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Montes M, Chile History

My experience with Chilean wine has lead me to believe that there is tremendous potential in this wine producing country, however most of the wines that we have in this market are average at best. Montes Alpha is one of the few names that you can count on from the $10 price range all the way to their top level wine this Montes M which can compete with anything from anywhere in the world at the top range of quality. This is no surprise to those in the know about Chilean wine as Aurelio Montes is considered one of the leading figures in Chile and has been trying the hardest for the longest to produce world class wine. This wine is one of the few standout wines from South America which if served blind will stand up to some of the best from around the world.

A Bit about Montes:

Montes was established in 1988 by four partners with years of experience in the art of winemaking and in the wine trade.

The philosophy at Montes has always been to produce premium quality wines from Chile. A level of quality which has been absent up until now, these premium wines have quickly became the standard to follow, such as MONTES and MONTES ALPHA, and now with ultra-premiums like MONTES ALPHA "M" (after Murray) and MONTES FOLLY, also the pioneers in the ultra-premium category.

And follow they did! Not only did the large established wineries create premium wines to compete with MONTES ALPHA but many producers decided to try their luck exporting bottled wines. Wine exporters, as a result, went from about 10 to well over 100 wineries now.

With 5 Estates, three in Curicó and two in Colchagua ("La Finca de Apalta" in Apalta and the new "El Arcangel de Marchigüe" in Marchigüe), totalling nearly 600 Hectares of vineyards with varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenère, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc -with Syrah and Pinot Noir producing for the first time, experimentally, in 1999 and in fuller scale in 2000- Montes wines are mainly exported (95% of total production) to over 60 countries in the five continents.