2022 Prélude

Auslieferung im Frühjahr 2025!
Delivery in spring 2025!

Clos Apalta Prélude 2022 (Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile; 53% Carménère; 36% Cabernet Sauvignon; 7% Merlot; 4% Petit Verdot; pH 3.6; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the CVBG press tasting over Zoom with Andrea Leon, technical director; 3000 cases made). A third wine in effect, this the first vintage, from the young vines and lower altitude parcels from the valley floor. Quite a cool vintage, but more solaire and sunny than the 2021 vintage wines. Beautifully fresh and lifted in its leafiness. Very pretty and expressive. Vertical and lifted. A clay, earthy minerality. Blackcurrant and red currant leaf, a little bramble too; a little blueberry; but also a little raspberry and redcurrant. I love the leafiness here. Mainly Carménère, with a little Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Quite tight to the spine and with grippy tannins that accentuate that. Authentic and with a lovely intensity for a wine at this level. Vivid. Juicy and succulent and that’s very much the style sought here. Pure, focussed, precise but without the complexity of the grands vins.
93/100 Colin Hay; The Drinks Business

Crisp crunchy fruit, vivid, edges of sour cherry and high dried herbs, spice and fresh acidities giving an emphasis on floral character. Some rosebud and tomato leaf alongside, and a bitter finish. It's attractive, with slate lift to the tannins. Harvest began March 11, a few days later than 2021. 17% new oak barrels for ageing, 3.6ph. This is a new wine in the Clos Apalta range, with around 3,000 cases from grapes usually declassified into Lapostelle. Cool dry vintage with 35% lower yields than 2021. Andrea Léon technical director.
89/100 Jane Anson