Technical Details
- 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 7% Syrah and 3% Petit Verdot
- Thomas Duroux
- France
- Vin de France
- Chateau Palmer Historical XIXth Century Wine is a two-region blend, not a “Bordeaux wine” per AOC regulations. Because of the regional and varietal mix, Historical XIXth Century Wine is not labeled as Bordeaux but simply Vin. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are from Château Palmer estate vineyards.
- Certified Biodynamic
- Fermented in stainless-steel
- Aged 10 months in French oak barriques, followed by 17 months in large 30-hectoliter wooden vats.
- 14.0%
Château Palmer Historical XIXth Century Wine France 2023 (1-Pack OWC)
Certified Biodynamic
34% OFF RETAIL!
Only 36 bottles are available of a wine inspired by a ghost of Bordeaux past: the 19th-century ‘Lafite-Hermitage’ that Palmer’s CEO, Thomas Duroux, tasted at a collector’s home, a bottle from a time when claret was routinely fortified with northern Rhône wine. The estate behind this revival was founded in the first half of the nineteenth century by the English general Charles Palmer, so the story fits its English roots. Palmer first bottled its own “hermitagé” in 2004.
Today the cuvée is made in tiny quantities, around 4,000 bottles a year, and it comes from a biodynamically farmed vineyard and will be delivered to you in its original wooden case. The 2023 blends 48% Cabernet Sauvignon and 42% Merlot with 3% Petit Verdot and 7% Syrah from the northern Rhône – and mixing two regions means the bottle can’t carry the Bordeaux name, so it travels as a humble table wine, a label that can’t name any specific origin.
The glass opens with a deep, dark core of black currant and plum, with violet perfume floating above it and a crack of black pepper at the edges. Beneath that come damp forest floor and a hint of truffle that makes the wine feel older than it is. The higher proportion of Cabernet gives it a poised, silky grip, and the finish is long and savory. With a drinking window well into the next several decades, this is a bottle to lay down and open on an occasion that deserves a story.