Château Palmer Château Palmer Margaux 2022 750ml

98-100 Barrel sample. This majestic aromatic wine is fine and stylish. It has layers of rich black fruits and firm tannins. This will be a great wine that has acidity, structure embedded within it. The wine is rich, but beautifully textured and with a great future.

So much class in the nose with a sophisticated kaleidoscope of dark fruit such as blackcurrants, and spices such as salt and pepper, as well as cloves and nutmeg. Full-bodied. Compacted and dense yet weightless. It opens beautifully. The tannins go on and on with wonderful presence. Salty undertones. (4/2023).

Great aromas of blackcurrants, black truffles, blueberries, lead pencil and hints of cedar. Full-bodied and powerful with fantastic tannin backbone giving it great length and power. Muscular. Toned. Flexing. This needs time. Best after 2028. (James Suckling)

Massively rich already with density and opulence, this powerful wine is half-and-half Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The dark tannins presage aging for many years. Drink from 2027. (Roger Voss)

Lots of creme de cassis with cedar, dried flowers, blackberries and dark cherries. Opulent and flamboyant. Full-bodied and layered, this grows with plush, velvety tannins that caress every inch of your palate. Extremely long and attractive in the finish. Well-designed in this ripe year. 51% merlot, 45% cabernet sauvignon, and 4% petit verdot. Best after 2029.

The flagship 2020 Château Palmer checks in as 48% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Petit Verdot that’s aged one year in 50–60% new barrels before moving to foudre. It’s another ripe, sexy, yet incredibly pure wine from this team offering loads of black and blue fruits, some iris flower, spice, iron, and obvious mineral nuances, full-bodied richness, velvety tannins, and a great finish. It’s easily one of the most opulent, sexiest wines from the Médoc, and while it’s already just about impossible to resist, it deserves 7–8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 40+ years. (Jeb Dunnuck)

This juicy wine has aromatic black fruits that give way to cinammon spices and intense acidity along with dark, plush blackberry fruits. Wait to drink this impressive wine until 2028. Biodynamic. (Roger Voss)

Expressive and well-delineated, with singed iris, ink and alder accents leading off, followed by dark currant, blackberry and black cherry paste flavors that are both lush and racy in feel. Warm paving stone and dark tobacco gird the finish, which has ample structure for the cellar, Shows the floral lift and showy fruit of the vintage married to a growl of real terroir. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2027 through 2050. 8,000 cases made.

Thomas Duroux and his team opted to wait to pick the 2022 Palmer in pursuit of full maturity, taking advantage of the resilience of the estate's terroirs, and they have followed up with a brilliantly executed élevage that has retained pure, vivid flavors despite the wine's ripeness and unctuosity. Bursting with aromas of blackberries, crème de cassis, mulberries and violets, it's full-bodied, velvety and enveloping, with a sumptuous core of rich, fleshy fruit framed by sweet, powdery tannins, taking on more and more floral nuances as it sits in the glass. This is one of the Médoc's most sensual wines this year.

The Grand Vin 2022 Château Palmer is based on 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot, from tiny yields of 22 hectoliters per hectare. It's a deep, unctuous, fabulously textured 2022 that does everything right. Ripe blackcurrants, blueberries, liquid violets, and freshly sharpened pencil notes define the aromatics, and it's full-bodied, with a pure, layered, seamless mouthfeel, a remarkable floral character, and a great finish. It's a ripe, opulent, incredibly sexy Palmer that will benefit from a decade of bottle age and evolve gracefully over the following 30-40 years.

Aromas of raspberries, cassis and cherries mingle with hints of violets, raw cocoa and hints of truffle in a perfumed bouquet. The 2020 Palmer is a full-bodied, layered and seamless wine that’s deep and concentrated, with a vibrant core of beautifully pure and perfumed fruit, lively acids and ultra-refined tannins. This suave but authoritative Palmer is one of the high points of the vintage.

It bursts forth on the nose with precocious black cherries, blueberry, violet and touches of marmalade and tobacco in the background. Complex and expressive. The palate is structured, with the tannic backbone, that winemaker Thomas Duroux talked about, lending this Palmer a sense of verticality. Hints of black pepper emerge with time, multi-layered, a powerful Margaux and yet the IPT is actually lower than elsewhere (76). Quite linear on the tobacco-infused finish, which is just quintessential Palmer. Do reserve a bin in your cellar for this and let it gather dust for at least a decade. (NM 5/2023)

There’s brightness and clarity to this young wine, with blackcurrants, violets, lavender and blackberries. Medium body with a sold core of fruit and a long, fresh finish. Fine tannins. Bright acidity. 56% merlot, 3% petit verdot and 41% cabernet sauvignon. From biodynamically grown grapes.

The 2021 Château Palmer is 56% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot. It’s similarly ruby/plum-hued yet is more tight and focused, with beautiful blue fruits, violets, graphite, and spicy oak aromas and flavors. As with all the top 2021s, it has an incredible purity, polished, and refinement, with silky tannins, a flawlessly balanced mouthfeel, and outstanding length. It’s one of the few 2021s that demands 4–6 years of bottle age and will have upwards of two decades of prime drinking. (Jeb Dunnuck)

The 2021 Palmer has turned out beautifully in bottle, wafting from the glass with expressive aromas of blackberries, cherries and mulberries mingled with notions of iris, dark chocolate and spices. Medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with an enveloping core of succulent fruit framed by rich, sweet tannins, it concludes with a long, expansive finish. It’s a blend of 56% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Petit Verdot.

Nicely packed, with a mix of black currant, plum and blackberry compote flavors at the core, all supported by bay leaf, tobacco and roasted cedar notes. Shows good energy throughout, along with a swath of freshly plowed earth and an underlying hint of cast iron on the finish, providing range and character. Just misses the tension and drive to be classic. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2029 through 2039. 10,000 cases made. (James Molesworth)

Offers an almost juicy edge, making this difficult vintage stand out from the pack while giving its core of black cherry and black currant some energy. Subtle alder, tobacco and warm earth accents underscore the finish. Shows a late mineral twang, with just a wisp of the vintage’s austerity. Serious kudos here. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2035. 7,500 cases made. (James Molesworth)