2021 Clos Apalta

Auslieferung im Frühjahr 2025!
Delivery in spring 2025!

Hillside granitic vineyards, alongside older vines dating back to 1907 on the flatlands. A kick of spice greets you on the opening, this is reserved at first with carefully constructed dense blackcurrant and black cherry fruits, deeply coloured, cocoa dusted, opening to show rose bud and lilac, with an edge of capsicum and cayenne pepper. Exceptionally good quality. 78% new oak for ageing, 3.79ph. Andrea Léon technical director, organically farmed.
97/100 Jane Anson

Clos Apalta 2021 (Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile; 75% Carménère; 18% Cabernet Sauvignon; 7% Merlot; pH 3.79; 15% alcohol; aged for 21 months in 78% new and 22% two-year old French oak barrels; tasted at the CVBG press tasting over Zoom with Andrea Leon, technical director). From a little appellation of less than 800 hectares, surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills bringing singular climatic conditions as well as granitic soils on a southern exposure. Neighbours Santa Rita. This comes from the hillside plantings and the old-vines on the flatter parts on alluvial terraces for the Cabernet Sauvignon. A touch more oak influence. From quite a cool, almost cold vintage. Creamy but fresh and lifted. Walnut oil. More succulent and lush, plush and plump, though with lots of tension. A lovely florality. Clover. Lavender, wild rosemary. Damson, blueberry, black currant (but less than the other two wines), even a little black cherry. A little black pen ink. Graphite and a hint of cedar and acacia. Gracious and charming. Lovely. Tender. Lithe. Vivid and vibrant. Grippy in its tannins. Long and rippling, with the grip of the tannins building little ripples that release freshness on the lea-side of the breaking wave. Really very beautiful with such great impact.
98/100 Colin Hay; The Drinks Business

If you want to taste the high point of a Carmenere-dominant blend, then drink this – Clos Apalta. The ultimate expression of Lapostolle, crafted using old vines in Apalta – for many the best home for this grape – and blended with the support of the world’s most famous wine consultant, Michel Rolland, it is a no holds barred Carmenere, boosted by a bit of Cab and a smattering of Merlot. The wine starts with ripe, almost jammy fruit, with raspberry and red cherry, then intense pure blackcurrant too, which is followed by subtle pink peppercorn spice, some chilli flakes, then sweet tobacco, roasted coffee and creamy chocolate. As for the finish, that’s both warming, as well as finely tannic and dry, with a delicious lingering note of cedar and toast. Generous, but firmly framed, it’s been powerfully structured to contain a mass of powerful fruit, which it holds tight, until you swill it and swallow, releasing all the indulgent characters in a flood of flavours.
98/100 Patrick Schmitt MW