Champagne Palmer: The New Champagne on the Block
If you’ve never heard of Champagne Palmer, you’re in for a real treat. Just recently imported to the US market, Palmer is different from many Champagnes. With a higher percentage of Chardonnay and reserve wines in the blend, and longer aging on the lees, Palmer Champagnes are a standout.
Champagne drinkers often debate which wines are the best, and which producers make the most distinctive bottles. Many are fans of the large Négociant producers, such as Veuve Clicquot, that make a consistent style every year from grapes that they buy. Others will debate that Grower producers, making wine from their own estate fruit, craft the most distinctive Champagnes. And the Cooperative Champagne houses pool their fruit from a group of growers to make a single label wine.
Although Champagne Palmer buys grapes from growers, it is technically a cooperative. In 1947, Palmer was founded by seven Grand Cru growers, intent on blending their individual estates together to make a great wine. Today, there are over 300 growers, farming over 400 hectares of vineyards in the Montagne de Reims, of which half are Grand and Premier Crus quality. All the growers are shareholders in the Champagne Palmer brand, and are invested for a lifetime, committed to the company.
Palmer, like all Champagne houses, has a signature style, which is achieved in different ways. First, Chardonnay makes up the backbone of their wines, with a whopping 50% in the blends, versus the average of one-third. The high percentage of Chardonnay gives Palmer wines an elegance and freshness, yet more structure, power, and mineralogy. Second, Palmer blends in 35% reserve wines from other vintages, adding complexity to the blend. Third, because of the higher proportion of Chardonnay, with a higher mineral character, the wines need more time on the lees, and longer aging, double the average time in Champagne. Sur lie aging is where the magic happens in Champagne production. The lees, or dead yeast cells, slowly dissolve into the wine, creating the bubbles and delicate mousse, ramping up its bouquet, and rounding out the sharp acidic edges of the wine, infusing complexity into the Champagne. Palmer takes the time to manually riddle the bottles on traditional wooden boards during sur lie aging. Disgorgement is also done manually, with no machine intervention.
Another surprising difference, Champagne Palmer’s Brut and Rosé Réserve wines contain 10% red wine that is aged in a solera system, started 35 years ago, comparable to the way Sherry is made, bringing a unique dimension to the wine. This solera red wine adds notes of cinnamon and vanilla spice to the younger ripe red fruit, the spice coming from traces of older wines in the solera.
An extra bonus for those who like to buy their Champagnes in larger format bottles, Champagne Palmer actually does the secondary fermentation in those large bottles, without transferring the wine from standard bottles. These large formats, bottled at harvest and aged on their lees, allows the wines to slowly evolve, keeping all the nuances and complexity in the bottles.
All these little details make a big difference for Champagne Palmer, whose elegant, structured and balanced wines appeal to all Champagne drinkers.
Recently Raymond Ringeval, Export Manager for Palmer, came to Los Angeles to get the word out. Pouring five different Champagnes for media and the trade at The Palm in Downtown LA, Ringeval explained what sets Palmer apart.
“Excellence, elegance, time, offering depth in the wines, so the wines offer great structure but offer elegance as well. I would say that Palmer would appeal to a champagne drinker that is not necessarily very knowledgeable about wine or champagne, that just wants a very nice Champagne moment, a pleasure in the glass, or the demanding wine lover, who’s expecting a bit more, would also be pleased with a glass of Palmer, because you have that freshness and elegance, but also the length and the structure, the multi-layer character of the Palmer style.”
Ringeval notes, “Chardonnay is what gives the fingerprints to the Palmer style, plus the fact that we give a lot of importance to the reserve wines that are kept in our cellars for years, this ensures consistency and depth in the style of the Champagne”.
These are the Palmer Champagnes currently available in the US:
Palmer Brut Reserve ($52), 50% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier, is rich and nutty, reflecting the four years of sur lie aging. Citrus, pear, and apricot fruit intertwine with hazelnut and buttery pastry notes. A large proportion of older reserve wine (35%) is added to the blend, yielding a deep and elegant sparkling wine.
Palmer Rosé Reserve ($65), 42% Chardonnay, 49% Pinot Noir, and 9% Pinot Meunier, is lively, with a fruity elegance framed by notes of wild strawberries, red currants and a touch of spice from the 10% solera red wine.
Palmer Blanc de Blancs ($79), 100% Chardonnay, is complex in its subtle layers of citrus, white flowers, and almonds, with yeasty notes, it’s silky and mineral.
Amazone de Palmer ($140), 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir, all from reserve wines and aged for more than 10 years on its lees, is a rich and intense wine. Exotic and dried fruits, toasted hazelnut and brioche aromas and flavors frame this wine.
A sneak peak at Champagne Palmer’s Vintage Champagnes was poured. Enchanting and seductive in its tapestry of fruit, toasted brioche, and hazelnut, these fresh and powerful, Vintage blends are generally 50-55% Chardonnay, 40-45% Pinot Noir and 5-10% Pinot Meunier. A product of extended aging, the current releases are 2008 for 750ml bottles and 2002 for magnums.
Four of these five wines are currently imported to the US, with plans to bring the older vintages to our shores within the next year. Pop the cork on one of these beauties, and discover a true moment of pleasure in the glass!
