Clos Apalta Casa Lapostolle 2014 (JS100)

This was the first 100-point wine from here with such aromas of fresh herbs and dark berry and floral undertones. Hot stone character. Full body, very linear and ultra-fine tannins. The precision and perfection here is impressive, as it has always been. A blend of Carmenate, cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Drink or hold.

A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Petit Verdot. It took just a few harvests before the Marnier Lapostolle family realized the potential of the Apalta terroir after founding its Colchagua winery in 1994. An excellent 1997 vintage led to a special bottling, and Clos Apalta was born. The grapes are sourced from two blocks of old Carmenere and Cabernet Sauvignon planted in 1920 and 1940, along with Merlot planted on hillside vineyards from 1997. In 2005 Clos Apalta was given its own gravity-flow winery, with hand-destemming and fermentation in small French oak vats. In 2008, the Apalta vineyard was certified organic and in 2011 biodynamic. ‘The philosophy is simple,’ says Charles de Bournet Marnier-Lapostolle: ‘to make world-class wines using our French know-how of generations in wine and spirit production, together with the unique Chilean terroir.’ With cedar and liquor ice spicy aromas, this supple-textured, richly concentrated red is fleshed out by powerful, cassis opulence framed by a reprise of polished French oak and supported by a muscular structure. Drinking Window 2018 – 2027