The 2006 Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon is a glass-coating opaque purple with an alluring bouquet of toast tobacco cedar leather mocha and blackcurrant. Sweet voluptuous (but not in a fruit bomb kind of way) layered and complex already its superb balance will ensure at least a decade of evolution and it should drink well through 2036.Don Melchor is the flagship wine of Concha y Toro a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon cuvee that was started in 1987 making it Chile's senior icon. I feel confident about this because the winery kindly sent along a 1993 and a 1995 Don Melchor to provide context. The 1993 (94 points) reveals the nuance of a well-aged wine but with the balance to provide pleasure for another 10-15 years. The 1995 (95 points) is a bit rounder and more elegant also with another 10-15 years of prime drinking ahead.

A dark muscular style with black currant braised fig maduro tobacco bittersweet cocoa and loam notes that all roll together through the dense but polished finish. There's impressive power for the vintage along with precision and balance. Drink now through 2018. 20000 cases made. -JM