The first Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon, the premium wine that gave us fame, was and still is a very different wine to what was then in vogue. Concentrated, complex and solemn, it was an immediate success and proved we had chosen the adequate niche: quality! Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon 1987, became the first ever premium Chilean export wine and it opened for Montes and for Chile, a path other wineries quickly followed. Other wines followed the Montes Alpha range: a Chardonnay, Merlot and a Syrah. We have preferred to maintain the Montes Alpha line concentrated exclusively on these four wines which “jointly” represent the highest premium brand exported in its category, these are wines geared towards specialized wine stores, restaurants and hotels: a niche that leaves a mark and provides reputation.
Montes had its mindset to create better Chilean wines, an obsession. Montes then, lead the way venturing into the Apalta Valley and mountain slope plantations. Montes constantly sought quality, and became again a pioneer in Syrah plantations in Colchagua. Results surged faster than expected: the first ultra-premium (super-Chilean or icon) wine, the Montes Alpha “M” 1996 (a classic Bordeaux) was followed by another which has become a cult-wine, the Montes Folly 2000 (minimum production of 100% Syrah), and finally the first Chilean Carménère (over 75%) launched in May, 2005 and Purple Angel (Carménère 92%). Each and everyone became an immediate success for the specialized press and for our loyal consumers. Montes` blessing has been the achievement of everything they set out to do. In 2005, they became the fifth Chilean bottled wine exporter; they achieved this on their own without seeking joint ventures or foreign consultancies of any kind, as has been the case of other wineries in the “highest category”. We are proud to state that Montes has been extremely successful, this has been the result of a group made up by Chileans, 100%, and the result of our own hard work.
Montes has provided Chile with enormous gratification and has objectively become the bench marker for the majority of new Chilean vineyards. This status, as well as the achievement of concentrating on quality has been our major contribution to the Chilean wine industry. When Montes began (as Discover Wine Ltda.) there were only fourteen wines exporting vineyards in Chile, today the Chilean central bank has over two hundred registered wine exporters.
Montes wines are mainly aimed at exports (94% of its entire production) to over seventy-five countries in five continents, summarized as follows:
North America:
USA (prime market, selling over 150.000 cases), Mexico, Canada.
Europe:
United Kingdom (second largest market), Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Cyprus, Russia, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Malta, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine.
Asia-Pacific rim:
Korea, Japan, China, Hong-Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Macao, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, India, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, Cook Islands.
South America:
Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, and Chile, naturally.
Central America and the Caribbean:
Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Dominican Republic, Trinidad-Tobago, Barbados, Virgin Islands (USA and UK), Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Dutch Antilles.
Other:
South Africa, Kenya, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bermuda and various other zones accessed from other countries.
We are proud to encompass among highly respected importers and distributors in our premium wine market, in addition to the valuable customers from the main wine trading companies worldwide. Although we consider ourselves to be an average-sized Chilean winery, our quality standards are recognized and supported by the largest conglomerates on the globe, and the most prestigious small-scale traders. The exporting progress our wines have had has been rather hard to believe, if we consider that Montes wines are considered the most expensive wines in Chile and that our key markets are Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific rim.
1989 7.000 cases
1990 31.000 cases
1991 61.300 cases
1992 96.500 cases
1993 101.200 cases
1994 125.000 cases
1995 163.000 cases
1996 212.000 cases
1997 240.000 cases
1998 258.000 cases
1999 280.000 cases
2000 300.000 cases
2001 315.000 cases
2002 327.605 cases
2003 392.800 cases
2004 455.222 cases
2005 560.981 cases
Our sales during year 2005, were over 500.000 cases. In the future we do not want to go beyond this figure, sustaining our continuous dedication focused on producing the best wines, premium and exceptional wines. To reinforce our commitment towards quality, we have now in our property at La Finca de Apalta, located at the heart of our famous Apalta Valley property (located close to Santa Cruz, Colchagua) a second Cellar, exclusively dedicated to producing icon wines such as Montes Alpha "M", Montes Folly and Purple Angel, and our main line of red Montes Alpha wines.
This new super-Cellar producing over 2.300.000 liters is the outstanding result of numerous trips made by Aurelio Montes and his team seeking the latest state-of-the-art technology around the world, the result is the creation of this technological temple.
Our winery in Curicó, at Viña Nogales (property of our partner Pedro Grand) is still in operation and making the great Classic Series wines.
