Clos Apalta 2014
An extremely aromatic and focused Clos Apalta with blackberry, blueberry, floral and hot stone character. Full body, very linear and ultra-fine tannins. Focused and tight. Precise and long. This is the most polished and beautiful definition of this wine ever. You want to drink it now but better in 2020. A blend of carmenere, cabernet sauvignon and merlot.100 pts by James Suckling, May 2017
Tasting Notes
COLOR
Deep ruby red color with purple edges.
NOSE
Complex nose opening towards ripe black fruit such as cassis, balckberry and fig, along with nuts, cinnamon and liquorice notes.
PALATE
Intense and creamy attach with black fruit flavors. Long lasting velvety tannins. Intense and elegant finish.
Vintage Report
APPELATION
Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile.
BLEND
48% Carmenère, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot.
HARVEST
Organic certified vineyards by CERES (Germany). Biodynamic certified vineyards by DEMETER (Germany). Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon Pre-filoxera old vines planted in 1920 not grafted. Morning sun leaf removal and green harvest to fine tune yields. 100% hand harvested from 7th March until 16th May 2012.
GROWING CONDITIONS
The 2014 growing season is characterized by a spring with low temperatures, and a summer with normal hot & dry conditions. The 2013 winter was exceptionally cold and dry (118mm vs 237mm of rain). The bud break was 10 days late and the dry weather followed over the springtime. Finally march brought normal conditions, but the fall came with a cold April. The grape lost early its vegetal flavors and was technically ready to make wine, but we had to wait for the aromatic and phenolic ripeness. The ripening process was slow, because of the normal fall characteristics: lower temperatures and shorter days. The cold nights of April allowed us to preserve a good level of acidity and fruit expression. So finally, the challenge during this 2014 season was to wait for each desired phenolic maturity.
VINIFICATION
100% hand de-stemmed in our Clos Apalta Winery. 100% native yeast. 95% fermented in French oak vats of 75 Hl and 5% in new French oak Bordeaux barrels. Skin contact up to 5 weeks. 100% of the blend in 225 lts new French oak barrels for 28 months. Not fined, cold stabilized or filtered. Bottled in June 2016, 5,199 cases of 12 bottles.
Technical sheet
Find out more with our detailed technical sheet
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