Laspostolle Dreams

So there’s been something I’ve been wanting to tell you all about. It involves a devine #1 bottle of wine, an infinity pool, rolling blankets of vineyard, personalized menus, a private casita, and a tarantula. Let me guess, I had you at tarantula? No? How about a “#1 bottle of wine?” Yes, that’s better.

Good idea: collect your corks in a wicker basket.
(And this way, I’ll remember what labels
to recommend to everyone back home!)

Back in November, the stars aligned in one of those reassuring ways that remind you you really are in the right place at the right time–even if that means 6,000 miles away from the places and people you know best. In this case, it was when my former editor at Gentry emailed with one of those opportunities you say an emphatic YES to immediately! It just so happened that a press trip had come in to none other than Lapostolle Residence and Clos Apalta Winery in Santa Cruz, Chile, about a two-and-a-half hour drive south of Santiago. I guess my joke about opening a Chilean bureau of the magazine wasn’t too far off? At least for the weekend anyway.

I don’t think anything I could write here would add to the above.

We arrived on a cool late morning… Well, for the real story, why don’t you read the finished product here (on pages 44 and 45). It includes details about the label’s founding in 1994 by Alexandra Marnier Lapostolle (the great granddaughter of the legendary creator of Grand Marnier liqueur); Lapostolle Clos Apalta Winery’s opening in Chile’s Colchagua Valley in 2006, as well as the prized varietals that Chilean soil and French practices so deliciously lend themselves to: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdote, and Carmenére, now regarded as the signature grape of Chile.

The article includes stunning photography by the most amazing Matt Wilson, who deserves photo credit! Ryan and I had the rare pleasure of dining with Matt and Lapostolle Winemaker Andrea León (who also happen to be married). The special treat of the night was a Grand Marnier tasting in chocolate shot glasses no less! Yes, chocolate shot glasses.

I’m going to start calling him “Mr. Ryan.”

I will also add a few extra highlights that didn’t make the final cut for publication. For instance, Lapostolle’s winery is 100 percent certified organic and fully biodynamic. As Andrea explained on our private tour of the vineyards, the property functions as a self-sufficient closed system, consisting of plants as well as animals (bees, chickens, cows, goats, and geese included), the soil, and even the cosmos (the winery is oriented toward the Southern Cross, the Southern Hemisphere’s most important constellation). All elements function in tandem over a two- to three-year cycle, to ensure balance, diversity, health, and growth. That can mean that the flowers we saw sprouting between the vines (California’s iconic orange poppy included) are just as vital to the health of the soil (and the grape) as sunlight and water.

The shadow of the sundial
and many of the 24 beams that represent each month
a Clos Apalta vintage journies from seed to sip.

While its French influence is pronounced, Chilean practices are also very much at work (“French in essence, Chilean by birth” goes the motto after all)–from the soil (the vineyards are dry farmed rather than irrigated), to the architecture (rauli beech, a tree native to Chile, is used throughout the architecture), to the menu (Chef Francisca Urzua, originally from Santa Cruz, has been with the Residence for nearly three years.) You don’t even have to be a member of the press to gain access to the kitchen; Chef Urzua will kindly grant a cooking demonstration for any guest. (She’ll also hand you a wooden spoon, so be prepared to participate!) We tried our hand at Charquicán, a traditional spoon-end-crushed mash of onion, potato, pumpkin, and bell peper and seasoned with paprika and oregano. For amazing culinary shots and another trusted opinion on just how gaga-worthy Lapostolle really is, check out friend and fellow blogger Emily’s great write-up.

We have been putting these aprons to good use
(for anyone who thinks I still don’t cook 🙂

Talk about a kitchen with an epic view.

At least for the weekend anyway. Any further indulgence is entirely up to you to seek and enjoy–an in-casita massage, a dip in the pool, the pause offered by perusing a book in the main house, or a stroll through the herb gardens. If you do have the opportunity to find yourself there, be sure to stop still in your tracks in order to look out at the winery’s velvet stretches of vine–and do so often.

Seeing blue: The 2005 Close Apalta,
preserved in the Marnier-Lapostolle private family wine cellar.

At least for the weekend anyway. As for that divine bottle of wine, it’s the 2005 Clos Apalta, Lapostolle’s prize cuvée, which only had to beat out a mere 20,000 vintages to be named the #1 wine in the world in Wine Spectator‘s blind tasting.

And because it’s all just so pretty: