1978 Palmer, Margaux

“The 1978 Château Palmer is a beautiful wine that is now at its apogee of peak maturity, with the personality of the vintage giving this wine a slightly exotic extra layer of complexity that is very appealing. As readers most likely remember, the 1978 vintage was one that was saved by a perfect Indian Summer that took what had been a underripe crop and pushed it across the finish line in October with three weeks of warm and sunny weather. By today’s standards, the grapes were still not physiologically ripe, so there can be a slight green element to both the flavors and aromatics of some of the wines of the vintage, but with the ’78 Palmer, this is a very minor element that simply adds a touch of exotica to the wine. The bouquet is pure and utterly refined, wafting from the glass in a mix of mulberry, plums, cigar smoke, gravelly soil tones, a hint of chipotle, gentle notes of black truffle, lavender and just a bit of new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, suave and complex, with a seamless sense of balance, a lovely core of fruit, melting tannins and great length and grip on the very refined finish. Great juice.” (09/2022)

“Here, it has a powerful, expressive nose with cedar, sous-bois and cigar-box scents interwoven into the vestiges of black fruit. This is "old school," perhaps the cousin of the magnificent 1966. The palate is medium-bodied and well balanced, hints of spice and cedar, a little dustiness perhaps towards the finish, but overall a convincing Margaux that has far more vigor and length than you would presume. While it is not a renowned vintage for Château Palmer, it's a wine I would jump upon if I found it for sale. (NM)” (05/2016)

“The 1978 Palmer is a vintage that I have encountered several times, one of the best of that decade. Still youthful in colour considering it is now forty years old, the bouquet is winsome with dusky black fruit, black truffle, smoke and iris. As I remarked in previous notes, this is unashamedly old school. The palate is medium-bodied, fresh and vibrant with fine tannin. There is that spicy vein on the entry, here just a hint of blood orange and a slightly ferrous, cedar-driven finish. It is just a very well made mature Margaux that will not improve with bottle age, but neither is it duty bound to do so. A lovely wine. (AG)” (05/2018)

“This fully mature wine was absolutely glorious. Served blind alongside Hermitage La Chapelle from the same vintage, it was rounder and much more luscious. Tannins had completely disappeared, leaving wonderfully sweet, round, fully mature fruit and just the slightest suggestion of something charred on the finish. Excellent freshness as well as all that Merlot, presumably saved by the fine September. Michael Broadbent, in his Vintage Wine, calls this 'A lovely wine and a very good 1978'. 19/20 Points.” (12/2022)