2018 Château Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux

The 2018 Palmer is even more impressive from bottle than it was from barrel, and that is saying something. Palmer is a real head-turner in 2018, rich, exotic, and beautifully layered. Inky dark fruit, chocolate, liquorice, espresso and sweet floral notes build over time, but the wine's stunning depth and textural voluptuousness elevate it into the realm of the truly sublime. 

As I wrote in my initial review, the 2018 Palmer is a freak of nature from yields of just 11 hectoliters per hectare harvested over an entire month. Mildew was especially punishing. There is no Alter Ego, just the Grand Vin. Kudos to CEO Thomas Duroux and his team for what I can only describe as a truly magical wine.

Drink 2033 - 2068

A year that has already passed into Palmer legend. An extremely stressful growing season, where mildew brought the yield right down to 11hl/h, and no Alter Ego was produced. What the team produced with the rest is therefore even more extraordinary. No question that this is concentrated and muscular, and needs time in bottle, but even at this early stage the richness and depth of display are clear. 

Cabernet Sauvignon dominant, cassis and damson fruits studded with chocolate shavings, grilled cedar, slate and gunsmoke, all delivered with precision and laser impact. The violet and peony florals are Palmer are there, but they just give a hint of themselves right now, highlighting the depths that are to come with this wine over time. A standout success. 79% new oak. Bottled July 2020, after one year in barrel, second year in larger-sized Stockinger barrels for 20% of the crop to soften oak influence.

Drink 2028 - 2048

The 2018 Palmer is a legend in the making. I had an inkling out of barrel, but such was the intensity that I wanted to assess it in bottle before I felt confident in saying so because this could have gone either way. It storms from the glass with black fruit and floral scents, crushed violet and incense that knock your senses sideways while retaining brilliant delineation and focus. 

The palate is not quite as bold and brassy as when I tasted it from barrel, though I can vouchsafe that among over 20 vintages of Palmer that I have tasted at this stage, this is easily the most extroverted and powerful, displaying a kind of millefeuille of intense black fruit counterpoised by a razor-sharp line of acidity. 

This audacious Palmer was still revving its engines 48 hours after opening. There will never be another Palmer like this, sui generis. It was a massive risk. But by throwing caution to the wind, something extraordinary was born.

Drink 2030 - 2070

Analytically the most powerful Palmer ever in terms of the tannins and the alcohol. Thanks to mildew, their yields were a measly 11 hl/ha and the total production was about 6,000 cases. No Alter Ego this year. ‘A wine that will mark the history of the property’, according to technical director Thomas Duroux, like 1961. ‘A miracle from the vintage’, he thinks. 40% Merlot, 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot. Harvested from 13 September to 15 October. Barrel sample.

Black with barely a purple rim. Intense, concentrated cassis and blackberry, super-ripe but absolutely not overripe, a little bit of alcohol on the nose, lightly floral even with all this concentration. Very dark, almost a little tarry, black olive. Dark and rocky. On the palate, incredible concentration and density but with no thickness or astringency. So dense but so clean-lined and precise. Tannins are dry and compact but smooth and there’s an amazing freshness that seems to come from the compact tannins. And your mouth feels clean on the finish. So moreish even though at the moment you would have to take small sips. Great finesse to the texture even in such a big wine. Dark, dark and savoury on the finish. No sweetness even though the fruit is pure and ripe.

Drink 2028 - 2045

Complex nose of black cherries, blackberries, dark chocolate and floral undertones with perfume-like character. It’s full-bodied with firm tannins. Elegant on the palate with structure. Savoury and balanced, complex and layered. Long finish. Really lingers. This has really evolved into a beautiful white swan after a difficult debut from barrel! Tiny production, only 11 hectoliters per hectare. 

Try after 2024

The 2018 Palmer is composed of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot. The wine has a 3.83 pH and 14.3% alcohol. 

Very deep garnet-purple in colour, it explodes from the glass with atomic scents of blackberry preserves, crème de cassis and blueberry pie, plus suggestions of red roses, clove oil, dark chocolate and cedar chest with hints of Chinese five spice and menthol. The full-bodied palate is decadently styled, offering layer upon layer of black fruit preserves and exotic spices, framed by exquisitely plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing wonderfully fragrant and with epic length. It's an amazingly beautiful beast of a wine—one for the hedonists!

Drink 2023 - 2053

While there's not much to go around, the 2018 Château Palmer is unquestionably a stunning bottle of wine. I certainly can't think of another Palmer coming close to this level of concentration maybe the 2010 comes closest?). This blockbuster boasts a dense purple hue as well as a primordial bouquet of black cherries, mulberries, and blackberries intermixed with freshly crushed rocks, smoke tobacco, gravelly earth, lead pencil shavings, and burning embers. With full-bodied richness, a dense, stacked mid-palate, mouthcoating tannins, and a blockbuster of a finish, it's going to need 10-15 years to hit maturity, and as I wrote last year, will live for just about forever.

Drink 2033 - 2083