If you haven’t seen it yet, my column in the latest issue of Mutineer Magazine is all about malbec. But it’s not all about 100% malbec, it also includes this malbec blend from Clos de los Siete.
While there are a lot of pure varietal wines that I love, some of the most exciting wines I’ve been tasting recently have been red blends. This particular one is 57% malbec, 15% merlot, 15% cabernet sauvignon, 10% syrah and 3% petit verdot.
Clos de los Siete was a project started in 1998 by Michel Rolland, who had worked as a consultant in the Argentine wine business for several years. The idea was to create European-style wines from Argentina. Rolland partnered with a number of French producers on the project. The “Siete” in the name means “seven” as in seven partners created this project.
And while the history is interesting, we like to get straight to the point here. How’s the wine? In a word, it’s outstanding.
This wine has a nice, distinctive nose with a wonderful chocolate aroma. It also shows black currant and blackberry aromatics. The palate brings a well balanced bounty of black currant, blackberry and plum flavors up front, evolving into dark chocolate. The acidity and mouth feel are both stellar. But most importantly, this wine is just delicious!
And while the suggested retail price is twenty bucks, I’ve seen it on sale for under $15.
Wine: Clos de los Siete
Variety: Malbec blend
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 14.0%
Rating: 90
Price: $19.99
Find Clos de los Siete Malbec Blend with Snooth
Disclosure: This wine was received as a sample.