Clos Apalta
'Le Petit Clos'
Colchagua Valley
2017

The producer

In 1994, Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and her husband, Cyril de Bournet, discovered the Apalta Valley. Alexandra is the great-granddaughter of Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle, who founded Grand Marnier in the 1880s.

Shortly after their discovery they acquired a 40-hectare vineyard, at the entrance to the Apalta, at altitudes of 150-300 meters above sea level and granite rich soils with varying proportions of clay. The vineyard was planted with mainly Carmenere of on average 80 years old, and smaller portions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. 

In 2009 the vineyards have been certified organic and since 2013, 7^th generation of family, Charles-Henri de Bournet Marnier Lapostolle has been in charge.

The winery is ultra modern with a 100% gravitational cellar, which by a succession of descending floors, means that from reception of grapes to bottling no pumping takes place, which is a much gentler way of processing the fruit.

The wine

The 2017 Red Blend Le Petit Clos, sourced from Apalta in Colchagua, combines 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Carménère, 9% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, and 2% Petit Verdot. Initially aged for six months in new oak, it then spent 16 months in used barrels. The wine displays a violet hue with a brick-dust tint and presents ripe aromas of black currant and blackberry jam, complemented by a hint of bay leaf. On the palate, it is intense, with a touch of alcohol that amplifies the firm tannins, which are concentrated yet balanced. This wine, characterized by the warmth of the year, is both pleasant and long-lasting.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.