Casa Lapostolle Apalta La Parcelle 8 Vieilles Vignes 2015 (750ML)

98 JS / 96 DE / 96 WS

Sweet blackberries, brambleberries and cigar tobacco with fresh flowers. Some cedar and mahogany, too. Full bodied with chewy tannins and chocolate, walnut and lightly toasted flavors. It’s just starting to come around. First commercially released wine from old-vine cabernet sauvignon, grown on its own rootstock with the vast majority from 1910. Originally it was just for the owners to drink. Fantastic. 12,000 bottles made. Drink or hold.—James Suckling

A brand new wine created by Andrea León and Charles de Bournet from a parcel of century-old vines directly planted in the poor soils of Apalta, this is a tribute to the French spirit of the winery that takes full advantage of the quality of Cabernet from the region. Complex aromas of blueberries, blackcurrants, sweet spices and tobacco are followed by a good body, precise acidity, fine tannins and a liquorice aftertaste.-- Alejandro Iglesias, Decanter

This late-release red is in an ideal drinking state, but still has room to grow. Everything is harmoniously integrated into a complex and elegant package, showing loam, balsam and dried chrysanthemum aromas, with a concentrated core of blackberry, cherry, cassis and olive flavors that linger effortlessly around suave tannins. This also reveals notes of kirsch and dark chocolate. Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2030. From Chile. - AR, Wine Spectator