2020 Alter Ego de Palmer

96 Points – James Suckling
Gorgeous perfumes of plums, berries, light chocolate and walnut follow through to a medium body, fine tannins and crunchy finish. Bright and fresh. Precise tannins. Drinkable but better after 2027.
94 Points – Vinous
The 2020 Alter Ego de Palmer has a potent nose with plenty of black fruit, perhaps just a tad more exuberant than its peers. Cedar and pine aromas come through with aeration, followed by a scent of India ink. The palate is medium-bodied with a plush, almost voluptuous texture. Though it is very concentrated initially, it seems to lose the tension and precision on the finish—yet that manifests after 20 minutes in the glass. It will be interesting to see how this matures. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
93 Points – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2020 Alter Ego de Palmer has turned out beautifully, bursting with aromas of violets and rose petals mingled with notions of sweet dark berries and baking chocolate. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and seamless, it's vibrant and perfumed, with a bright core of fruit, powdery tannins and a long, expansive finish. It's a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot.
Thomas Duroux continues to produce singularly textural, powerful wines at this historic Margaux property, where he has introduced a new focus on parcel-by-parcel viticulture and vinification, as well as pioneering biodynamic methods, over the better part of the last two decades. Today, cover crops are the order of the day, much of the vineyard isn't hedged, and fruit trees are being planted in the rows as part of an agroforestry initiative. The core of Palmer derives from the plateau around the château, where soils consist of a millefeuille of sandy gravel, clay-rich gravel, sandy gravel again and then a meter of pure clay. It's old-vine Merlot, planted on these soils, that lends Palmer its richness and flesh. There are other parcels dotted around the appellation, of course, including a large block of coarser gravel surrounded by trees, not far from Bel Air Marquis d'Aligre.