Young Palmer shines in tasting

A vertical tasting of Palmer conducted by critic Jean-Marc Quarin showed younger vintages in a much better light than their (supposedly) illustrious fore-runners.

The tasting covered 2010-1988 with 1982 thrown in as well. All the wines had been bought en primeur and stored in the cellar of a collector in Switzerland where the tasting was conducted last month.

Quarin pointed out a number of “strong points” gleaned from the tasting, namely that: “In general terms, the structures are silky and delicately complex with no overpowering tannins,” black cherry and exotic spices were common threads across all the wines and that the 2008 in particular was a “nice surprise”.

Weaker points included an “annoying woodiness on the finish” of wines up to 2008 after which it ceases to be a problem indicating improved oak use and/or quality.

The 2002 and even 1999 were judged to have developed “disappointingly”, the former apparently at its best between 2009-2010 but now “dry” and “undrinkable” (Quarin suggested “getting rid of it”) while the latter also no longer “tastes like it used to be”. Quarin stated in his notes he had tried both wines on numerous occasions up until the recent tasting.

He also noted that the corks for the wines between 1994 and 1982 were “very worn” but made no mention of whether this may have been due to their storage conditions – although this seems unlikely as they have been stored properly since release.

Nonetheless, he noted that there is a lot of bottle variation in the older vintages. For example, he tasted a bottle of the 1990 in 2008 from the same case as the recent tasting and it “behaves poorly” by comparison, a difference he attributed to the various condition of the corks.

Even the 1982 he judged, although “pleasant”, to have “come to the end of the line”.

Generally, he remarked, “this panoramic tasting shows that Palmer, like many other wines, stays in line with tastes that change over time,” with those pre-1995 examples displaying higher acidic “sharpness” and a “less fleshy body”.

He concluded: “If our tastes change so quickly within twenty years, you may ask if it makes sense not to drink these wines earlier. These are after all Margaux wines that are tender, fragrant and ethereal and more specifically Palmer’s wines include generous helpings of Merlot, a smooth grape with no stiffness.

“So I would encourage you not to idolise young vintages, to deliberately open them in order to identify their style and to then consume them at a time that seems right for you. In fact this approach could be extended to all wines.”