Clos de Los Siete Clos de Los Siete 2009

The 2006 Clos de los Siete is a slightly different blend with 50% Malbec, 30% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Syrah. Opaque purple-colored, it has a similar expressive nose including fragrant plum, blueberry, and black cherry. Ripe, sweet, and seamless, it admirably hides its tannin under all the fruit. It will evolve for several years but who will have the willpower to defer gratification? It is an awesome value.

Quite ripe, but focused and juicy, with blueberry, accedil;aiacute; berry and bramble notes laced with fruitcake and spice hints. A nice briary edge keeps the finish honest. Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petit Verdot. Drink now.

Clos de los Siete, the amalgamated product of Michel Rolland's Uco Valley wine commune, is rich, round and ripe, with deep aromas and trimmings like polished oak and minerality. The wine is proper,medium to full in size, and full of blackberry, plum and cocoa. No hiccups, pure fruit and complexity make this stellar for the price.

Good full medium ruby. Blackberry, mocha and sexy oak on the nose. Sweet, dense, tactile and ripe, with a lush texture and considerable alcohol but also good acid spine to the concentrated dark berry flavors. Finishes with substantial tooth- and tongue-dusting tannins and very good length. Shows the ripe yet classically dry aspect that's characteristic of so many of Michel Rolland's wines.

Never in its young history has the Clos 7 blend tasted this good right away. The '06 shows excellent young aromas of charcoal, black pepper and blackberry. The palate preserves that pepper and coffee blackness as it strides across ripe, satisfying blackberry and cassis flavors. It's 45% Malbec and then smaller amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Made by Michel Rolland and the other owners of the Clos de los Siete vineyards.

There may be no finer red wine value in Argentina than this superb blend of 48% Malbec, 28% Merlot, 12% Syrah, and 12% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is aged for 11 months, two-thirds in 100% new French oak and the balance in vat and bottled without fining or filtration. Opaque purple-colored, the wine coats the glass while offering up a superb bouquet of toasty oak, violets, mineral, black currant, blueberry, and black cherry. This is followed by a layered wine with gobs of ripe fruit, a plush texture, outstanding balance, and several years of aging potential (not that many buyers will be laying this down). This lengthy effort over-delivers and then some.

Notes of black fruits, hints of tobacco and sweet spice come together in this blend of malbec, merlot, cabernet and syrah. It's juicy and round, the muscular structure holding the fruit in check. An ideal match for game. Clos de los Siete is Michel Rolland's project high up in Mendoza's Uco Valley.