Casa Lapostolle 2010 ”Cuvée Alexandre” Merlot

Posted by Keith Wallace

This is a delicious wine styled to be both plush and pretty.  First is the rich ruby color with glass-staining extraction. Then the aromas of red berries and tarragon traced by a whiff of black pepper. The fruit keeps up the action on the palate, with plum and raspberry the most predominant flavors. A savory note of wet clay and rusted farm equipment keeps the wine from going simple. An element of lemon oil and spice moves into the finish. The fruit keeps on coming.

There is just enough varietal character in this wine to be put into rotation at the Wine School. Its high quality and good price point make it a perfect candidate for our Wine 1o1 classes.

Biodynamic

This wine is farmed fully biodynamically and fermented only with wild yeast in large oak vats. The Merlot is aged in mostly new French oak barrels blended with small amounts of Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah.

One key point of information is not mentioned on the label: this wine is sourced from  Casa Lapostolle’s Apalta Vineyard in the Apalta sub-region of Colchagua Valley. It is a beautiful forested region in the foothills of the Andes, just a few hours south of Santiago. Only six wineries are permitted to have vineyards in the region;  the vast majority of the hills are protected from further development.

Lapostolle

The winery is the passion project of Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle, a member of the family which owns Grand Marnier. Since 1994, she has had international wine consultant Michel Rolland under contact.  This is why you don’t see any other Michel Rolland wines being made in Chile: she has him under a non-compete contract (and why he has worked on so many Argentina winery projects recently).

Leave a Comment

Item added to cart.
0 items - $0.00