2022 Alter Ego de Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux

2022 Alter Ego de Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux

Product: 20228004295
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2022 Alter Ego de Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
Case format
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Price per case
6 x 75cl bottle
Berry Bros. & Rudd BB&R 14 cases £402.00
En Primeur Limited availability
En Primeur Limited availability
1 x 600cl imperial
Berry Bros. & Rudd BB&R 2 cases £591.00
En Primeur Limited availability
En Primeur Limited availability
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Description

Château Palmer’s second wine is 35% of the production, cropped at 22hl/ha from the lighter gravel soils. Like the grand vin, this is at the richer end of the scale for the vintage. It is extraordinarily perfumed, full of rose and violet, following through on the palate with textures and flavours of macerated red fruits.

Overall, this is lush, open and beguiling, but in need of a little patience to allow its full potential to emerge. Thomas Duroux’s winemaking philosophy this year was to maximise elements of ripeness and extraction.

Merlot 51%; Cabernet Sauvignon 43%; Petit Verdot 6%

Drink 2027 - 2040

Score: 17/20

Berry Bros. & Rudd (April 2023)

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Critics reviews

Neal Martin, Vinous90-92/100

The 2022 Alter Ego is a deep limpid purple in color. It has a huge bouquet as if someone has shoved a bunch of violets in your face and said "Smell that". It just doesn't hold back. The palate is medium-bodied, with a sweet, ripe entry. Quite dense, structured and grippy, with a slightly briny finish.

Drink 2027 - 2050

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (May 2023)

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Antonio Galloni, Vinous93-95/100

The 2022 Alter Ego is a total pleasure bomb. Ripe and sensual, with caressing tannins, the 2022 is exceptionally beautiful. Floral and spice top notes lend tons of aromatic presence. More than anything, though, I am so impressed with the wine’s exceptional balance. Especially the tannins.

Nothing, in particular, stands out, as the wine’s balance is nothing short of magnificent. The 2022 is pure and total sensuality.

Drink 2027 - 2042

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (April 2023)

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Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW91-93/100

The 2022 Alter Ego is a blend of 51% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it swans out with showy notions of juicy blueberries, black raspberries, and iris bulb, followed by suggestions of dark chocolate, cardamom, and crushed rocks. The medium to full-bodied palate has beautifully ripe, plush tannins and a lively backbone to support the generous, perfumed black and blue fruits, finishing long and perfumed. pH 3.73.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent (May 2023)

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Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW91-93/100
The 2022 Alter Ego is a blend of 51% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it swans out with showy notions of juicy blueberries, black raspberries, and iris bulb, followed by suggestions of dark chocolate, cardamom, and crushed rocks. The medium to full-bodied palate has beautifully ripe, plush tannins and a lively backbone to support the generous, perfumed black and blue fruits, finishing long and perfumed. pH 3.73.

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent (May 2023) Read more
Jane Anson92/100

Dense fruits, violet reflections, with a hit of iris, peony and roses. This is a serious wine, with intense phenolics and full extraction that just walks the line, edges of ripe cassis, fig, saffran spice, cocoa bean, grilled campfire notes, dark bitter chocolate and fennel. High drama, maintains estate signature, keeping its own imprint and personality. Harvest September 7 right through to October 5. Blend done by December, yield 23hl/h. 3.73ph. Thomas Duroux director.

Drink 2027 - 2042

Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (May 2023)

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Jancis Robinson MW17/20

51% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot. Cask sample. Fresh, floral and juicy, the accent on the fruit. A real delectation. Tannins firm but fine, so well structured as well. There’s drinkability but also the potential to age. 14.2%.

Drink 2028 - 2042

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (May 2023)

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Wine Advocate91-93/100

A blend of 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, the 2022 Alter Ego de Palmer offers up aromas of cherries, wild berries and plums mingled with vine smoke and rose petals. Medium to full-bodied, deep and brooding, with a layered core of fruit, lively acids and rich, powdery tannins, it's a gourmand, voluptuous wine that will offer a broad drinking window.

William Kelley, Wine Advocate (April 2023)

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James Suckling96-97/100

The minerality and intensity to this wine is very impressive with blackberry and blue berry aromas and flavors. Salt and pepper. It’s full and linear with a brightness and freshness. Compacted center palate.

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (April 2023)

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Decanter93/100

Gorgeous fragrance, so expressive and open, scented with red cherries, strawberries and floral notes, violets, irises and roses. Powerful on the palate, clearly ripe blackberry fruit but encased in lacy tannins with such appealing juiciness. 

Playful and so enjoyable, clean, pure, and energetic with lively acidity, chalky edges and spicing throughout. Classy and well constructed with refinement. Really quite moreish even now but still delivers power and the Margaux charm. 

