Clos Apalta 2017

  • 100 James
    Suckling
  • 95 Robert
    Parker
  • 95 Wine
    Spectator
  • 94 Decanter
4.2 Very Good (48)
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Clos Apalta  2017 Front Bottle Shot
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Product Details


Varietal

Region

Producer

Vintage
2017

Size
750ML

ABV
15%

Features
Collectible

Green Wine

Your Rating

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Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

Deep garnet in appearance, the wine reflects the intensecolor of Carmenère grapes and typical aromas of ripe fruits. An abundance of aromas, including redcurrant, raspberry andwild strawberries, reflects the stunning complexity of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère. The initial wave of berry fruits, underpinned by soft, silky tannins, is pursued by contrasting touches of black olive, blackcurrant and licorice. Incredibly long and taut on the finish, revealing exquisite, delicate tannins, and expressing the great elegance of the Apalta terroirs.

Blend: 48% Carmenere, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot

About the Estate One of the oldest vineyards of Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenère in Chile, if not in the world, is the origin of this story. Enclaved in the Colchagua Valley, near the town of Santa Cruz, the Apalta Valley was the place selected by a visionnary near the 1915's who, using a unique french massal selection, planted this amazing vineyard. In 1994, Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and her husband Cyril de Bournet acquired this property. True to the demands of the family, their ambition was to produce an exceptional wine and to pave the way for the qualitative development of the country's fine wines.

Clos Apalta is born in 1997 as the iconic wine of the Domaines Bournet-Lapostolle in Chile under the idea to magnify the exceptional terroir of Apalta with French expertise. Shaping the vineyard foot by foot, building a state-of-the-art gravity fed winery, the family succeeded in making Clos Apalta one of the most iconic wines in South America.

Professional Ratings

  • 100
    What a stunning nose of crushed berries, fresh flowers, sandalwood and light vineyard dust. Black olives, too. Very complex. Full-bodied with a beautiful, dense palate of blackberries, chocolate, walnuts and cigar box. Fantastic length and composure. The tannin just rolls over the palate. Very structured. The most classically structured wine ever from here. Goes on for minutes. Outrageous and so polished. A blend of 48% carmenere, 26% cabernet sauvignon, 25% merlot and 1% petit verdot. Try after 2025.
  • 95
    The 2017 Clos Apalta is the 20th vintage of this wine that was produced with a blend of 48% Carmenere, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot from organic and biodynamic certified vineyards on granite soils. It fermented with indigenous yeasts for four to five weeks, with manual punch-down of the cap, mostly in 7,500-liter French oak vats and 18% in new French barrique. Malolactic was in new French oak barrels, and the élevage lasted for 27 months in 85% new barrels and 15% second use. This is always a powerful, big and ripe wine that is regularly 15% alcohol, reflecting a warm and ripe place. The 2017 is no exception, perhaps a riper and more powerful wine than the 2016. It's still very young and marked by the élevage, with abundant balsamic aromas and notes from the wood—spice and smoke with an ashy touch. It seems quite marked by the character of the Carmenere. The tannins are quite round and polished, and the flavors are pungent and powerful. It's a full-bodied wine to age in in bottle and enjoy in its 10th birthday with powerful food.
  • 95

    This features an intensely rich and fruity aroma, with concentrated flavors to match, dominated by cherry tart, raspberry and dark plum. Creamy midpalate, with a plush and spicy finish that offers hints of chocolate mint and plenty of minerality. Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2022 through 2027.

  • 94
    Powerful in its concentration and focus, a deep plum colour with the same distinctive sumac and cardamon spice notes as Le Petit Clos, but here with a more serious grip, excellent balance in terms of its liquorice-laced blueberry fruits and a mouthwatering lift through the finish. 85% new oak that fits extremely well in the frame of the wine. 20th anniversary vintage. Now its own specific appellation within the Colchagua Valley. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Certified biodynamic, with a number of ungrafted vines. Drinking Window 2023 - 2038.

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Clos Apalta

Clos Apalta

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Clos Apalta, South America
Clos Apalta  Winery Video

Everything starts in 1994 when Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and her husband Cyril de Bournet first arrived in Chile’s Colchagua Valley. They quickly realized its potential for producing world-class wines. This ideal setting, which was revitalized in 1995, was home to vines originating from pre-phylloxera rootstock brought from Bordeaux in the middle of XIX century. Member of a renowned family that has been dedicated for several generations to the production of high-quality spirits and wines, Alexandra with legendary wine expertise, brought exceptional French winemaking practices to Chile and pioneered the development of fine quality wines from the region. Today it is Charles de Bournet Marnier Lapostolle, seventh generation of the family, who holds the reins of the Winery. Together with him is Jacques Begarie, Technical Director & Winemaker, under the advice of the famous winemaker Michel Rolland, who is personally involved in the whole production of Clos Apalta. In its short history, Clos Apalta wines have consistently ranked highly (90+ points) among reputable wine trade publications, a testament of the rigorous standards implemented at the winery to produce outstanding wines. Clos Apalta's philosophy is as simple as it is ambitious: to express terroir in the wines, looking for excellence, elegance and character in a handcrafted wine that can talk about the amazing place that is the Apalta Valley.

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One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.

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Colchagua Valley Wine

Rapel Valley, Chile

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Well-regarded for intense and exceptionally high quality red wines, the Colchagua Valley is situated in the southern part of Chile’s Rapel Valley, with many of the best vineyards lying in the foothills of the Coastal Range.

Heavy French investment and cutting-edge technology in both the vineyard and the winery has been a boon to the local viticultural industry, which already laid claim to ancient vines and a textbook Mediterranean climate.

The warm, dry growing season in the Colchagua Valley favors robust reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Malbec and Syrah—in fact, some of Chile’s very best are made here. A small amount of good white wine is produced from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

CVB662488_2017 Item# 662488

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