2017 Clos Apalta

48% Carmenère, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. Generous sweet oak spice on the nose, which lingers on the finish too. There is fruit in the middle, but oak plays a leading role. Developing well – there is proper earthy complexity emerging here. Very finely ground tannins. (RH)

The 2017 Red Blend Clos Apalta is a blend of grapes from Apalta: 48% Carménère, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, aged in new and used French barrels in an 85/15 split. The ripe profile makes it a garnet red in the glass with an open, nuanced aromatic profile of spices, black currant, plum and red currant somewhere between ripe and candied, along with hints of smoke, cigar box and tobacco over a layer of ash. Intense in the mouth, it has fine, juicy tannins with an alcoholic kick that energizes the flow, packaged in a good body with an elegant structure. A wine that grows with each layer and sets a benchmark for the style.

48% Carmenere, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot. Special bottle this year – blue-black glass engraved with gold writing – to mark 20 years of Clos Apalta. A dry winter and cold spring led to a very hot summer, with days reaching 28 °C. There were 26 days reaching, or exceeding, 33 °C in January alone – making it Chile’s hottest month on record. Thankfully, these temperatures dropped in March, though there were still spikes in the 30s. Deep ruby. Intense ripe tomato on the nose, layered with sweet black fruit. The palate follows, with a superb texture of plentiful but fine tannins. There is a hint of graphite and vine tomato, but the core of plummy, cherry fruit is more dominant than on the nose. The acidity is brisk, cutting through all else on a long, spicy finish. (TP)