Château Palmer 2015

Starts gently, full-bodied and fruity, appears velvety and smooth, finishes long and shows remarkable density and substance with first-class tannins that convey freshness and minerality. Sensual in the truest sense of the word.

This is dark and muscular in style, brimming with bramble, warm tar and paving stone notes that are matched by deep layers of fig, blackberry and cassis. A gorgeous bittersweet chocolate detail adds backbone to the finish while violet and iron elements lurk in reserve. Another large wave of fruit and dark earth courses through the finish. Best from 2025 through 2045.

I am breathless with the dark-berry, lavender and burnt-orange aromas. Some salt. Just so formidable and deep. Stunningly sexy on the palate with a density and power, yet it leaves things so clean and bright. You want to drink it and enjoy it now, but it has the structure to last forever. Drink in 2022.

Tasted blind. Blackish garnet. Slightly tired, dried fruit on the nose. No – that’s too harsh. It does have some life! So I will change my mark from 14.5. (There was a particularly wide spread of scores for this wine and when its identity was revealed I wondered if it might have been an imperfect bottle). (JR)

The 2015 Palmer is well-defined on the nose with blackberry, cedar and light cigar box scents. This has a touch of camphor in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweet, candied entry and blood orange infusing the red fruit. This is a well-made Margaux with good balance and gentle grip on the harmonious finish, but it will require time to absorb the oak. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting.

This is extraordinary. The wine is so silky, it is effortless to taste and drink. The fruits paint your palate. But the wine is light on its feet. Sensuous, sexy and racy, the fruit offers a melange of red and black cherries, plums. In the finish you find a griotte sensation that sticks with you for close to 60 seconds. This perfect mix of elegance and purity should age effortlessly for decades.

Deep dark ruby garnet, purple reflections, brightening towards the rim. Delicate oak savouriness, black berry fruit, ripe cherries, a hint of orange zest, inviting bouquet. Powerful, chocolaty texture, taut tannins, black cherries and nougat on the finish, lingers for minutes, has what it takes to become a great classic of the future.

One of the gems in Margaux is unquestionably the 2015 Palmer. Possessing more elegance and purity, as well as concentration, than the Alter Ego, it offers up a gorgeous bouquet of crème de cassis, caramelized cherries, charcoal, and graphite, with just a hint of spring flowers in the background. A final blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot that was brought up in 70% new oak, this full-bodied, ripe, incredibly polished 2015 is already hard to resist given its elegance and purity, yet should be at its best from 2023-2043. If you have more than one bottle, it's sensational today as well.

50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. 37 hl/ha. Deep, intense purple with lilac and violet highlights. Extremely spicy bouquet with plenty of black pepper, truffle notes, cassis and blackberry – already a captivating show on the nose! On the palate, velvety and graceful, already seducing with round, rather flattering tannins, lots of licorice and mulberries on the long, majestic, aromatic finish. The Palmer team compares this vintage to a blend of 2005, 2009 and 2010. For me, it’s simply a monumental Palmer. Not spectacular, but reassuring. At an extremely high level. Margaux nonchalance. When I started tasting en primeur, it seemed to me that the 1985 Palmer was a shade better than Château Margaux. I had that feeling again this year – after 30 years! And I also found certain taste parallels in the 2015 to the 2005 and 1985. It is the absolute best Margaux of the appellation.

50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. 37 hl/ha. Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. Extremely spicy, plenty of black pepper, hints of truffle, cassis, blackberries, a real feast for the nose even at this stage. On the palate, velvety and graceful, with round, almost caressing tannins, lots of licorice and mulberries in the long, noble, aromatic finish. The Palmer team compares this vintage to a blend of 2005, 2009 and 2010. For me, it’s quite simply a truly great Palmer. Not spectacular, but reassuring. At an extremely high level. Margaux nonchalance. When I started tasting en primeur wines, it seemed to me that the 1985 Palmer was a notch better than Château Margaux. I felt the same this year—after 30 years! And I also found certain flavor parallels in the 2015 to the 1985… It is absolutely the best Margaux of the appellation.

(44% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 37 hl/ha) Dense, velvety, fruity, finely opulent bouquet, black berries, plums, delicate dried-fruit notes, pralines, tobacco, truffle, mocha, mint. Densely woven, velvety, multi-layered palate with a dense, creamy structure, plenty of fine tannins, concentrated fruit, diverse, concentrated aromatics, very long, finely opulent finish with lots of lingering flavors. 19/20 2024 - 2050

Luscious without shouting, expanding slowly, surely and confidently through the palate, silky tannins, satin and pumice stone, great appellation signature with its floral pillow and savoury spiced raspberry and crushed rocks. 60% new oak. Thomas Duroux director. Harvest September 22 to October 7. At this point the estate was fully in conversion, working 100% organically and biodynamically.

Medium to deep garnet in color, the 2015 Palmer explodes with flamboyant notes of kirsch, blackcurrant pastilles, and blueberry compote with exotic wafts of Chinese five spice, rose oil, sandalwood, and wood smoke. Full-bodied, the palate is a veritable firework display of opulence, delivering plush, rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and decadence. The blend is 44% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6% Petit Verdot.

It tastes even better than last year! This 2015, the second vintage produced using biodynamic methods, shows exceptional precision and distinction. It extends into irresistible tangy notes.

Second vintage under biodynamics. The color is dark and the nose discreet. With aeration, it becomes very complex, chocolaty and spicy. The wine is elegant and refined, with fine tannins; overall it has good length with menthol and dark chocolate aromas. It shows great elegance. The 2015 vintage produced a more Cabernet-driven Palmer focused on freshness, whereas 2014, for example, leaned toward smoothness. 2015 is greater than 2009—perhaps not than 2010—but more precise. The wine was made with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot. The grand vin accounts for 50% of production and comes in at 14% ABV.

Deep garnet red. What a nose, what magnificent fruity intensity with freshness, red and black berries, and spices. A floral touch. A fine, elegant, complex attack. On the palate, the wine dazzles with balance, brilliance, power, and complexity. The tannins are silky, perfectly integrated, and in symbiosis with the acidic structure that provides backbone and imparts freshness. There is richness, tension, and an endless finish. A breathtaking Palmer, already among the very greatest with the ambition to rank among Palmer’s greatest achievements.

Logo on the cork: AL Dark, intense, beautiful colour with slight evolution. Highly aromatic nose, delicate, pure, fruity, complex and deep. Soft on the attack, juicy mid-palate, very aromatic, with a supple body; the wine caresses the palate. It bounces back into a very long finish, complex and noble in its substance, texture and aromas. It’s superb. The curious will taste it. For the table, it needs time to acquire patina.

Six months on from my last tasting and the wine is a little more closed than it was, as the 2015s begin to pull inward for a few years. There’s still no mistaking the quality of this vintage, and it remains a brilliant Palmer, on a par with the greatest years. Still extremely young, with rich, deeply textured fruit, loads of blueberry and raspberry, all expressed with clarity and purity. Grilled cedar, liquorice and crushed-stone minerality. Harvest from September 22 to October 7. At this point the estate was fully in conversion for certification, working 100% organically and biodynamically.

97–99. Barrel Sample. This wine is structured and extraordinarily dense. Powerful tannins and a hint of chocolate from extraction give the wine concentration. The richness of the wine is right there, just suggesting alcohol. There is freshness at the end that brings a final, delicious lift.