Obviously this vintage is not in stores now but i know at least duncan has a couple of these stashed away for drinking in a couple of years time....

Been holding into this since 2007. Was too tannic and alcohol heavy back then but now this is very good
Dark and deep in both colour and flavour. Still has a lot of the fruit there along with dark chocolate and a slight dry kind of stalkiness (which isn't bad)

Very good now, this should still hold out for another few years yet.
Not sure whether it'll develop much more but wish I had a couple more bottles to find out.

Shez,

I openned a 2006 last night - just ready.

Yep, A friend who resides in Italy for much of the year, was over for a rustic supper, he has been supping aged and rustic hand harvested Puglian wines, so I needed something with similar power and concentration for Summer solstice eve. Wine straight from the cellar was cool, with real structure and a fab streak of acidity to amplify the whole. We waited 20 minutes with third full glasses on the patio.

For me this 2006 Siete is the star Chilean rouge of the year so far, and with Michel Rolland in charge, the Malbec came through with real class - just as the profile in an expensive old vine Cahors would have done after some years in bottle. The Merlot 35% element was delicious, some cigar box and teak, the whole thing being lifted by a 10% Cab element (appeared like more of a %) that provided blackberry and eucaliptus as it does in Coonawarra. Excellent vanilla oak harmony, there is fine grained tannic elegance here as well as fruit power.

A wonderful mix, and IMHO close to Bin 389 if not a little easier on the tannins. The wine lasted over an hour, and was not hot on the palate at all.

Shez, you were spot on with that observation 2 years ago.

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Duncan

Very nice Duncan
Sounds like I should have picked up more back in the day when this was a £10 (reduced to £7.50) wine
It now retails for £15 so I tend to give it a miss. It perhaps I should pick some up on the next 25% off cycle
I wonder whether the current vintages are as good as the 2006/7 vintages were

We need to research the vintages now. I don't know what CT contributors say for more recent Los Siete wines. I think it is a 5 plus years hold for the Malbec to mature to the flavour profile that we want. (stewed "commercial Wine bar" Malbec put you off last year) I did not see the wine in a Waitrose store when doing the 25% campaign, nor in a huge Sainsbury. but perhaps in the City it may be found. If Michel Rolland still has his hand on the tiller, then it will be a safer punt.

Please let me know how your 2011 Montes Alpha cab performs when young, I would have bought, very nearly did on Saturday morning, if it weren't for my obsession to find the last of the 2010 CB clarets. There is a ripe & oaky Blaye in Marks online that I'm still watching for clearance.
Cheers

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Duncan