January 26, 2024 - Nose: Very floral, old cedar, old weathered barn. Palate: Blackberry liqueur, kirsch, thick black cherry; fine grained tannins that still manage to be silky. Wonderfully balances its forward youthfulness with just enough aged complexity. So good!
January 8, 2024 - Just way too young right now. Delicious fruit and structure but will surely improve with age. Opened bottle for 6 hrs then decanted for 90 minutes. Better on day two.
Will try again in three years.
November 3, 2023 - Grand Jury du Vin - Republic of Georgia; 11/1/2023-11/9/2023 (Republic of Georgia then stopover in Paris and Dijon): Wine 32 – Perfectly ripe black fruit, blackberry, black cherry, light caramel. Sexy and delicious.
Afterthought – I thought I had 'missed' the mark on this wine.
October 19, 2023 - Château Palmer vertical (Herbert Smith Freehills, London): 52 M, 41 CS, 7 PV. Similar showing to a bottle tried in summer 2022: this is a massive, impressive, serious wine, yet already most enjoyable. Nose initially very leafy and cigar-influenced, then the greener notes were joined by waves of floral and deep, layered red fruit notes. So dark and concentrated, some graphite. Everything in place for this to become quite wondrous around ten years from now.
April 28, 2023 - This was served blind to me. It is surprisingly, still a little lactic, showed some new oak just like a Vega sicilia would. it was served just after a 2010 Lopez that Heredia Gran Reserva, and, to be honest, there were some similitude. And international wine, delicious, top-tier, all of that, but not distinctive of Bordeaux, in the way that I would hope. so while it was familiar, and I liked it, other vintages such as 2014 are more likely to give the classical pleasure and distinctiveness that we are seeking.
April 22, 2023 - Reddish-purple, viscous, opulent texture. Heady, plum, boysenberry jam, candied black cherry, cassis and iron aromas. Ripe, primary flavors of red berry bouquet, vitamin, with a tinge of bitter on the transient finish. Maybe at an awkward phase but alas, disappointing.
January 9, 2023 - Dichtes Rubinrot. Die Nase ist tiefgründig und super offen, würzig, dunkelfruchtig, Schokolade, Süssholz, Cassis, Kirschen. Im Gaumen ein Mund voll Wein, sehr opulent und doch super elegant, die Struktur ist beeindruckend, die Tannine von höchster Güte, alles ist an seinem Platz, dieser Wein schwebt zwischen Kraft und Eleganz, Frische und Reiffruchtigkeit hin und her. Im Abgang sehr lang und mit würzig-dunkelfruchtigem Finale. Ein grosser Palmer mit hehrvorragendem Potential. 97 vvPunkte 2022 bis 2042. www.vvwine.ch
June 17, 2022 - Dinner at Noize: Showed better than the tasting sample that I had before. Less monolithic and some signs that the wine is re-emerging from its slumber. Will never be as seductive as the 1999 but those who prefer a more concentrated, powerful expression of Bordeaux will love this. Thanks to Rohit for bringing this.
June 17, 2022 - Dinner with Melvin (Noize): Still some sweet oak on the black cherryish nose, which seemed heady by comparison with the less alcoholic 1999 adjacent to it. Our concern that this might be too young to enjoy evaporated on first sip: full of deep fruit, not at all monolithic, just wonderful to drink and really food-friendly. Plenty of stuffing, but the tannins were so ripe and integrated into all that fruit. Superb, with all the sexiness that I associate with Palmer.
December 25, 2021 - Way too young. Beautiful wine anyway.