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Alter Ego de Palmer (2nd wine of Palmer) 2020

Margaux, Second wine

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Tasting Notes

The 2020 Alter Ego is phenomenal. Bright acids and lifted floral top notes give the Alter Ego terrific brilliance. The combination of the growing season and a move towards foudres for the second year of élevage yields an Alter Ego that is decidedly linear in construction. The 2020 is going to need a number of years to come around. It's a gorgeous wine, but readers will have to get used to a style that is quite different from the more exuberant wines of the past. It's a very classic Alter Ego and very classic Margaux.

Score: 94

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2040 23 February 2023

The 2020 Alter Ego de Palmer has a tightly-wound bouquet that demands a little more coaxing than other Margaux's that I tasted. Quite refined with black cherries, blackcurrant, iris flower and light iodine scents. Lovely definition. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fresh on the entry and quite saline, not as flamboyant as you might expect with a pleasant strictness towards the tannic finish (this is the most tannic Alter Ego ever produced.) Very fine, but serious.

Score: 93

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2050 08 February 2023

The 2020 Alter Ego is very pure on the nose, almost Burgundian in style with lush blueberry, boysenberry, crushed violets and a touch of vanilla. It is not a powerful bouquet but it seems to gain momentum with aeration, finding its own voice with each swirl of the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with quite grippy tannins for Alter Ego, possibly because of tasting slightly later (Thomas Duroux commented it is the most tannic that he has produced.) Crustacea-tinged black fruit lacquer the mouth, fresh and very delineated on the finish. Maybe it needs a little more sustain on the aftertaste, though that may evolve throughout its élevage.

Score: 92 - 94

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2027-2045 01 May 2021

Chocolate shavings and smoked coffee bean on the nose, it's a vintage where you can't get away from the tannins, but here they have sinew and juice, like the best translation of the tannins in the year. This has real purity of fruit (very low SO2 addition at Palmer), together with the gourmet touch that you want in Alter Ego. 45% of overall production. 3.73pH. Survived mildew better than in 2018 because of experience in dealing with the conditions. August 15 to 29 for the harvest. A yield of 31hl/ha.

Score: 93

Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2024 - 2038 01 May 2021

50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot. Cask sample. Very much in the Alter Ego mould – lively, fruit-driven with that vineyard-fresh feel but with a little more structure than previous years. Pure and appetising but will age. (JL)

Score: 17

James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2026 - 2035 21 April 2021