CLOS APALTA

A few mature wines still survive from the period that Michel Rolland spent in Chile, including Clos Apalta (a blend of 64% Carménère, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Merlot), demonstrating both the effectiveness and richness of the style. Taking an approach that suits the terroir of Apalta in Colchagua, this garnet-hued red offers ripe aromas of jam, camphor and bay leaf that guide the hints of blackberry and an elegant woodiness that encompasses notes of sandalwood and tobacco. A complex wine that reflects its oxidative aging process; after a while, black olives, musk and hazelnuts appear. It is rich on the palate with fine tannins and slightly intense woody notes. A long, mature, open and flavorsome finish. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 93 Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous.com (Mar 2020)

This is really focused and refined with fantastic dried flowers and dark berries. Dried-lavender and mint undertones. Medium-to full-bodied with refined and polished tannins that are all together and so focused. Really integrated and melted together on the palate. Compact and very linear. Please give this two or three years to come completely together, but it’s already breathtaking. Better to drink after 2022. Drinking range: 2022 - 2040 Rating: 99 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Aug 2019)

The 2016 Clos Apalta is a blend of 64% Carménère (higher than in 2015), 19% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Merlot hitting the scale at 15% alcohol with a pH of 3.7. The Carménère and Cabernet were planted ungrafted in 1920, and all the vineyards are organic and biodynamic (certified) and very low yielding. The hand-destemmed grapes fermented in oak vats and barriques (17%), and the wine went through malolactic and 26 months of aging in brand new French barriques. I've seen a great improvement in Carménère in Chile in the last few years, perhaps since they stopped wanting to grow it everywhere and focused on the places where it grows well, like the Apalta region. They have also learned to tame the green aromas and fierce tannins and alcohol and to produce much more harmonious reds, like this aromatic example that reveals spice, tobacco leaves, red fruit and floral notes without noticeable alcohol or excess ripeness. The oak is surprisingly well integrated for such a young wine, and there is harmony, concentration and balance to make it age in bottle for a long time. The palate is full-bodied, and the tannins are fine-grained and in balance with the rest of the components, coming through as a compact and powerful yet elegant red. This has to be one of the finest Clos Apaltas of all time. 62,356 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2018. Drinking range: 2020 - 2030 Rating: 96 Luis Gutierrez, www.robertparker.com (Aug 2019)