3.73pH. 15% press wine. Harvest took one month, from 7 September to 5 October. 70% grand vin, 30% Alter Ego.

Drink 2027 - 2045

Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (April 2023)

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Jeb Dunnuck93-95/100

I always love the second wine from this estate, and their 2022 Alter Ego De Palmer should be terrific. Based on 61% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Petit Verdot, aged in 25% new oak, it's a deeply hued Margaux with lots of ripe red and blue fruits, some classic chalky minerality, and floral notes. It shows the vintage's powerful, concentrated style and is full-bodied, with terrific balance.

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (May 2023)

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About this WINE

Château Palmer

Château Palmer

Château Palmer is a leading wine estate in Margaux. Within its appellation, Palmer is certainly the closest rival to its first growth neighbor, Ch. Margaux. Although officially ranked a Third Growth, at their best, the wines of Ch. Palmer are among the greatest anywhere in Bordeaux.

The estate dates to the 17th century, though it was not until 1814 that Englishman Charles Palmer took ownership and gave it his name. In 1938, the estate was bought by four Bordeaux négociant families, two of whom – Sichel and Mähler-Besse – still own the property today. Since 2004, the estate has been led by the charismatic agronomist and oenologist Thomas Duroux, who had previously made wine at Ornellaia in Tuscany.

Thomas undertook major renovations, including completely modernizing the grape reception area, the vat rooms, and barrel cellar. In the vineyards, the technical team began experimenting with biodynamic farming, and today Palmer is among the leading biodynamic vineyards in Bordeaux. In addition to the grand vin, the Ch. Palmer’s portfolio also includes a cuvée called Alter Ego.

Introduced in 1998, Alter Ego is produced from grapes grown on dedicated plots and blended differently from the grand vin. As such, the estate regards it not as a second wine but as a distinctive cuvée in its own right.

Palmer lies in the commune of Cantenac, just outside the village of Margaux. 66 hectares of vines are planted on a plateau of gravel, sand, and clay soils overlooking the Gironde estuary. Plantings include equal parts of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon at 47% each and 6% Petit Verdot. Although the average age of the vines is fairly typical of the region at about 40 years, some of the vines are over 70 years old. That, along with the relatively high Merlot content and the benefits of careful, well-established biodynamic practices, may account for the wines’ richness and complexity.

Fermentation occurs in conical, stainless-steel vats in varying sizes, allowing each variety and parcel to be fermented separately for subsequent selection and blending. The grand vin is aged for 20-22 months in barrels, of which less than 50% is new. Thanks to the health and consistency of the estate’s biodynamically produced fruit, Palmer has been able, over the past few years, to safely reduce the quantity of sulfites added throughout the process, aiming to produce wines with more freshness and purity of flavor. For Alter Ego, less new wood is used, and aging time is slightly reduced to produce a wine the estate describes as “distinguished by its freshness of fruit, crisp intensity, and richness from the moment out of the barrel”.

Between 2008 and 2013, Ch. Palmer made the transition to 100% biodynamic farming. In addition to its vineyards, the estate is home to a diversity of complementary plants and grazing animals.

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Margaux

Margaux

If Pauillac can be seen as the bastion of ‘traditional’ Red Bordeaux, then Margaux represents its other facet in producing wines that are among Bordeaux’s most sensual and alluring. It is the largest commune in the Médoc, encompassing the communes of Cantenac, Soussans, Arsac and Labaude, in addition to Margaux itself. Located in the centre of the Haut-Médoc, Margaux is the closest of the important communes to the city of Bordeaux.

The soils in Margaux are the lightest and most gravelly of the Médoc, with some also containing a high percentage of sand. Vineyards located in Cantenac and Margaux make up the core of the appelation with the best vineyard sites being located on well-drained slopes, whose lighter soils give Margaux its deft touch and silky perfumes. Further away from the water, there is a greater clay content and the wines are less dramatically perfumed.

Margaux is the most diffuse of all the Médoc appelations with a reputation for scaling the heights with irreproachable wines such as Ch. Margaux and Ch. Palmer, but also plumbing the depths, with too many other châteaux not fulfilling their potential. There has been an upward shift in recent years, but the appellation cannot yet boast the reliability of St Julien. However, the finest Margaux are exquisitely perfumed and models of refinement and subtlety which have few parallels in Bordeaux.

Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Margaux, Ch. Palmer, Ch. Brane-Cantenac, Ch. Rauzan-Ségla , Ch. Dufort-Vivens, Ch. Ferrière, Ch. du Tertre, Ch. Giscours, Ch. d'Angludet.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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