are not in line with the idea of a nice summer wine!
Red
1982 Château Palmer
94 points
Very elegant, silky, earthy, tobacco, and a very nice sweetness. This is really good, even though I remember it to be even better. May be time to drink up these 1982s.
Red
1983 Château Palmer
96 points
The bouquet is still spectacular with malt, coffee, truffles. On the palate sweet chocolate, underwood, coffee. A real beauty.
Red
1985 Château Palmer
92 points
Green bouquet of bell pepper, truffles. On the palate all harmony with berries, sweet chocolate. A real beauty.
Red
1989 Château Palmer
95 points
From magnum. Even better than I remembered it. Nose of leather, truffles. Very elegant palate with coffee, roasted nuts, dark cherries, sweet tannins. Great.
Red
1990 Château Palmer
94 points
Very elegant bouquet. On the palate nice and elegant and balanced but slightly thinner than the 1989.
Red
1992 Château Palmer
86 points
This is a green underripe wine that is really out of balance. Compared to how successfully this estate managed tough conditions in 1991, this is a failure.
Red
1999 Château Palmer
90 points
Quite tannic and dry on the palate, little fruit. The tannins suggest that this will take forever to integrate and come into balance - if ever. Not a great success. On the other hand, when tasting through it, all the ingredients seem to be there.
Red
2001 Château Palmer
92 points
Nose of malt, cherries. On the palate cedar, vanilla, blackberries. Tastes quite young, maybe a tad too rustic for my liking.
Red
2005 Château Palmer
96 points
Fat, sappy, creamy texture, sweet fruit, silky tannins. Vanilla, cedar, wood and incredibly concentrated. In need of further cellaring.
Red
2008 Château Palmer
94 points
Very charming, very classic, very elegant. Cool bouquet of cold cigar, red fruit.
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Comment
Flight 2 - Sampling the 2013ers in the cellar. (2 notes)
We tried the yet unfiltered 2013 off-dry from Goldloch. It seems that at least at this estate 2013 has brought out quite some acidity, resulting in nicely balanced off-dry wines.
White
2013 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Kabinett
92 points
Barrel sample. A very fresh and light cabinet. Snappy acidity, balanced off by filigreed sweetness, some grapefruit. Very light on its feet, a great drink.
White - Off-dry
2013 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Spätlese
91 points
Barrel sample. Like the Kabinett that preceded it, a wonderful balanced, light and elegant off-dry interpretation of this great terroir in a year that seems to have brought out pretty acidic grapes. I really liked the interplay between the salty flint, the grapefruit and the sweetness. Let's see how this does after bottling.
Flight 3 - Some more wine with dinner ... (5 notes)
White
2008 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Großes Gewächs
92 points
Peach, some lime, tangerine (this must have some residual sweetness?), flint and nice over-arching minerality.
White
2012 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheimer Goldloch Riesling Großes Gewächs
91 points
Crisp an fresh. Peach, pear, and a salty core of flint. Really quite good.
Red
2009 Domaine Jacques Prieur Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru
91 points
From magnum. A nice Gevrey 1er that performs very well with food. Cool and restrained floral bouquet. Sappy on the palate with red fruit.
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Comment
White - Off-dry
2011 Schlossgut Diel Scheurebe Spätlese
89 points
A beautiful Scheurebe with elderflower, cassis. Peach, passion fruit, lime.
Red - Fortified
1985 Niepoort Porto Colheita
93 points
A very nice bottle of port with sweet fruitcake, plum, herbs, incense.
Closing
Made it home safely.