Winery: Concha y Toro
Wine: Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada 2006
Location: Central Valley, Chile
Purchased: The Corkscrew
Price: $17.99

We’ve long been drinkers of the $10 Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a price performer and a wine that we know what we’re going to get when we pull out a bottle. Jonathan has always loved the Casillero del Diablo just a little more than me, picking up bottles of Merlot or Carmenére to sample. Maybe it was the name that got him hooked, cellar of the devil. I’m just not sure. So a couple of weeks ago he spotted the Reserva Privada and proceeded to tell me that he was going to get it the next time we bought a case. Naturally, I made fun of him for his obsession and accepted that we’d soon be having a bottle of the Reserva Privada.

Well, I may have to eat my words or at least not make fun of Jonathan for a while. For under $20, this was an outstanding wine. We didn’t have time to decant, but I can only imagine this wine would have opened up and really showed some complexity. As it was this was quite possibly the darkest wine I ever drank. It showed deep, dark purple colors. In fact, it looked nearly black and the coloring carried through to the edges of the wine. The nose offered dark fruits of currants, cherries and blackberries. I expected oak or toast, but noticed very little on the nose. I did pick a little pepper.

On the palate, the dark fruits carry over and there is just the slightest appearance of oak. It really offers a nice combination. The tannins are firm, creating a big, powerful wine. The finish was somewhat intriguing to me. I expected a longer finish from such a bold wine, but it was a medium finish with a little lingering. It wasn’t as long or powerful as I expected. Overall, I was very pleased with this wine and would like to try it again, but decant to see how it opens up.

The Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Syrah. The grapes are hand harvested and 70% of the wine is aged for 18 months in American oak. Concha y Toro was founded in 1883 by Don Melchor and his wife Doña Emiliana Subercaseaux. Today, the wines originate from the producer’s own vineyards consisting of 11,200 acres spread through Chile’s major wine regions including: Maipo, Maule, Rapel, Colchagua, Curico and Casablanca.