Casillero del Diablo Carménère (2006)Origin: Chile (Rapel Valley)
Price: $11
Last night I was at a friend's wine tasting party, and little did I know, I brought one of the "winners" of the night. This Casillero del Diablo carménère was definitely a random pick for me -- I was trying to venture in a direction that I hadn't gone before, and it seems that my instict was right on target.
For starters, the brand Casillero del Diablo has a cool story behind it. More than a century ago, the brand's founder realized that his vineyard workers were dipping into the best wines. In order to deter this from happening, he started a rumor that his deepest, darkest cellar was the Casillero del Diablo (Cellar of the Devil). As you can imagine, nobody would go in there after they heard this, and the legend was born.
I was prepared for a very robust wine, seeing as this is 14 percent alcohol and I had read that carménère has a lot of pigment. The breakdown of this particular wine is 85 percent carménère, 10 percent cabernet sauvignon and five percent syrah. It was definitely a full wine -- more so than I had even expected.
Just by swirling, its coffee aromas couldn't have been more obvious, and its legs were to die for. The first sip confirmed chocolate, plum and a dash of spice. By the end of the glass, I was reveling in its striking balance of flavors, complete with just the right amounts of earthiness and smokiness. Folks, it doesn't get much better than this (especially on a Saturday night in the 'Burg).
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