An Exposé of Viña Montes
Montes Wines began in 1987 when Aurelio Montes and Douglas Murray decided to create premium Chilean wines for export made by Chileans and marketed and sold by Chileans. The focus at Vina Montes is on creating wines that reflect the land and the vineyards they come from.
Kaiken Wines was founded in 2002 by Aurelio Montes Sr when he decided to cross the Andes from Chile and enter Argentina to make wines reflecting the terroir of Mendoza Argentina. The winery is named after the wild geese that fly across the Andes from Chile to Argentina and reflects Aurerio Montes venture as a Chilean to make wines in Argentina
I was provided the unique opportunity during the month of July thru #WineStudio to taste and learn about Montes Wines and Kaiken Wines and its founder Aurelio Montes who is now the new director of the Wines of Chile.
Winestudio is an online twitter-based educational program where participants engage their brains and palates with discussions on producers, varieties, tourism, terroir, regional culture and food matching
Over the course of 4 weeks we learned about Montes Winery of Chile and Kaiken Winery of Argentina and their dedication to make wines reflective of the terroir where they were grown. As part of the program, I tasted 4 wines:
Montes Spring Harvest Leyda Valley 2015 Sauvignon Blanc $14 A crisp and fruity wine with pineapple, greapefruit, white peach and lime flavors. It has good acidity and is crisp with a nice mineral finsih on the palate. The wine is made from grapes in the Leyda Valley which has fog and cold ocean temepratures. This is a refeshing wine that’s perfect for sipping on a hot day .
Montes Alpha Colchagua Valley 2012 Carmenere $20 This wine is 90% Carmenère and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. It has cherry berry notes mixed with a bit of smokiness & tobacco and chocolate on the finish
Kaiken Terroir Series Torrontes 2015 $17 This 100% Torrontes wine is from the Cafayate Valley in the Salta Region, with vineyards at 1,600 meters above sea level. It has flavors of Jasmine and orange blossom with some citrus and tropical notes and is nicely balanced with creaminess and acidity. It would be great with spicy food
Kaiken Ultra Malbec 2012 $24 100% Malbec from the Uco Valley. This wine is dense and tastes of bitter chocolate with big tannins chili spice and berry flavors. It should be aged to gain finese and allow the tannins to mellow
Thank you to Protocol Wine Studio, Brooklyn NY-based Feast PR and to Aurelio Montes, Sr. of Montes Wines & Aurelio Montes, Jr. of Kaiken Wines for sharing these wines with me and for educating me and allowing me to experience the expression of the terroir of Chile and Argentina as reflected in these unique wines. I look forward to the opportuntiy to try more wines from both of these wineries and am interested to see what happens with the Wines of Chile under thr very able and capable leadership of visionary Aurelio Montes.
Tags: #WineStudio, Argentina, Aurelio Montes, Carmenere, Chile, Fest PR, Kaiken Winery, Malbec, Montes Winery, Sauvignon Blanc, terroir, Torrontes, Wines of Chile
