Cuvée Alexandre Merlot (2000)

About this wine

The 2000 Cuvée Alexandre Merlot from Casa Lapostolle presents a deep, intense ruby red color. On the nose, it offers elegant and complex aromas, with plenty of red fruit and blackberry flavors mixed with notes of toasty oak and spices. The palate reveals smooth, round, and well-integrated tannins, making it very approachable. This wine showcases the quality of the Apalta terroir, known for producing world-class wines. Founded in 1994 by Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle and her husband Cyril de Bournet, Casa Lapostolle combines French winemaking traditions with Chilean terroir to create exceptional wines.

About the grape

Merlot, originally from Bordeaux, France, is known for its soft, fruity profile and is widely planted in Chile's Colchagua Valley. Carménère, once thought extinct after the phylloxera plague in France, was rediscovered in Chile in 1994, where it had been mistaken for Merlot for over a century. This discovery allowed Chilean winemakers to cultivate Carménère as a distinct varietal, often blending it with Merlot to create wines with a unique combination of softness and spice. In the 2000 Casa Lapostolle Cuvée Alexandre Merlot, these two grapes are combined, showcasing the rich viticultural heritage of the region.

Quick facts

• 🍷 The 2000 vintage of Cuvée Alexandre Merlot from Casa Lapostolle is renowned for its deep, intense ruby red color, offering an elegant and complex nose with abundant red fruit and blackberry flavors, complemented by notes of toasty oak and spices.
• 🕰️ This wine showcases smooth, round, and well-integrated tannins, making it approachable upon release, yet it also possesses the potential to gain complexity and harmony with further cellaring.
• 🇫🇷🇨🇱 Casa Lapostolle, founded in 1994 by Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle and Cyril de Bournet, combines French winemaking traditions with Chilean terroir, producing wines that reflect both elegance and balance.
• 🌞🌱 The Colchagua Valley, where this wine originates, is one of Chile's most renowned wine regions, known for its Mediterranean climate and diverse soils, contributing to the production of high-quality red wines.
• 🏆 The 2000 Cuvée Alexandre Merlot received a 90-point rating from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, highlighting its exceptional quality and appeal among wine enthusiasts.

Palate profile

Producer

Casa Lapostolle was founded in 1994 by Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle, great-granddaughter of the creator of Grand Marnier, and her husband Cyril de Bournet. They established the winery in Chile's Colchagua Valley, captivated by its old, ungrafted vines and exceptional terroir. The winery is renowned for its gravity-fed, six-level facility built into the Apalta hillside, designed to utilize natural slopes for winemaking processes. Casa Lapostolle's commitment to quality has earned its flagship wine, Clos Apalta, multiple 100-point ratings from critics like James Suckling. The winery also emphasizes sustainability, with its Apalta vineyard certified organic and biodynamic, and it protects over 700 acres of native Chilean vegetation surrounding the vineyard.