2020 Alter Ego De Palmer

94 POINTS

Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

In this wine, the initial acidity gives way to richness and ripe tannins. With freshness and ripe acidity. the wine is balanced and has a great future. Drink from 2025.

94 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

The 2020 Alter Ego is phenomenal. Bright acids and lifted floral top notes give the Alter Ego terrific brilliance. The combination of the growing season and a move towards foudres for the second year of élevage yields an Alter Ego that is decidedly linear in construction. The 2020 is going to need a number of years to come around. It's a gorgeous wine, but readers will have to get used to a style that is quite different from the more exuberant wines of the past. It's a very classic Alter Ego and very classic Margaux.

93 POINTS

Peter Moser - Falstaff Magazine

Dark, bright ruby garnet, purple reflections, subtle rim brightening. Ripe red cherries, wild berries, fresh orange zest, delicate floral nuances. Juicy, fresh, elegant and animating to drink, red berry texture, fine tannins, mineral-salty finish, pleasant cherry fruit on the finish, a lively food companion.

93 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2020 Alter Ego is very pure on the nose, almost Burgundian in style with lush blueberry, boysenberry, crushed violets and a touch of vanilla. It is not a powerful bouquet but it seems to gain momentum with aeration, finding its own voice with each swirl of the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with quite grippy tannins for Alter Ego, possibly because of tasting slightly later (Thomas Duroux commented it is the most tannic that he has produced.) Crustacea-tinged black fruit lacquer the mouth, fresh and very delineated on the finish. Maybe it needs a little more sustain on the aftertaste, though that may evolve throughout its élevage

93 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2020 Alter Ego de Palmer has a tightly-wound bouquet that demands a little more coaxing than other Margaux's that I tasted. Quite refined with black cherries, blackcurrant, iris flower and light iodine scents. Lovely definition. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fresh on the entry and quite saline, not as flamboyant as you might expect with a pleasant strictness towards the tannic finish (this is the most tannic Alter Ego ever produced.) Very fine, but serious.

93 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter Magazine

Chocolate shavings and smoked coffee bean on the nose, it's a vintage where you can't get away from the tannins, but here they have sinew and juice, like the best translation of the tannins in the year. This has real purity of fruit (very low SO2 addition at Palmer), together with the gourmet touch that you want in Alter Ego. 45% of overall production. 3.73pH. Survived mildew better than in 2018 because of experience in dealing with the conditions. August 15 to 29 for the harvest. A yield of 31hl/ha.