Clos Apalta - Le Petit Clos 2017

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Producer	Clos Apalta
Country	Chile
Region	Colchagua Valley
Varietal	Red Blend
Vintage	2017
Sku	12013091
Size	750ml

 

WS

92

WA

93

JS

96

Superb color, dark garnet red, deep and intense. Spicy and subtle nose; great elegance and aromatic complexity with notes of ripe fruit (blueberry, blackcurrant, black cherry, blackberry…), opening on toasted and fine woody notes. Frank and soft attack with savory, silky and well-integrated tannins. Full, round and fleshy palate ending with a magnificent aromatic persistence full of finesse.

Blend: 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Carmenere, 9% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 2% 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.

This is so delicious with blackcurrants, spice, sweet tobacco, lavender and roses. Full-bodied, tight and very polished with gorgeous texture and finesse. Shows tannin tension at the end. A blend of mostly cabernet sauvignon, the rest cabernet franc. Better after 2022.

The second wine, in the Bordeaux sense, the 2017 Le Petit Clos has a different blend from the grand vin, in this case 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Carmenere, 9% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot and is quite different every year. It fermented in 7,500-liter oak vats with indigenous yeasts and a four- to five-week maceration followed by malolactic in new barriques. It matured in new French barriques for six months and spent the next 16 months in first, second and third use French oak barrels. I found a lot less influence from the oak here than in the "grand vin" and a more classical profile with dominance of the Cabernet Sauvignon—ripe without excess, powerful and concentrated but with very good balance. It's quite approachable even when it feels quite youthful; the tannins are round, and the wine is neat and velvety with some creaminess. It has an elegant profile within the powerful character of the vintage. It surpassed my expectations, and I find it every bit as good as the 2016. Rating: 93+

Suave and filled with concentrated currant, red plum and cherry flavors backed by crunchy acidity and fresh tannins. Minerally in the midpalate, with savory richness lingering on the finish with cocoa powder and herbal accents. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenère, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Drink now.