Casa Lapostolle

Lapostolle was founded by Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle and her husband Cyril de Bournet in 1994. The Marnier Lapostolle family, founders and owners of the world-renowned liqueur Grand Marnier, is famous for producing spirits and liqueurs, but the family has also been involved in winemaking for generations.

In creating Lapostolle, the family has pursued the same uncompromising approach to quality that made Grand Marnier a global success. Its objective is as simple as it is ambitious: to create world-class wines using French expertise and the superb terroirs of Chile.

Today, Lapostolle owns 380 hectares in three different vineyards in Casablanca, Cachapoal and Colchagua Valley, all premium areas for quality wine production in Chile and produces a total of 200,000 cases spread over Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenère, and Syrah. 

It is our standard belief that it is very important to not only protect the purity of the fruit in our wines, but also our environment and the people that work in our vineyards. In 2011, all Lapostolle Vineyards were certified organic by CERES, the world-wide standard for organic farming practices. All of our properties are farmed under Biodynamic® Vineyard Management, certified by DEMETER, which far exceeds government mandated regulations. We export all of our wines to more than 60 countries responsibly via CarbonNeutral® delivery certidfied by The CarbonNeutral Company. 

Paola Muñoz (Senior Winemaker), Jerome Poisson (Winemaker), Odeth Ulloa (Winemaker)

Atalayas Vineyard is located in the Casablanca Valley, the lead appellation for premium Chilean Chardonnay production. Casablanca Valley, located 27.5 kms east from the coast and 76 kms west from Santiago, lies right in the Coastal Cordillera. Strongly influenced by cool coastal winds  that lower temperatures, Casablanca Valley has very low annual rainfall, which is beneficial for the desired, slow maturity of grapes.

Parcels of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have been growing in our Atalayas vineyard since 1997 and today, Atalayas Vineyard has 60 hectares planted with Chardonnay (95%) and Pinot Noir (5%)  grapes.

Grapes from Atalayas Vineyard, Casablanca Valley are used to produce:

• ​Clos Apalta
• Borobo
• Cuvée Alexandre Chardonnay
• Casa Grand Selection Chardonnay (69% from Atalayas Vineyard)

Apalta Vineyard is located in the wine-producing region of the Colchagua Valley, 200 km southwest of Santiago, 68 km away from the Pacific Ocean, between the Andes mountain range and the Coastal Cordillera.

Lodged between the Tinguiririca River (a tributary of the Rapel River) and the lower Coastal Cordillera hills, Apalta is a "horse shoe" shaped vineyard, not an enclosed valley. The natural barrier that forms on both the east and west delays the sun's arrival in the morning and extends exposure to sunlight in the evening. This natural regulation of sunshine allows the vines to escape the excess heat that the arid Rapel Valley is known for. 

Apalta Vineyard was planted with Carmenère, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Syrah from 1920 to 2006. Some of the oldest blocks, planted in 1920, have vines that were brought from France at the end of the 19th century. Another natural benefit of the Colchagua Valley terroir allows the older vines, located in the lowest part of the field, to effortlessly collect water from underground, a supply sufficient enough to last for most of the growing season.

Grapes from Apalta Vineyard, Casablanca Valley are used to produce:

• Clos Apalta
• Borobo
• Canto de Apalta
• Cuvée Alexandre Carmenère
• Cuvée Alexandre Cabernet Sauvignon
• Cuvée Alexandre Merlot 
• Casa Grand Selection Carmenère (58% from Apalta Vineyard)
• Casa Grand Selection Merlot (58% from Apalta Vineyard)
• Casa Grand Selection Cabernet Sauvignon (75% from Las Kuras Vineyard and Apalta Vineyard)

PICKING THE BUNCHES
The dry and regular climate of Chile at the harvest time allows waiting until the the optimal ripeness of the grapes to pick them, without threatening the weather forecast or the fungus attacks. At Lapostolle, all our grapes are hand harvested and also almost totally picked at night, and collected in small cases with 12 to 15 kg of grapes.

REFREGERATED TRUCKS
All Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc from Atalayas and Las Kuras, travel from the vineyard to the winery in refrigerated trucks to keep the grapes at low temperatures.

SORTING THE GRAPES
At Clos Apalta winery all the grapes are 100% hand de-stemmed for a perfect result. At Lapostolle our grapes are selected by hand before the crusher and after by Vistalys, a state of the art optical selection system.

This revolutionary winery is solely dedicated to the production of Lapostolle's world-class icon wine, Clos Apalta.

The winery is 100% gravity-fed spanning six levels, four of which are buried into the granite of the Apalta hillside to provide a natural cool temperature environment for cellaring and ageing. This rare vertical design allows the wine to flow naturally downward during every stage of the production, avoiding the need to pump, which can adversely affect the subtle flavours of the wine.

Grapes are night hand-harvested and brought to the highest level of the winery where they will be 100% hand de-stemmed, a labor intensive technique performed by only very few wineries throughout the world.

Fermentation takes place in 21 small French wooden vats which size corresponds to a parcel of our Apalta vineyard. Thus we can enhance the personality of each of our terroir plots.

After two years of ageing in two different barrel cellars, the wine will be bottled and either departs from the base of the winery or join the underground library in the heart of the winery.