Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta 2019 (750ML)

99 JS / 97 JA / 96 VM / 95 WA / 95 WS

#11 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of 2022

A generous array of ripe black and blue fruit with pink peppercorns, green olives, dried flowers, toffee and chocolate orange. It’s full-bodied with firm, creamy and velvety tannins. Long and polished. Lovely salted caramel and olives at the end. Keeps going. Unfolds on the finish. 70% carmenere, 18% merlot, 8% cabernet sauvignon and 4% petit verdot. Drink or hold. - James Suckling

This is more sculpted and cerebral than the Petit Clos, so if you are looking for exuberance and punch, go for the 2nd wine, but this takes things up a level. Star bright blueberry and cassis fruits, raspberry leaf, white pepper cocoa bean and lemongrass and a ton of slate-scrape tannins. A brilliant wine from a warm and dry vintage, that they have successfully navigated. One of the highest proportions of Carménère to date, with 90% new oak for ageing, then one year in bottle before release. - Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

The 2019 Clos Apalta was produced with a blend of 70% Carmenere, 18% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot, extremely high in Carmenere and low in Cabernet Sauvignon in a ripe and warm year. It fermented with indigenous yeasts for four to five weeks, with manual punch-down of the cap, 67% in 7,500-liter French oak vats and 33% in new French oak barrels followed by malolactic in new French oak barrels. The élevage was 24 months in 90% new barrels and 10% second use. It's powerful, big and ripe, with 15% alcohol and a pH of 3.57. It's creamy and juicy, with very high ripeness and a notable absence of herbal notes; it's oaky, smoky and decadent, coming through as luxurious, round, lush and velvety. It's full-bodied and has abundant, small and powdery tannins. 103,944 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2021. - Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate

Balances muscle and grace in a complex package, with geranium and floral peppercorn-accented red currant notes up front, while the core is densely packed with blackberry and plum flavors that swirl around spiced chocolate details and swell with lively acidity. Ends with mineral twinges, firming tannins and a final wave of kirsch and chocolate. Carmenère, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2035. From Chile.—A.R., Wine Spectator