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2021 Clos Apalta "Le Petit Clos" Red Blend Valle de Colchagua

2021 Clos Apalta "Le Petit Clos" Red Blend Valle de Colchagua

96JS
96VN
94RP
93WS
92JA
$49.99

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96

James Suckling

Reviewed February 2024
A nice touch of baked cherries and dark chocolate to the deep blackberry fruit. Ink and a touch of graphite and dried herbs. Full-bodied and pretty powerful with fine-grained tannins and a long, extensive finish. 68% carmenere, 16% cabernet sauvignon,15% merlot and 1% cabernet franc. Give it two more years to let the fruit settle more. Drink or hold.

Professional Reviews

96

Vinous

Review Date: 07/2024
Embracing a Bordeaux-style approach, Le Petit Clos is the second wine of Clos Apalta. The 2021 Le Petit Clos combines 68% Carménère, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc, all sourced from the Apalta Vineyard in Colchagua. Displaying a purple hue in the glass, it exhibits a ripe character mellowed by the fresh nature of the vintage. It offers plum and blackberry aromas along with bay leaf, boldo and menthol hints over an ashy marmalade core. Indulgent, plush and rich on the palate, the soft and overwhelming mouthfeel lingers long with a precise, juicy and slightly refreshing personality. The 2021 vintage is indeed a standout for Clos Apalta.(JH)

94

Wine Advocate

Review Date: 03/2025
The 2021 Le Petit Clos is composed of 68% Carménère, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc, aged in 50% new oak. It features black and red fruit with a distinct floral bouquet, contrasting with the more savory and woody Clos Apalta bottling, and develops additional spice-driven notes after a brief time in the glass. The palate is smooth, creamy and seductive, culminating in a lush and drying finish framed by fine-grained, extracted tannins and a hint of mineral lift. Within the Clos Apalta range, the Le Petit Clos bottling foregrounds its origins and varietal composition a touch more than the more comparatively lavish grand vin, which, to my palate, makes for a close gap between the two. (ML)

93

Wine Spectator

Review Date: 05/2025
Refined and structured, offering plenty of graphite and herbal notes up front that give way to a dark chocolate–coated blackberry and spiced plum center, with a twinge of cassis underneath. The tannins show some grip, but the finish also gives a sense of freshness as the core flavors linger nicely. Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. (AR)

Staff Reviews

RR
Rachael Ryan

Rachael Ryan

K&L Buyer
Review Date: 08/2025
So classy and elegant right out of the gate, the 2021 Le Petit Clos from Chilean icon Clos Apalta opens with juicy bramble fruit notes, a silky and supple mouthfeel, and a subtle underlying savory component, all for a very reasonable price. The “blue chip” wineries of Chile consistently present some of the strongest values on the wine market, with the scores to match – or sometimes beat – their peers in Napa and Bordeaux, and this second wine of Clos Apalta takes that generalization and turns up the volume. Designed to be consumed while young, this wine still has the gripping tannins and lingering finish to age for a few years at least. Simply put, this wine overdelivers! Made from 68% Carmenere, which comes through with bright cranberry and faint dried oregano undertones, the balance of the blend is 16% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot, as well 1% Cabernet Franc. It is matured in 37% new French oak for 19 months, which adds additional structure and underlines the high standards and rigorous winemaking standards of Clos Apalta, not just for their flagship with but also this younger sibling. Throw this wine in a decanter for an hour or two and enjoy with a steak, roast potatoes and grilled vegetables.
SB
Scott Beckerley

Scott Beckerley

Review Date: 08/2025
The first striking thing about this wine is the colour. So deeply black and dark red! The next striking this is the lush nose of Kirsch and milk-chocolate cherry. This is followed by lightly savory herbal scents. On the palate, the texture has an initial soft bite followed very quickly by soft creamy black fruits and a light touch of cedary spice. The long finish is dry and coats the upper palate with dark red fruits and dry tannin. This is all after being open for one day! So, though it is lush and pretty and dense, it obviously has the ability to cellar for quite a bit of time and to stay fresh in the bottle after 24 plus hours.

Notes

Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, whose family created the French liqueur Grand Marnier, visited Chile with her husband in 1994. They quickly realized its potential for producing world-class wines, especially in the Colchagua Valley with its vines originating from pre-phylloxera rootstock brought from Bordeaux in the middle of the 19th century. In 1997, the Lapostolle family launched one of the first icon wines of Chile: Clos Apalta. Today it is Charles de Bournet Marnier Lapostolle, seventh generation of the family, who holds the reins. In its short history, Clos Apalta wines have consistently been critically praised and have earned multiple perfect 100-point scores. In fact, James Suckling recently wrote, :There’s no doubt that Clos Apalta is one of the world’s greatest red wines.” Le Petit Clos is Clos Apalta’s second wine, made in an approachable style that is accessible in its youth. Like its older sibling, Le Petit Clos is a Bordeaux blend based on Carmenere with smaller amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The 2021 was matured for 19 months in French barrique, 37% of which were new and 63% were second fill.

Details

OriginChile
Type/VarietalCabernet Sauvignon and Blends
Alcohol Content14.5%
SKU1858480