Chateau Palmer

The winery is located in the municipality of Cantenac in the area of Margaux in the Médoc (Bordeaux) in the immediate vicinity of the famous Château Margaux. Originally it was called Château de Gasqu after its first owner, the wine was delivered to the court of Louis XIV (1638-1715). Around 1816 the estate was sold by Jeanne de Gasque to the English Major General Charles Palmer (1777-1851), who served under Arthur Wellington (1769-1852). Palmer acquired further plots in the municipalities of Cantenac, Issan and Margaux until 1831. When Château Dubignon was abandoned, part of the vineyards were added to the estate. Finally, the entire estate comprised over 160 hectares, 82 of which were vineyards. After the bankruptcy of the general in 1843, there were several changes of ownership and reductions in the vine stocks. In the 1930s, the remaining part of the estate was acquired by a syndicate of the three families Sichel, Mähler-Besse, Ginestet and Mialhe (the Mialhe family owned Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse, the Ginestet family formerly owned shares in Château Margaux). The successors of the first two families still run the winery today.

In the 1855 Bordeaux Classification it was awarded third place (Troisième Cru Classé). This "mediocre" classification was due to the fact that the renovation for the Château and restructuring of the vineyards had not yet been completed (these were also evaluation criteria). It cannot have been the quality of the wine, because the red wine is said to have been at least equal to the Premier Crus. The main building, with tall towers on each corner, is one of the most beautiful in the Médoc. The château carries the English, Dutch and French flags as a sign of the nationalities of its former owners. The vineyards cover 52 hectares of vineyards in the two communes of Margaux and Cantenac. They are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon (47%), Merlot (47%) and Petit Verdot (6%). The red wine, which can be stored for decades, matures for 18 to 24 months in one third new barriques. Legendary vintages were 1961 (100 points from Robert Parker = perfect wine), 1983 and 1989. The second wine is called "Alter Ego de Palmer" (formerly "Réserve du Général").