Palmer 2003

88 points - Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, May 2016 Tasted at the Château Palmer vertical in London, the magnum of 2003 Château Palmer is clearly more advanced in colour than the 2000. It is missing a little fruit intensity on the nose: warm gravel and dried flowers make the first impression, a touch of truffle with time. The palate is medium-bodied with cassis and liquorice on the entry, plenty of glycerine, but nowhere near the tension or complexity of 2000, 2005 or 2010. Viscous and generous on the finish, this is a serviceable Palmer, but one that was clearly compromised by that infamous summer that favored the more clayey soils further north in the Médoc.