1997 Palmer

Reviews & Tasting Notes

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Drinking Window

2022 - 2030

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Beginning with the '98 vintage, Palmer will offer its new second wine, Alter Ego, en primeur. Alter Ego is made as "another style of Palmer," in the words of estate manager Bertrand Bouteiller. The denser lots are reserved for the grand vin, while Alter Ego, consisting of a higher percentage of merlot, is vinified for elegance. Bouteiller describes the '99 Palmer as having a ripeness of tannins rare for this estate. The cabernet sauvignon, at a very healthy 12% natural alcohol, was very easy to extract, and thus the cuvaison was shorter and more gentle than usual. A bit of concentration was done using the Entropie method, whereas in '98 no saignee or other concentration technique was utilized.

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Chateau Palmer is in no hurry to show its new wine to early tasters, for two reasons. First, the wine is generally assembled on the late side-at the end of February, in the case of the '98. Besides, although Palmer experimented with malo in barriques in '96 and '97-a technique widely believed to make a wine far more showy early on-the estate has not adopted this technique. That said, I was impressed by the density and sweetness of my early sample of Palmer. According to technical director Philippe Delfaut, Palmer has pruned shorter than ever in the last couple of vintages and now does a severe green pruning in the younger vines. The cabernet sauvignon was picked very late in 1998, between October 9 and 16. Polyphenol levels were very high. Cuvaison was a long 26 days for the estate cabernet but only 15 days for its merlot, with gentle pumping over and less than usual extraction. The approximate final blend includes a slightly high 50% merlot, 45% cabernet sauvignon and 5% petit verdot.

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The merlot in '97 was mellower, says Bertrand Bouteiller, but the cabernet sauvignon ultimately took greater advantage of the September sunshine. The '97 here, which features a 50% selection, consists of a close-to-normal blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon, 42% merlot and 3% petit verdot.