Château Palmer
Alter Ego Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend
Margaux, Médoc, Bordeaux, France
Ripping acidity, good length, ripe plum and cassis #margaux
Ripping acidity, good length, ripe plum and cassis #margaux
May 9th, 2018
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.
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.
2 people found it helpfulMar 18th, 2017
Gentle oak, vanilla. Highly elegant. Smooth and acidic. Mid body. Black currant. Cosmetic made by vanilla, berries. 2013 @9460, Felicit, 231111-231231
Gentle oak, vanilla. Highly elegant. Smooth and acidic. Mid body. Black currant. Cosmetic made by vanilla, berries. 2013 @9460, Felicit, 231111-231231
Nov 11th, 2023
The nose on the 2013 is fantastically complex, as fine as any in Bordeaux, combining the cinnamon, chocolate spice of the Right Bank, undergrowth and tobacco of the Graves, and graphite, cigar box and cedar of the Left Bank. The base structure is light-weight and the acidity is bit pronounced, this will last for a while.
The nose on the 2013 is fantastically complex, as fine as any in Bordeaux, combining the cinnamon, chocolate spice of the Right Bank, undergrowth and tobacco of the Graves, and graphite, cigar box and cedar of the Left Bank. The base structure is light-weight and the acidity is bit pronounced, this will last for a while.
Nov 17th, 2022enjoy a lot, slightly bitter but good
enjoy a lot, slightly bitter but good
Sep 24th, 2022
2013 vintage on 2020 summer. Nice balance
2013 vintage on 2020 summer. Nice balance
Jun 27th, 2020
All kinds of character and I am sure just better with age. You'll always be with us dad. I love you.
All kinds of character and I am sure just better with age. You'll always be with us dad. I love you.
Apr 26th, 2017