Inside the Clos Apalta Cellar

Good Morning!

After visiting 18 wineries in Chile and tasting so many wines I did have a favorite, Lapostolle, Clos Apalta. You are saying, gheez Tammi, you worked for them, of course you liked them the best. In my own defense, yes, you have a point but I took notes and videos and after all is compared I really had the best time at Lapostolle. Notice I said I had the best time. I have always said wine is more than taste, score, price etc… When all is said and done, if I loved or even really liked a wine, I can tell you who I was with, about the place we were, probably what I was wearing and I can remember what we talked and laughed about. Wine is an experience, best served with friends and family.

Why were the wines so memorable? Well, to give you the full experience, you need to know who I was with and how it all came together. After 2 plus weeks of working all aspects of the winery and vineyards of Clos Apalta, two sommeliers from Peru were coming for a private tour of the winery. I was ask if I would like to join in. I said yes and I was told the entire tour and tasting would be presented in Spanish and I felt like I could understand most of what was going on so I was ready. The two mean Martin and Armando arrived and the outside grounds tour started and information about biodynamic wines and winery started being discussed and these two guys had the biggest smiles the entire time. The young woman who was leading the tour is originally from France but her Spanish is perfect, her name is Aurelie Botton, she works out of New York City and covers the east coast of the USA as a Brand Expert for Moet Hennessy the parent company of Lapostolle.

Aurelie, is a sommelier and started out as a chef and her business expertise is mind blowing for a woman as young as she. I will say this again, every single person I met within the Moet family, is a ROCKSTAR! All of them are bi or trilingual, they are experts in the spirits they rep and they are just funny, engaging people with big hearts and bright minds.

Back to my point, yes, I do have one. Aurelie led the 3 of us through each of the 5 levels of the winery and we were given details about vintages, the business and the company. The setting and the winery is beyond beautiful and elegant and it is state of the art. By the time we were down in the 2 year barrel room you see a glass tasting table in the middle of the room and it is massive. It is sort of oval shaped and at one end Aurelie, switched on a light and from underneath and it exposed the private wine library of the Marnier’s….Madame Alexandra Marnier…of the Grand Marnier legacy! The end of the table was opened upward and it exposed the the stairs into the private cellar. I was under the impression that no one ever went down there. I walked down the stairs and it was AWESOME. Like I was in the Vatican or Thomas Jefferson’s cellars…or maybe someplace a bit less dramatic!

All you could see were rows of wines from back in the day and vintage bottles from when they first started making wine and also a private area where they keep the wines they are collecting. I saw bottles covered in dust and from all over the world. After seeing this I could not wait to see what we would be tasting. As we made our way to the Lapostolle residence we had a private room with 8 wines prepared for us and we started to sample. I took so many notes it was silly. The first 6 wines I had been working with during the harvest, but these were from the previous years harvests.

We had the Casa Sauvignon Blanc 2010, I have had this wine many times and I love this beautiful house wine. This wine has about 7% Semillion blended in to give it a slight finish of 2.1 residual sugar. (That is as geeky as I will go on this wine). Just know this…I have this $10-12 bottle of wine all the time. I love to make cheviche, I love the almost lemony, quick finish, almost bubbly and just so fresh. I love it with sushi too!

Next we tried Cuvee Alexandre Chardonnay 2008, it is 100% chardonnay. This tasted like warm pears. I would serve this with baked or grilled fish. It almost has an oily finish and it is beautiful and has a slight buttery popcorn nose.

Casa Merlot 2008, this is a $12-15 house Merlot but with some nice polish. I think about my grandfather’s Buick Electra, shined up and ready to go out for dinner. Big, classic, smooth, traditional and everyone knows it is a well made car…same for this wine, big, classic, blend of Merlot, petite verdot, malbec. Serve this up with anything you grill or slow roast.

Cuvee Alexandre Carmenere 2008, This is a Blend of 85% Carmenere and 15% Merlot. When I tried this wine the first thing I wrote done on my tasting notes…Freakin’ AWESOME, great balance, smooth, strong and high alcohol..Carmenere, always tastes high alcohol and bold to me, but it is a great mouthfeel and smoothness. I would grill lamb and normally serve Pinot Noir, I am going to start serving Carmenere!

Cuvee Alexandre Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, This is also a blend of 85% Cab and 15% Merlot. Smokey campfire and fruity. I wrote down a long, slow, french kiss, full, bright and strong…well, I doubt I will need to say how much I liked this wine.

Cuvee Alexandre Syrah 2008, 100% Syrah, to me it tasted mineraly and fresh, inky, spicy, balanced and powerful. This Syrah is the opposite of Syrah from Rhone. I find Syrah from Rhone is so restrained I feel like I am missing something…this is like a home schooled, only child…she becomes whatever her will and mind allows. Just an awesome big wine to pair with smoked meats or funky cheeses!

The next is the best wine made in all of Chile by any winemaker I have tried…Clos Apalta 2008, Just the most complex, rich, dry, full and sexy wine. It is lively, creamy and aged beautifully. It is smooth and balanced. My Spanish speaking sommeliers were on the other side of the tasting table going on and on about about this wine and all I could do was smile. I did something very untraditional…I poured myself a bit more of this wine and walked out to the patio and just looked at the vineyard and breathed…This wine makes memories. I have a son who is 20 years old, I plan on serving this at his wedding. I plan on serving this on my 50th birthday. I plan on opening a bottle of this next new years.

I might even open a bottle of Clos Apalta on the day we finally bottle TJR Select. It is such a special wine and special place.

I could tell you about the rest of the tour/tasting and our lunch by the chef and all these wines were paired beautifully with each course. I could tell you about how I laughed with my Spanish speaking friends for hours and never really understood what the heck they were saying but I did not care what they were talking about, they had such a fun energy all I could do was smile and laugh with them. We struggled to find vocabulary but a smile, laugh and a YUM can describe more than you might imagine.

Sorry this blog got so long…but it was a really special few hours of wine tasting and living well and I wanted to share it with you!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Clos Apalta this might be my favorite Chilean wine ever!

Madame Marnier luncheon at the Lapostolle Residence