Alter Ego Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend

Could have been poorly stored - huge mushroom aromas and compost - will see how the decant fares

Beautiful aged BORDEAUX. Great with a rack of Lamb. Delicious. Enjoy

Beautiful wine. Not too showy but exquisite balance and a long pleasant finish.

Founded by Charles Palmer, an officer & a gentleman, also an aide-de-camp of the Prince of Wales, convinced by Marie de Gascq, a widow, to buy her estate. Intense fruit aromas of dark berries with a floral edge. A blend of Merlot-52%; Cab Sauv-42%; Petit Verdot-6%; shows cherry & blackberry fruit flavors with nutty vanilla spice. Tannins are well integrated, pack a punch, but needs more time. Nicely balanced with acidity, elegant quality, lingering ending with earthy mineral character! Very Nice

This bottle I picked up just before the holiday weekend. I hope everyone is having a great holiday of family, friends and wine. I have opened the 2014 Alter Ego de Palmer Margaux Mèdoc. 52% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petit Verdot and 3% other (probably Cabernet Franc).

On the nose the is plenty of dark fruit black cherry, black raspberry, black currant, licorice, rose, violet, leather, chocolate powder, graphite and earth.

On the palate the dark fruit continues with black cherry, black raspberry, black currant, tar, spice, rose, leather and rich soil.

The wine is medium to full bodied, round and fleshy with medium + acidity and medium + smooth tannin that coats the mouth and leads to a long prolonged finish. Please continue being safe this holiday and remember those that went before protecting our freedoms. Nostrovia! 🍷🍷🍷🍷

My first bottle of eight. It’s early but with seven more bottles, I took advantage of my curiosity. A stunning vintage and perhaps their best Alter Ego. Beautiful nose of fresh floral mid and dark red fruits with excellent silky mouthfeel. Two hour decant. I would wait another five years to check on my next bottle. Hedy’s 4th and main course, Lamb - Rack, Shank, Lavender, Cumin, Coriander and a tiny bit of Mint w/ Honey, Butter Beans, Baby Vegetable. Excellent preparation. The 09 Alter Ego did it justice. @PlateAndBottle

Ripping acidity, good length, ripe plum and cassis #margaux

Rich and perfumed with great nose and silky and velvety tannins. Notes of black raspberry, cassis and violets with a tremendously long finish

Sleek and endowed. Voluminous and pure nose, rich black fruit with subtle charcoal and pipe tobacco notes. Plush mouthfeel, with vivid minerality on the finish.

This is one of my more interesting Bordeaux stories. I attended the 14 Bordeaux En Primeur largely through the kindness of Clyde Beffa the owner of K&L Wine Merchants. For those of you that aren't familiar with the En Primeur, it's a professional event where you basically barrel taste the new Bordeaux vintage. The 13 vintage we tasted was one of the most difficult vintages in recent times. Perhaps, even more difficult than the 97. Time will certainly tell...it always does! Over the 5 to 6 days I was there, we tasted somewhere between 1000-1500 wines. Not for the faint of heart. Nearly all the 2013 wines we tasted that week were brutally rough tannic wines. It was like coarse sandpaper on the sides of your cheeks, gums and palate. So much that when we went to the Negotiant Joanne and tasted 250 wines over 3 hours, I brushed my teeth at least three times without toothpaste as the tannin build up on the gums etc. was more than one can handle. However, when we went to Chateau Palmer and tasted their second wine (Alter Ego), it was elegant heaven on the palate. We asked ourselves, what had the other producers gotten so wrong that this second wine had gotten so right. It stood out above & beyond the first & second growths wines we tasted that week. Not that those wines in the long haul won't be better in the years to come over the Alter Ego. However, the Alter Ego was elegant relief after so many brutally tannic red wines. It was so soft, elegant and beautiful. Tonight is the first time I've had it since then. It's not as fresh tonight as it was in the Spring of 14 but delicious none the less. This is the only 13 I purchased in futures. Tonight it's showing everything I expected back in the Spring of 14 except the freshness. This is not a wine that will cellar 20 plus years but it will certainly cellar 10 years plus. This 13 would fool many as a new world wine as the fruits are so ripe. The fruits run ripe to dry and are; blackberries, black plum, dark cherries, pouched strawberries, spice, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, dry florals, lavender, dark soil with crushed dry rocks, volcanic minerals, leather, dry stems, The acidity is a little lean. However, the structure & tannins are fairly smooth and the length is beautiful for such a young wine. It still needs some cellaring time to bring forth the complete balance of fruit and earth into harmony. The finish is still a bit dry but at the same time rich and complex. Quite impressive with food and or on it's own.