Casillero del Diablo Merlot

Concha y Toro is Chile’s largest wine producer, with vineyards throughout Chile and a dozen or so different brands.  One of those brands is Casillero del Diablo.

I admit, I’m a fan of the Casillero del Diablo brand.  The story is that the name came from a winemaker who told others that the devil lived in his cellar in order to keep them away from his better wines.

The brand has a fun attitude in their marketing and they produce some good wines.  While I did choose the word “good” to describe their wines versus “exceptional,”  I’m not going to complain about good wines.  I will, however, complain about the Casillero del Diablo website.  It’s totally unusable.  And while wineries are generally known for having bad websites, this one particularly annoyed me.

This merlot comes from the Rapel Valley in Chile, which is a broader region including the Colchagua Valley and Cachapoal Valley sub-regions.

This wine is powerful and loaded with spice, offering intense strawberry, plum, vanilla and toast aromas.  It’s a pretty big wine on the palate too, with jammy plum and cherry flavors, but it’s a bit clumsy.  What I mean by that is while it’s big and bold it’s not harmonious and balanced.  The acidity is sufficient and the finish is nice.  It’s quite drinkable, but not exceptional.

Wine: Casillero del Diablo
Variety: Merlot
Vintage: 2010
Alcohol: 13.5%
Rating: 85
Price: $10.00

Find Casillero del Diablo Merlot with Snooth

Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.