Wine Enthusiast 97Wine Enthusiast 96Jeb Dunnuck 95James Suckling 95
Bordeaux

2014 Palmer

The Collective Review

At this stage the wines of the 2014 vintage are an excellent reflection of the diversity of the estate’s plots. Each personality is expressed in these two blends as if a veil had been lifted. It is without a doubt one of the first results of our biodynamic approach.

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It's easy to call this a beautiful wine—it's dense and lush, with great layers of black fruit and acidity. The first fully biodynamic vintage from this estate has certainly yielded impressive ripe fruit, with structured tannins and dark berry flavors that linger long. It has enormous potential, certainly not be ready to drink before 2027. Read more
Critic Reviews
Expert Review
97 POINTS
Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

It's easy to call this a beautiful wine—it's dense and lush, with great layers of black fruit and acidity. The first fully biodynamic vintage from this estate has certainly yielded impressive ripe fruit, with structured tannins and dark berry flavors that linger long. It has enormous potential, certainly not be ready to drink before 2027.

Expert Review
96 POINTS
Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

95–97. Barrel Sample. This is a beautiful, structured wine, with great fruit. Blackberries and currants lie on a bed of structured tannins and firm wood. It is rich, while still presenting ample freshness and acidity. This will age very well.   — R.V. (3/31/2015)

Expert Review
95 POINTS
Jeb Dunnuck

The 2014 Palmer is up with the crème de la crème of the vintage and should merit an even higher score in 5-7 years. A blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot brought up in 65% new French oak, its deep ruby/purple-tinged color is followed by a rich, opulent bouquet of blackcurrants, black cherries, chocolate, and tobacco, with hints of graphite and background oak. With more texture and mid-palate depth than most in the vintage, this terrific 2014 is medium to full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, layered and as hedonistic and sexy as it gets in the vintage. Give bottle 4-5 years and it should drink nicely for two decades.

Expert Review
95 POINTS
James Suckling

This really develops wonderfully in the glass starting out earthy with mushrooms and spices and then turns to dark fruit such as blackberries and blackcurrants. Full-bodied, very intense and minerally. Firm and silky tannins and a long, long finish. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink in 2022.

Expert Review
95 POINTS
Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

The 2014 Palmer is endowed with serious depth and intensity. Black cherry, bittersweet chocolate, spice, leather, tobacco and menthol infuse the 2014 with striking midpalate depth, unctuousness and texture. Silky, plush and polished, the 2014 will likely offer a very long window of pure drinking pleasure. It is one of the sexiest, raciest 2014s readers will come across. The blend is 49 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 45 % Merlot and 6 % Petit Verdot aged in 60-65 % new French oak. 95+

Expert Review
94 POINTS
Neal Martin - Wine Advocate

The Château Palmer 2014 is a blend of 45% Merlot, 49% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot cropped at 33hl/ha between 22 September and 14 October. There is certainly more fruit intensity on the nose compared to the Alter Ego: more density, perhaps more opaqueness in tandem with more delineation. Dark plums, boysenberry jam and mineral abound. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, edgy tannin and crisp acidity (pH 3.6), a dash of cracked black pepper enlivening the back palate with a taut, quite grippy finish. This is a more masculine Palmer in prospect, one that will deserve five or six years in bottle.

Expert Review
94 POINTS
Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

Espresso bean, truffle, floral, plum and earthy scents pop quickly as your nose meets the glass. A polished and elegant debutante wrapped in a gown of velvety tannins, this wine is fresh, clean and pure leaving you with a sensuous drape of lingering fruits. This wine is the first fully biodynamic vintage for the chateau. Produced from a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, the reached 13.5 alcohol with a pH of 3.6. It represents 55% of the harvest, which took place between September 22 and October 14. 94-95 Pts

Expert Review
94 POINTS
James Molesworth - Wine Spectator

This has a fresh, energetic feel, with lots of bramble-edged grip pushing the core of raspberry, plum and cherry coulis flavors. The finish is very pure, punctuated by lively floral and iron notes. Flaunts minerality in the end. Best from 2020 through 2035.

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Technical Attributes
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Tasting Notes

The 2014 Palmer has a clean and fresh blackberry, raspberry and cedar scented bouquet, not complex but nicely detailed. It just needs more personality to develop. The palate is medium-bodied with light tannin, a touch of espresso on the entry tincturing the red berry fruit, saline with a dash of white pepper on the finish. It is not an imposing Margaux, not the longest potentially lived, but it is well crafted. It would not surprise me if this Palmer is beginning to close down after bottling. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Neal Martin Vinous 92 Points

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Winemakers Note

What if biodynamic viticulture brought us closer to our terroir? Two hundred years after Major General Charles Palmer acquired the estate, the 2014 vintage provides a simple answer to this question: its energy beautifully integrates ageing and releases fruit and minerality.

Early in the summer, the sun had played and endless game of hide-and-seek. But when the harvest ended on 14th October, it was under the same glorious sun that we had enjoyed all throughout September. Everything had started quite well: a rainy winter had allowed the estate to renew its water reserves. In the spring, flowering went well. But early July, the weather became unstable and the vines focused on their fine foliage, to the detriment of their grapes. August wasn’t much better, veraison was slow and the berries began to swell...

Luckily the sun finally returned at the end of the month. September’s extraordinary weather conditions modified the profile of the vintage. As berry size decreases, sugar, anthocyanin and tannin levels increases.‍‍ On 22nd September, we harvested the first plot. The particularly good weather allowed us to harvest perfectly ripe grapes. In the cellar, the spotlight was on innovation. After two years of experiments in reducing the level of sulfur in our wines, we decided not to add any sulfur to the harvested grapes in order to let them immediately express their complexity.

‍At this stage the wines of the 2014 vintage are an excellent reflection of the diversity of the estate’s plots. Each personality is expressed in these two blends as if a veil had been lifted. It is without a doubt one of the first results of our biodynamic approach.

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