If you’ve never heard of Champagne Palmer, you’re in for a real treat. Just recently imported to the US market, Palmer is different from many Champagnes. With a higher percentage of Chardonnay and reserve wines in the blend, and longer aging on the lees, Palmer Champagnes are a standout.
Champagne drinkers often debate which wines are the best, and which producers make the most distinctive bottles. Many are fans of the large Négociant producers, such as Veuve Clicquot, that make a consistent style every year from grapes that they buy. Others will debate that Grower producers, making wine from their own estate fruit, craft the most distinctive Champagnes. And the Cooperative Champagne houses pool their fruit from a group of growers to make a single label wine.
Although Champagne Palmer buys grapes from growers, it is technically a cooperative. In 1947, Palmer was founded by seven Grand Cru growers, intent on blending their individual estates together to make a great wine. Today, there are over 300 growers, farming over 400 hectares of vineyards in the Montagne de Reims, of which half are Grand and Premier Crus quality. All the growers are shareholders in the Champagne Palmer brand, and are invested for a lifetime, committed to the company.
Palmer, like all Champagne houses, has a signature style, which is achieved in different ways. First, Chardonnay makes up the backbone of their wines, with a whopping 50% in the blends, versus the average of one-third. The high percentage of Chardonnay gives Palmer wines an elegance and freshness, yet more structure, power, and mineralogy. Second, Palmer blends in 35% reserve wines from other vintages, adding complexity to the blend. Third, because of the higher proportion of Chardonnay, with a higher mineral character, the wines need more time on the lees, and longer aging, double the average time in Champagne. Sur lie aging is where the magic happens in Champagne production. The lees, or dead yeast cells, slowly dissolve into the wine, creating the bubbles and delicate mousse, ramping up its bouquet, and rounding out the sharp acidic edges of the wine, infusing complexity into the Champagne. Palmer takes the time to manually riddle the bottles on traditional wooden boards during sur lie aging. Disgorgement is also done manually, with no machine intervention.
Another surprising difference, Champagne Palmer’s Brut and Rosé Réserve wines contain 10% red wine that is aged in a solera system, started 35 years ago, comparable to the way Sherry is made, bringing a unique dimension to the wine. This solera red wine adds notes of cinnamon and vanilla spice to the younger ripe red fruit, the spice coming from traces of older wines in the solera.
An extra bonus for those who like to buy their Champagnes in larger format bottles, Champagne Palmer actually does the secondary fermentation in those large bottles, without transferring the wine from standard bottles. These large formats, bottled at harvest and aged on their lees, allows the wines to slowly evolve, keeping all the nuances and complexity in the bottles.
All these little details make a big difference for Champagne Palmer, whose elegant, structured and balanced wines appeal to all Champagne drinkers.
Recently Raymond Ringeval, Export Manager for Palmer, came to Los Angeles to get the word out. Pouring five different Champagnes for media and the trade at The Palm in Downtown LA, Ringeval explained what sets Palmer apart.
“Excellence, elegance, time, offering depth in the wines, so the wines offer great structure but offer elegance as well. I would say that Palmer would appeal to a champagne drinker that is not necessarily very knowledgeable about wine or champagne, that just wants a very nice Champagne moment, a pleasure in the glass, or the demanding wine lover, who’s expecting a bit more, would also be pleased with a glass of Palmer, because you have that freshness and elegance, but also the length and the structure, the multi-layer character of the Palmer style.”
Ringeval notes, “Chardonnay is what gives the fingerprints to the Palmer style, plus the fact that we give a lot of importance to the reserve wines that are kept in our cellars for years, this ensures consistency and depth in the style of the Champagne”.
These are the Palmer Champagnes currently available in the US:
Palmer Brut Reserve ($52), 50% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier, is rich and nutty, reflecting the four years of sur lie aging. Citrus, pear, and apricot fruit intertwine with hazelnut and buttery pastry notes. A large proportion of older reserve wine (35%) is added to the blend, yielding a deep and elegant sparkling wine.
Palmer Rosé Reserve ($65), 42% Chardonnay, 49% Pinot Noir, and 9% Pinot Meunier, is lively, with a fruity elegance framed by notes of wild strawberries, red currants and a touch of spice from the 10% solera red wine.
Palmer Blanc de Blancs ($79), 100% Chardonnay, is complex in its subtle layers of citrus, white flowers, and almonds, with yeasty notes, it’s silky and mineral.
Amazone de Palmer ($140), 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir, all from reserve wines and aged for more than 10 years on its lees, is a rich and intense wine. Exotic and dried fruits, toasted hazelnut and brioche aromas and flavors frame this wine.
A sneak peak at Champagne Palmer’s Vintage Champagnes was poured. Enchanting and seductive in its tapestry of fruit, toasted brioche, and hazelnut, these fresh and powerful, Vintage blends are generally 50-55% Chardonnay, 40-45% Pinot Noir and 5-10% Pinot Meunier. A product of extended aging, the current releases are 2008 for 750ml bottles and 2002 for magnums.
Four of these five wines are currently imported to the US, with plans to bring the older vintages to our shores within the next year. Pop the cork on one of these beauties, and discover a true moment of pleasure in the glass!