2014 Château Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux

The 2014 Palmer has a clean and fresh blackberry, raspberry and cedar scented bouquet, not complex but nicely detailed. It just needs more personality to develop. The palate is medium-bodied with light tannin, a touch of espresso on the entry tincturing the red berry fruit, saline with a dash of white pepper on the finish. It is not an imposing Margaux, not the longest potentially lived, but it is well crafted. It would not surprise me if this Palmer is beginning to close down after bottling. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.Drink 2022 - 2045Neil Martin, Vinous.com.com (Mar 2018)

Tasted blind. Refined and classy and polished with the tannins well covered by fruit. Dry finish but ambitious rather than raw. Stony finish. Appetising. Drink 2024-2040. jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com (February 2018)

The 2014 Palmer is endowed with serious depth and intensity. Black cherry, bittersweet chocolate, spice, leather, tobacco and menthol infuse the 2014 with striking midpalate depth, unctuousness and texture. Silky, plush and polished, the 2014 will likely offer a very long window of pure drinking pleasure. It is one of the sexiest, raciest 2014s readers will come across. The blend is 49 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 45 % Merlot and 6 % Petit Verdot aged in 60-65 % new French oak. Drink 2020 – 2034. antonio_galloni, Vinous.com.com (February 2017)

The 2014 Palmer is up with the crème de la crème of the vintage and should merit an even higher score in 5-7 years. A blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot brought up in 65% new French oak, its deep ruby/purple-tinged color is followed by a rich, opulent bouquet of blackcurrants, black cherries, chocolate, and tobacco, with hints of graphite and background oak. With more texture and mid-palate depth than most in the vintage, this terrific 2014 is medium to full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, layered and as hedonistic and sexy as it gets in the vintage. Give bottle 4-5 years and it should drink nicely for two decades. 2023 – 2043 jeb_dunnuck (November 2017)

Tasted blind. Refined and classy and polished with the tannins well covered by fruit. Dry finish but ambitious rather than raw. Stony finish. Appetising. Drink 2024-2040.jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com (Feb2018)

Robust fruit from low yields but no less elegant. Wonderful richness, texture and structure, this will become a superbly balanced wine of great beauty.

The 2014 Palmer builds on the promise that it showed in barrel. It is clearly a more understated and nuanced Palmer from winemaker Thomas Duroux this year, but a Margaux with exquisite delineation and precision, hints of blackberry, boysenberry and a touch of pencil box. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannin. It feels supple and lithe in the mouth. It will not have the depth and power of the subsequent 2015 Palmer, yet the "flow" is very sensual and the Merlot (45% of the blend) just lends it roundness and a caressing texture. What a beautiful Margaux and I bet it will be deceptively long-lived. Neil Martin - 31/03/2017