Women of Wine: Casa Lapostolle's Andrea León
Women of Wine: Casa Lapostolle's Andrea León
When Grand Marnier heiress Alexandra Marnier-Lapostolle opened the doors of Casa Lapostolle in 1994, she intended to craft not just world-class wine but "the perfect" wine. Her search took her all over the globe, but she was confident that a single high-elevation site just outside the limits of Santiago, Chile, could achieve this lofty goal. In this location, sheltered between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, grew gnarled yet very healthy century-old pre-phylloxera Cabernet vines. In these alluvial sands, her famed Apalta Vineyard and winery began to take shape.
Adhering to her credo of "French in intention, Chilean by birth," Marnier-Lapostolle replaced the brash talents of the Bordelaise consultant Michel Rolland with the indigenous acumen of Andrea León, who has vaulted what were previously very fine wines into world-renown offerings. Her talent has propelled her to winemaking stardom, with wines that rival both Napa's finest and the iconic classed growths of Bordeaux's vaunted Left Bank.
Andrea values structure in her wines and is faithful to the traditional Bordelaise approach to making age-worthy wines that slowly unfurl. She also greatly values expressiveness, aiming for the direct communication of terroir and aromatic complexity in her wines.
Andrea's collegiate studies in agricultural biology match perfectly with her education in enology. She has an affection for the "creepy crawlies," as she calls them, referring to the constellation of life composed of microbes, yeast strains and earthworms that are so integral to viticulture and the art of winemaking. Her curious mind and firm belief in environmental stewardship inform her insistence that all great wines are born in the vineyard – a thoughtful winemaker may only gently guide what nature provides.
"Grapes should always talk about their origin. Crafting wine [requires] a unique mix of science but also a good deal of intuition ... You have to have that 'gut feeling.' ... I think you need a balance of these two sides: the science/'operational' side of the craft, but also you need to have a lot of passion and almost an artistic side for crafting a wine." — Andrea León
Featured Wine: Casa Lapostolle Apalta 2019
Andrea León's Cabernet Sauvignon-based blends are always accented with traces of Syrah for aromatic finesse and Carmenère for "tertiary" complexity. But it is the estate's later plantings of Cabernet from the same hallowed tracts that give birth to Chile's legendary grand cru red, Clos Apalta, that remain the bedrock of this extraordinarily complex blend. It conjures up impressions of Saint-Émilion with a "New World" twist. Twelve months of aging in second-fill French oak barriques provide just the right measure of seasoning and spice without repressing any of the fruit's natural buoyancy. Damson plum, black raspberry, lavender and cedar paint a compelling portrait of Andrea's articulate artistry of melding accessibility and distinctiveness. We firmly believe that if the label read "Napa Valley Meritage" or "Saint-Émilion Grand Cru" – two families of wine to which Apalta could easily and favorably be compared – this wine would command more than twice its gentle asking price.
Find Casa Lapostolle Apalta 2019 in one of our six Wine & Spirits shops. Selection and availability may vary by market.
