Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A super fresh and expressive nose with a wealth of ripe red and dark plums, as well as blackberries and cassis, with subtle cedar and bracken complexity. The palate has a deeply rich, long and assertive style with a deep-set, flavorful and structured finish. Classically styled with great depth. Second wine of Château Palmer. Try from 2023.
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Wine Enthusiast
This richly structured and tannic wine offers dark fruit and ripe tannins. The second wine of Château Palmer, it’s full of black-plum and dense berry flavors balanced by the acidity and the structure. Age this wine and drink from 2023.
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Decanter
There was a rough 60/40 split in terms of Palmer to Alter Ego in 2016 because it was a concentrated vintage and so suited the Palmer style - an interesting insight into how they blend. This is a little stricter than the typical Alter Ego, the pure and rich cassis fruit hitting you straight away, but the seduction comes through after a few moments in the glass, when ripe damson and grilled almonds appear. It has lovely freshness, and such a different fruit expression to the 2015 (which I tasted last week, so it's fresh in my mind). The 2015 was more generous, whereas here there's a clearer floral, violet edge. It may take a little longer than usual to really lay meat on the bones, but this is clearly going to reward patience.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Alter Ego is cut from the same cloth as the grand vin, just less intense, with beautiful cassis fruits, notes of spring flowers, spice, and cedar pencil. A lovely, elegant wine, it has some similarities to the 2010, yet is ever so slightly more elegant, with softer tannins. Drink this beauty any time over the coming 20 years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Blended of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 12% Petit Verdot, the deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Alter Ego de Palmer opens with beautifully expressive notes of black cherries, fresh blackberries and redcurrants plus suggestions of menthol, dark chocolate, cloves and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied with a rich mid-palate and stacks of exuberant black and red fruits, it has a velvety texture and fantastically long finish.
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Wine Spectator
Features an overt core of ripe plum and blackberry confiture flavors, lined with cocoa and fresh humus hints. A lacing of singed alder in the background helps harness the fruit, with cassis bush and licorice snap notes checking in on the finish. Drink now through 2030.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Silky, seductive and polished are the words that characterize the best wines from Margaux, the most inland appellation of the Médoc on the Left Bank of Bordeaux.
Margaux’s gravel soils are the thinnest of the Médoc, making them most penetrable by vine roots—some reaching down over 23 feet for water. The best sites are said to be on gentle outcrops, or croupes, where more gravel facilitates good drainage.
The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification but it is nonetheless important in regards to history of the area. In 1855 the finest chateaux were deemed on the basis of reputation and trading price—at that time. In 1855, Chateau Margaux achieved first growth status, yet it has been Chateau Palmer (officially third growth from the 1855 classification) that has consistently outperformed others throughout the 20th century.
Chateau Margaux in top vintages is capable of producing red Cabernet Sauvignon based wines described as pure, intense, spell-binding, refined and profound with flavors and aromas of black currant, violets, roses, orange peel, black tea and incense.
Other top producers worthy of noting include Chateau Rauzan-Ségla, Lascombes, Brane-Cantenac, and d’Issan, among others.
The best wines of Margaux combine a deep ruby color with a polished structure, concentration and an unrivaled elegance.