Winemaker Notes
A beautiful and intense ruby red color. The nose is elegant and complex. It opens towards the intense fruit with herbs and spices, with an elegant and well integrated oak finish. Classic structure, with elegant and long tannins, with more flavors of fruits and black spices. Prolonged finish, and velvety.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a polished nose of black olives, oyster shells, thyme, salted chocolate, graphite, black fruit and cassis. Some orange zest, too. It’s so well structured, with firm, tight and chewy tannins and bright acidity. Full body. Yet elegant, too. Long. 100% cabernet sauvignon from 100 year old ungrafted vines.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 La Parcelle 8 is a pure Cabernet Sauvignon that hits the scale at 15% alcohol. It shows very oaky, ripe and extracted, like a blast from the past. The palate is intensely oaky, and the finish is dry and with some astringency, given the concentration of tannins. It matured in 100% new French oak barrels for 29 months, even longer than the previous vintage I tried, the 2015. It's for fans of very ripe, oaky and extracted Cabernet, but it's not my cup of tea. I don't think wines like this will ever absorb the oak. Best after 2025.
Lapostolle was founded in 1994 by Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and her husband Cyril de Bournet upon their discovery of a unique clos in the Apalta Valley sheltering 100-year-old pre-phylloxera vines. They quickly realized its potential for producing world-class wines and embarked on their family’s next chapter in the New World. Alexandra brought generations of French winemaking tradition and expertise to the rugged landscape of the Colchagua Valley.
Today, Charles de Bournet, the seventh generation, leads the winery in its newest chapter of innovation, punctuated by the official recognition of the Apalta DO in 2018. Together with Andrea León, Technical Director & Winemaker, Lapostolle continue to craft wines that honor the winery’s credo: French in essence, Chilean by birth.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Well-regarded for intense and exceptionally high quality red wines, the Colchagua Valley is situated in the southern part of Chile’s Rapel Valley, with many of the best vineyards lying in the foothills of the Coastal Range.
Heavy French investment and cutting-edge technology in both the vineyard and the winery has been a boon to the local viticultural industry, which already laid claim to ancient vines and a textbook Mediterranean climate.
The warm, dry growing season in the Colchagua Valley favors robust reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Malbec and Syrah—in fact, some of Chile’s very best are made here. A small amount of good white wine is produced from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.