Clos Apalta Prélude 2023
Apalta Valley
Chile, Chile
Regular price£90.00
/
Arriving: Late 2025
Shipping duty paid to Mainland UK is charged at a flat rate of £9.99 per consignment and POA for Northern Ireland or Islands.
Shipping under bond is dependant on location, but starts at £15 per consignment.
| Style: Red | Packaging: OCC |
| ABV: % | Closure: Cork |
| Organic: | Drink from: 2023 |
| Biodynamic: | Drink to: 2030 |
| Grapes: 50% Carmenère, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot | |
Critic scores
91 RP, 92 VM, 95 JS, 91 DC, 93+ DB
Critic reviews
"The 2023 Prelude opens with a quintessentially Carménère-driven nose of ripe red fruits, dried herbs and spices against a lush backdrop of roasted coffee and black licorice aromas. The palate is seamless and polished, concluding with a similarly svelte finish framed with powdery tannins and a creamy undercurrent. This is a blend of 50% Carménère, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot."
Matthew Luczy, August 2025, RobertParker.com
"The 2023 Prélude is a blend of 50% Carménère, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot from Apalta. This aged for 17 months in 10% new and 90% second- and third-use French oak barrels. It opens with delicate ash and pyrazine notes alongside blackberry and a touch of currant, supported by well-integrated oak. Dry and broad, with a mid-palate richness, this delivers a profile of black fruit and barrel spice. The 2023 is a red with medium concentration, polished grip and a fruit-forward finish. It should improve in bottle—this is an elegant stylistic exercise from Clos Apalta."
Joaquin Hidalgo, July 2025, Vinous.com
"Lovely freshness from this warm year, with good depth and concentration. Fresh cherries, blackberries, paprika, spices and tapenade on the nose. Juicy and almost full-bodied on the palate, with melted, dusty tannins and a long finish. 50% carmenere, 40% cabernet sauvignon and 10% merlot. About 16 months in barrels, of which 18% were new oak and the rest is second-use. Drink from 2026."
Zekun Shuai, April 2025, JamesSuckling.com
"So aromatic, dark black fruit, bramble berries - ripe and heady, deep and seductive. Damson plum, earthy scents, wet soil and a touch of gunsmoke. Intensely perfumed blackcurrants, liquorice and black chocolate. Svelte and streamlined with soft, well-integrated tannins and gorgeous fruit purity - keeps a streamlined structure. Poised, lovely delicacy, nothing overblown. There’s power but also restraint. Some granite and pencil lead minerality really adds the salinity and touch of metalicism as well as spice and toast accent the fruit but overall stay in the background. Ends on a toasted liquorice note. Great quality."
Georgina Hindle, July 2025, Decanter.com
"(Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile; 50% Carménère; 40% Cabernet Sauvignon; 10% Merlot; 2.8g/L of residual sugar; pH 3.52; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the CVBG press tasting over Zoom with Andrea Leon, technical director; from a vineyard selection). From a hot low yielding vintage, but there was more rain than in 2022. Slightly dusty in its earthy minerality. A little touch of smoke. Quite bulby with a lovely black and white pepper signature. Damson. Plum skin. Nutmeg. Freshly ground dark-roasted espresso beans. A little walnut shell too. There’s a beautiful natural plump ripeness to this. Quite crunchy fruits. The rich spices intermingle with the graphite from the Cabernet Sauvignon. Quite tight and narrowly framed with lots of tension holding the wine close to the spine, reinforced by the considerable tannins – quite grippy and almost pointy in their granularity. Pure and precise, but with significant density. More of a vin de garde than the 2022. 93+."
Colin Hay, August 2025, DrinksBusiness.com
Matthew Luczy, August 2025, RobertParker.com
"The 2023 Prélude is a blend of 50% Carménère, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot from Apalta. This aged for 17 months in 10% new and 90% second- and third-use French oak barrels. It opens with delicate ash and pyrazine notes alongside blackberry and a touch of currant, supported by well-integrated oak. Dry and broad, with a mid-palate richness, this delivers a profile of black fruit and barrel spice. The 2023 is a red with medium concentration, polished grip and a fruit-forward finish. It should improve in bottle—this is an elegant stylistic exercise from Clos Apalta."
Joaquin Hidalgo, July 2025, Vinous.com
"Lovely freshness from this warm year, with good depth and concentration. Fresh cherries, blackberries, paprika, spices and tapenade on the nose. Juicy and almost full-bodied on the palate, with melted, dusty tannins and a long finish. 50% carmenere, 40% cabernet sauvignon and 10% merlot. About 16 months in barrels, of which 18% were new oak and the rest is second-use. Drink from 2026."
Zekun Shuai, April 2025, JamesSuckling.com
"So aromatic, dark black fruit, bramble berries - ripe and heady, deep and seductive. Damson plum, earthy scents, wet soil and a touch of gunsmoke. Intensely perfumed blackcurrants, liquorice and black chocolate. Svelte and streamlined with soft, well-integrated tannins and gorgeous fruit purity - keeps a streamlined structure. Poised, lovely delicacy, nothing overblown. There’s power but also restraint. Some granite and pencil lead minerality really adds the salinity and touch of metalicism as well as spice and toast accent the fruit but overall stay in the background. Ends on a toasted liquorice note. Great quality."
Georgina Hindle, July 2025, Decanter.com
"(Apalta Valley, Colchagua, Chile; 50% Carménère; 40% Cabernet Sauvignon; 10% Merlot; 2.8g/L of residual sugar; pH 3.52; 14.5% alcohol; tasted at the CVBG press tasting over Zoom with Andrea Leon, technical director; from a vineyard selection). From a hot low yielding vintage, but there was more rain than in 2022. Slightly dusty in its earthy minerality. A little touch of smoke. Quite bulby with a lovely black and white pepper signature. Damson. Plum skin. Nutmeg. Freshly ground dark-roasted espresso beans. A little walnut shell too. There’s a beautiful natural plump ripeness to this. Quite crunchy fruits. The rich spices intermingle with the graphite from the Cabernet Sauvignon. Quite tight and narrowly framed with lots of tension holding the wine close to the spine, reinforced by the considerable tannins – quite grippy and almost pointy in their granularity. Pure and precise, but with significant density. More of a vin de garde than the 2022. 93+."
Colin Hay, August 2025, DrinksBusiness.com