Summary
Weingut Montes (Viña Montes) in the Apalta Valley is one of the best-known names in Chilean wine. Founded in 1988 by winemaker Aurelio Montes and three partners, the estate was among the first to believe Chile could leap from inexpensive bulk wine to ambitious premium wine. Its heart is the spectacular Finca de Apalta in the Colchagua Valley – a horseshoe-shaped amphitheatre of steep granite slopes that give rise to the famous icon wines Alpha M, Purple Angel and Folly. Montes stands for powerful, precisely made red wines, for dry farming on steep hillsides, and for an almost spiritual attitude in the cellar.
History
The Montes story begins in the mid-1980s with a bold idea: Chile, then known almost exclusively for simple, cheap wines, should produce world-class wines. Winemaker Aurelio Montes joined forces for this with partners Douglas Murray, Alfredo Vidaurre and Pedro Grand. After a first harvest in 1987, the estate was officially founded in 1988 – initially under the name Discover Wine.
The very first Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon showed that Chilean wine could compete at the highest level. In the following years Montes opened up the then largely overlooked Finca de Apalta, planting vines high up the slope – a revolutionary decision for Chile. From this vineyard came the icon wines that made the estate's name. Today Aurelio Montes Jr. continues the cellar work, crafting wines from numerous Chilean valleys.
Location & Terroir
The heart is the Finca de Apalta, a horseshoe-shaped valley within the Colchagua Valley, around 70 kilometres from the Pacific. The south-facing amphitheatre shape traps cool air, while the steep slopes – some over 45 degrees – provide sun exposure and natural drainage. The soils are poor, granitic and of fluvial as well as colluvial origin – ideal conditions to ripen small, concentrated berries.
Characteristic is dry farming on the upper slopes: vines with no artificial irrigation root deeply and yield especially dense wines. The interplay of warm days, cool nights and the sea breeze gives the reds their balance of ripe fruit and fresh acidity.
Style & Philosophy
Montes combines modern precision with a deliberately calm, almost meditative cellar philosophy. The wines are moved gently by gravity to stress the fruit as little as possible. Well known – and much quoted – is the practice of playing Gregorian chant in the barrel cellar, because the estate is convinced that calm and harmony do the wines good.
Stylistically, powerful but not overloaded reds are at the centre: ripe dark fruit, fine spice, well-integrated oak and a structure that allows the wines years of ageing. Carmenère holds a special place – as Chile's own grape it shapes Purple Angel with its spicy, dark character. The range is rounded out by fresh, clearly drawn whites from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Notable Sites & Wines
The range is clearly tiered – from the accessible Alpha line to the icon wines from Apalta. Among the best-known wines are:
- Montes Alpha M – the estate's Bordeaux blend, dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, only in top vintages
- Purple Angel – Carmenère-dominated, one of the most famous examples of the variety worldwide
- Folly – a single-varietal Syrah from the steepest parcels of the Finca de Apalta
- Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon – the classic that made the estate's name
- Montes Alpha Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc – fresh, precise whites
These wines made Montes a fixture on international best-of lists.
Awards
Montes has for years been among the most-awarded wineries in Chile and appears regularly on rankings of the world's most visit-worthy estates. The icon wines consistently earn high scores in the international trade press, and the estate is widely seen as one of the flagships that shaped Chile's reputation as a source of serious premium wine. Wine tourism around the Finca de Apalta, with its award-winning architecture, adds further to its renown.