Casillero del Diablo – Carmenere – 2006

Date: 20DEC07

Name: Casillero del Diablo

Label:

Winery: Concha Y Toro S.A.

Website: www.casillerodeldiable.com

Varietal: Carmenere – Rapel Valley – Chile

Vintage: 2006

Price: $8.99

Preface: none

Appearance: Dark purple, with brick red appearing only along the rim. Medium to full bodied, with quite a bit of what I would call sediment; I pulled the cork cleanly, so I don’t think it’s bits of cork floating around. The bottle sat after being opened for about 45 minutes.

Nose: Overwhelming nose of alcohol, with some hint of being corked present. I’ll reiterate that the nose is very hot, and I’m anticipating a substantial burn when I take my first sip. There’s some pepper coming through – hot pepper, not really what I would call spice, and a note of caramel. The bottle label claims “chocolate, coffee and spice…raspberries and blackberries.” I have to report I’m getting none of these, perhaps because the aroma of alcohol is drowning everything else out. I’ll try the same experiment I tried with the Los Cardos (take a whiff of the glass a few hours after I finish the wine, when the nose is more concentrated) and see if any of the claimed elements appear in the nose.

Taste: I will take a pass on this wine. Harsh tannins, very sour, bitter finish, nothing to recommend. To me this is not a drinkable wine. Very dry, with no balancing elements apparent. If I scored these wines, this would get the lowest score of any wine I’ve yet had, which would put it above even the Citra, which I wasn’t too fond of.

Tellings: The website for this Casillero del Diablo (Cellar of the Devil) at http://www.conchaytorousa.com/wines/diablo.html says that the varietal mix is 85% Carmenere, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Syrah. The website also claims that this is a legendary wine, though not because of the taste. To keep the vineyard workers from sampling the wine, the vineyard founder, Don Melchor, started a rumor that the deepest and darkest of his cellars was the devil’s own cellar. It worked, according to the legend. It might have been the taste that kept the pilfering workers away, though.

I’m completely open to the idea that maybe I just don’t get it. Maybe this is actually a quite good wine that just isn’t suited to my palate. Perhaps in a few years I’ll be able to discern the fine qualities of this wine. Until then I’ll just call it like I see it; to that end, the sips I’m taking while writing aren’t nearly so bad. Maybe the comical bracing I do before each sip has something to do with that?

Searching the internet for reviews of this wine led me to unanimously positive reviews, with only a few hints of the “it’ll be great in a few years” type of faint praise. The reviewers mostly echoed the bottle copy and the website by discerning the same aromas in the nose as those listed, so I’m ostensibly the odd man out. I’m happy with that lot, but if my tastes and experience change, and maybe one because of the other, I’m happy with that, too.

Thank goodness for wives. My wife yet again is doing virtually all of the Christmas shopping for the family, which keeps me in good stead with friends and family. If left to my own devices, I’d barely remember it was Christmas at all. She does the planning, the shopping, the buying and, thankfully, the thank you cards afterwards. Thank goodness for wives.