LdC Palmer vs. Margaux Dinner

Primehouse
Tasted Friday, February 27, 2009 by winefool with 882 views

Introduction

Alan managed to pull together a great dinner pairing Chateau Margaux against Chateau Palmer with Thomas Duroux as the guest of honor. Members of the group pulled some wines from their cellars and sourced others. Overall, the mixed provenance seemed to show itself as many of the older, potentially great, wines from 82, 83, 89,90 often showed much more poorly than in past examples. A good reminder about no great wines, only great bottles...

Anyway, there were a number of fabulous wines, the food was very nice, and it was great getting some perspective on vintages and the two estate styles from Thomas.

I accidently entered all these tasting notes as 2/27/09, but in fact this dinner was 2/27/08.

Flight 1 - Nibbles (2 Notes)

Flight 2 - Bonus opener (1 Note)

  • 1966 Château Palmer 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Medium crimson garnet color. Lovely sweet round soft forward nose of briar and cherry. Good fruit iwth lots of spice and acidity with a long cedar graphite finish. Just a hint of sour acidity. 93-94 pts.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Flight 3 - Chicken Livers & Foie Gras wit hpotato gnocchi, wtercress, roasted garlic, and sage (4 Notes)

  • 1982 Château Margaux 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Again, a disappointing bottle for what it should be. Medium ruby crimson color. Medium clean red fruit nose. A bit shy to start, but opened up some with air revealing current and tobacco notes. Medium tight red cherry fruit with black spice and tannins. Long dry finish. 93+ pts.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1982 Château Palmer 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Soft garnet color. Medium tight bright black fruit with hint of leather and spice. Full round tannic black fruit with a long graphite tannic finish.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1983 Château Palmer 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Medium red crimson color. Nice nose of red fruit spice and lovely floral violets. big black dustry pencil black fruit on the long chewy finish. Best of the 82/83 pairings.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1983 Château Margaux 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Medium soft red color. medium tight nose of red fruit, spice,and just a hint of heat? Full tight black cherry fruit iwth licorice and spice. Almost a bit austere. Not showing nearly as well as other examples I've had.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Flight 4 - Slow Roasted Squab Brest & Leg Confit with grilled mushrooms, guancali, and stewed lentils (6 Notes)

  • 1986 Château Palmer 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Full red color. Full bright spicy red fruit with a hint of oak. Nice tight rich red fruit with some sweetness left. Nice, WOTF.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1986 Château Margaux 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Full deep red color. Medium nose of cassis with lifted spice. Big full pencil black fruit with tannins and a long slightly drying coffee finish.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1989 Château Margaux 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Full crimson red color. Beguiling forward floral violets and balck fruit on the nose. Nice round spicy red fruit with black notes on the palate with a long coffee finish. Became a bit more angular surprisingly quickly with air.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1990 Château Margaux 96 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Full deep red color. Wow, big bold red raspberry cassis nose with strawberry and spice notes. Almost a bit roasted with sweetness. Spectacular big bold blackberry sweet ripe fruit on the palate. Perhaps a tick below some earlier examples, but still a wonderful bottle - WOTN.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1989 Château Palmer 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Medium red color with crimson edges. Medium bright clean red fruit with some tightness. Big bold tight black fruit with a long coffee finish. 93+ pts.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1990 Château Palmer 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Soft red color with crimson edges. Lovely round black fruit with a hitn of cedar and mineral. Lovely rich round black fruit with lovely sweetness. Very nice. 93-94 pts.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Flight 5 - Grilled Crawford Farms Lamb Rack with celery root puree, swiss chard, aromatic lamb sausage, and carmelized fennel (4 Notes)

  • 1999 Château Palmer 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Big nose of vanilla and black fruit - very nice and interesting. Big vanilla sweet blackberry palate wtih a medium/long coffee finish. Plenty of oak here and almost a new world flair - a good value in a forgotten vintage.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1995 Château Palmer 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Soft purple red color. Big nose of red fruit raspberry and vanilla notes with some spice. Nice big eucalyptus black fruit on the palate.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1995 Château Margaux 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Full purpule color. Big canned black fruit nose with hints of paint thinner. A bit austere black fruit on the palate. Not sure how I got to this score re-reading my note?!?

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

  • 1999 Château Margaux 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Full bright purple color. Huge nose of coffee black raspberry. Big bold sweet black fruit with great concentration. Another great 99...

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Flight 6 - Expresso Au Poivre Sirloin Roast with smoked potates, petite green beans, shallot confit (1 Note)

  • NV Château Palmer Historical XIXth Century Blend L.20.04. 95 Points

    France, Vin de Table Français

    Opaque red purple color. Huge rich nose of black fruit, spice, and bacon fat(!). Huge big rich ripe sweet black fruit with lovely round sweetness, a caramel note, and a bit of black spice. An unusual wine that I really enjoyed.

    Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Closing

We finished with a couple ports - 63 Sandemans and 70 Fonseca, but I was too far gone to get notes.

×
×