Le Petit Clos de Clos Apalta

Le Petit Clos de Clos Apalta

Wine Description

Le Petit Clos is a different interpretation of the Clos Apalta Terroir, using the mastery of blending that is the heart of the winemaking philosophy from the Domaines Bournet - Lapostolle.  

In 2014, Clos Apalta gave birth to its second wine, Le Petit Clos de Clos Apalta. Le Petit Clos offers a different interpretation of this unique terroir, using the same grapes, but in different proportion, and offering young vines a chance to prove their worth before they can make it into the Grand Vin.

Recognized as “Wine of the Year” when its 2005 vintage was chosen TOP # 1 by the Wine Spectator magazine, Clos Apalta is the only South American wine that has received this award. In addition, the 2000 and 2001 vintages were also positioned as TOP 3 and TOP 2 respectively in the same magazine. With the exceptional 2017 vintage, Clos Apalta is awarded for the third time 100 points by famed American journalist and wine critic James Suckling, consolidating its position in the "Legends of Chile".
 

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Acclaim
“he second wine from Clos Apalta, the 2020 Le Petit Clos, was produced with the grapes from younger vines and in a different proportion than in the grand vins; it's a blend of 40% Carmenere, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot from their granite soils in the warm Apalta valley from a warm and ripe year. The wine has the lush and ripe signature, with 15% alcohol, decadent and showy, with a nose of violets and camphor, ripe berries, herbs and spices and integrated oak. It fermented with indigenous yeasts, with five to six weeks of maceration, manual punch-downs and malolactic in French oak barrels. The élevage was 26 months in 53% new oak and 47% second use oak. It has the velvety tannins from a warm vintage—fine-grained and abundant—with a long finish with a bitter twist.”
— Wine Advocate, Aug 2023
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Vineyard & Production Info
Production area/appellation:
Apalta Valley
Vineyard name
El Condor de Apalta
Soil composition
Colluvial granitic soils well decomposed over different layers of clay.
Harvest time:
March - April
Bottles produced of this wine:
7456
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Winemaking & Aging
Prefermentation Technique:
Native yeast
Time on its skins:
Up to 5 weeks
Varietal composition:
40 % Carmenere, 38 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
Fermentation container:
Small French Oak Vats
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Analytical Data
pH level:
3.59
Acidity:
3.9 g/L
Alcohol:
15 %
Residual sugar:
2.5 g/L
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Wine Production

The 2017 vintage was shaped by extreme conditions which promoted deadly, tinderbox conditions for the propagation of devastating wildfires, with a total of 600,000 hectares of forest. To our great relief, our vines were spared and suffered no smoke damage, which was soon confirmed on tasting the different parcels of grapes.

Winter was exceptionally dry at Clos Apalta, with a 35% hydric deficit compared to the long term average. Spring was drier and cold. In November, marginally higher temperatures and marginal accumulation of rain resulted in budbreak commencing 10 days early. Summer was unbearably hot, with scorching temperatures hovering between 32°C and 35°C. After the first ten days of March, both minimum and maximum temperatures had dropped markedly. Such temperature variations allowed the grapes to complete phenolic ripening, promoting intense color and retaining intense fruit character and freshness

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About the Vineyard

Apalta is located at 170 Kilometers South West from Santiago in the Colchagua Valley. The Vineyard is situated on a North to South exposure, which is quite rare in Chile.