Clos du Lican - Apalta 2019

Clos du Lican - Apalta 2019

HISTORY
Clos du Lican is our hidden gem vineyard in the Apalta Valley, specifically in the San Jose area. Recognized as an official DO since May 2018, the Apalta Valley is known throughout Chile for the superb quality of its red wines.
The region's particular terroir makes for very elegant, complex wines with great structure, depth, color and an excellent ageing potential.
The Clos du Lican vineyard was bought in 2004 by Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and her husband Cyril de Bournet, only 5km away from Clos Apalta. The vineyard is a 3km strip with an eastern exposure, going uphill from 245 to 443 meters a.s.l and surrounded by the mountains.
It is planted mainly with Syrah, but also with Viognier, Mourvedre, Grenache and a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Clos du Lican is a very elegant wine, with a red and black fruit aromatic profile and underlying freshness which enhances its complexity. The land was originally covered with huge granite stones. Carried by their vision, Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and Cyril the Bournet started a gigantic work to shape the vineyard foot by foot. As Cathedral builders would have done a thousand years ago, they lifted those rocks and moved them around to create this sacred land of vine.

Mr Jacques Marnier Lapostolle, Alexandra’s father, personally came to Chile to have a better understanding of the project’s reach and scope while he said it would take a miracle to pull this project off.
That was 18 years ago. Today, we are launching the first vintage of the Clos du Lican and the miracle came true.
Unfortunately, Mr Jacques Marnier Lapostolle is no longer here to witness it. We would like to dedicate this first release to him, for the passion, the vision and the values of hard work that he passed onto the next generations.
Currently, the team behind the creation of Clos du Lican is led by the founders’ son, seventh generation of the Bournet-Lapostolle family, Charles de Bournet.

ESTATE
Clos du Lican is located in the Apalta Valley, near the town of Santa Cruz, 170 Kilometers South West from Santiago.

CLOS DU LICAN VINEYARD
Location : San Jose, Apalta Valley, Colchagua Valley
Elevation : 185 - 430 meters above sea level
Distance from the Sea : 75 Kilometres
Surface : 10.5 ha selected of 15 ha total
Plantation : 4.5 ha in 2004, 5.555 plants/ha
6.0 ha in 2005, 5.555 plants/ha
Training system : Vertical Trellis in a Double Guyot
Yield : 55 hL/ha
Certification : ISO 14.001, HCCP, Carbon Neutral

CLIMATE CONDITIONS
Apalta has a special meso-climate that is different from the rest of the Colchagua Valley. Its climate could be described as semi-dry Mediterranean with a winter only rainy season and a long dry summer season. During the growing season Apalta has warm temperatures with no rain due to the height of the Coastal Mountains which partially block the cold influence of the Pacific Ocean. We benefit from a wide temperature fluctuation between day and night which is a key quality factor for color and tannins in reds.
Slow maturation allows the grapes to reach their ideal maturity with high concentration and character, preserving the fruit and high levels of natural acidity, which in turn allows for a long ageing potential.

SOIL
Apalta has incredibly old soils which originated mainly in the Cretacious (145-66 MY) from granitic and granodioritic material. On the hillside, the soils present angular stones, well decomposed with moderate to fine texture and clay underlying subsoils. On the semi and flatter areas, colluvial and some old alluvial material, from receiving the material from the piedmont and the river.
With a thicker texture (sandy to sandy loam) and quartz gravel in the whole profile. Good drainage and slopes of 2-15%.