2020 Le Petit Clos (Clos Apalta)

40% Carmenère, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot. Harvest 24 February to 6 April. Fermentation in 75-hl French oak vats at 28–30 °C. 5–6 weeks’ maceration with manual punchdowns. Aged for 26 months in French oak barrels, 53% new, 47% second use. Bottled without fining or filtration on 25 July 2022. TA 3.9 g/l (sulphuric), pH 3.49, RS 2.5 g/l. 6,465 cases produced. Mid ruby in colour. Crunchy, cool red fruits with a hint of mint and thyme. The palate is crunchy and light, with more vibrant red fruit. Fragrant, approachable and easy. (TP)

Clear spice, fragrant aromatic frame, showing liqourice, cloves and incense. This was clearly a warm year, with high spice running alongside sweet blackberry and chocolate notes. Dry finish, plenty of energy and grip. This is from vines on south-facing slopes, mitigating the heat of the vintage. Long and slow fermentation, 50% new oak for ageing, with the cellar selection for Petit Clos happening in the cellar after 12 months of ageing, almost always from the younger plantings. Bottled without fining or filtration, no need to wait too long to crack open but will beneft from a long decant.

The 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. 77,580 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2022.