2000-2001
WINE SPECTATOR, March 31, 2000
SOUTH AMERICA'S TOP VALUES
"In the flood of Chilean and Argentinean wines that has streamed into the United States over the last decade or so, five wineries are leaving a consistent wake of solid quality at a fair price. What follows are brief descriptions of their histories and winemaking styles, with lists of some of their current value-priced releases".
MONTES: PURE FLAVORS FROM A NATIVE SON.
"...Without the benefit of large scale international investments, Montes has steadily buil up his winery into one of the biggest from Chile: exports grew from 7.000 cases in 1989 to 240.000 cases in 1997. Aurelio Montes is generally considered to be one of Chile's top winemakers".
Montes offers perhaps the broadest range of quality wine in Chile today, with consistently good to very good Chardonnay, Malbec, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc at various price points.
The wines of the basic Montes line - all aged in American oak and combining estate grapes as well as purchased ones - offer textbook varietal flavors at prices that have held steady through the last few years. The Montes Alpha line, more expensive, includes all estate-grown grapes. The winery's flagship wine is the Montes Alpha M a Cabernet - based blend that is one of the best wines being made in Chile today.
Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2001
FOUR STARS FOR MONTES!
Perhaps the most popular best-seller book in the wine world. Hugh Johnson, to us the best wine writer in the world, awards Montes his maximum of (only 3 other from Chile received this honor) and says "Montes Alpha can be brilliant…New B'x blend Montes Alpha "M" is improving with each vintage".
AN UNEXPECTED HONOUR FROM JAPAN
Vinothèque, the oldest and respected wine trade magazine in Japan, celebrated their 20th Anniversary with a wonderful dinner in the Ball room at the 39th floor of Hotel Park Hyatt Tokyo and presented their selection of the six wine world personalities whom they considered most influential in the development of the Japanese wine market during the past 20 years. Their selection was:
•Mr. Joseph Henriot (Bourchard Père & Fils ) France
•Mme. May Elian de Lencquesaing (Ch. Pichon Longueville) France
•Mr. Marcel Ducasse (Ch. Lagrange) France
•Mr. Douglas Murray (Montes & Montes Alpha) Chile
•Mr. Angelo Gaja (Gaja) Italy
•Mr. Jeffrey Grosset (Grosset) Australia
Our Douglas Murray felt incredibly honoured and still believes the selection should have gone to our partner and winemaker, Aurelio Montes. Perhaps they have seen more of Douglas during the last 20 years but the real reason is that they admire the way Montes has played the role model for Chilean premium wines and our contribution to radically improve the quality of Chilean wines in general. As Vinothèque puts it "With Montes Alpha M Chile has shown the world its capacity to produce the very best super-premium wines".
A THOUSAND AND ONE ARABIAN NIGHTS
To celebrate the DUBAI WORLD CUP, the "richest prize" (US$ 6 million) in horse racing, MONTES were the only wines served during the party for 5.000 guests, in pure "A thousand and one nights" style, held in five huge Bedouin tents in the desert, with thousands of multicoloured torches and thirty attractive belly dancers. Presiding was Sheik Mohamed Bin Rashid Marktoum Al Marktoum, Regent Prince and Defense Minister of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). Our special recognition to our exclusive importer, AFRICAN & EASTERN, based in Dubai.
MONTES RANKS AS Nº10 EXPORTER OF CHILEAN BOTTLED WINES, WORLDWIDE:
It is with much pride that we inform you that, with all Chilean Customs data for 2000 now available, our Association, Viñas de Chile, published the ranking of Chilean Wine Exports. MONTES is Nº10. Not on the basis of number of cases but on US$ FOB value of total exports as ours are all premium wines. The list is: Nº 1 Concha y Toro (and subsidiaries), Nº 2 San Pedro + Santa Helena and others, Nº 3 Santa Rita + Carmen and others, Nº 4 Santa Carolina + Casablanca and others, Nº 5 Errazuriz + Caliterra, Nº 6 Santa Emiliana (Walnut Crest), Nº 7 Undurraga, Nº 8 Tarapacá, Nº 9 Valdivieso (and other labels), Nº 10 Montes & Montes Alpha, Nº 11 Los Vascos, Nº 12 La Rosa, Nº 13 Canepa, Nº 14 Carta Vieja, Nº 15 Casa Lapostolle, Nº 16 Santa Inés + De Martino.
MONTES IN SPORTS
Montes wines were selected and offered at all restaurants for the Wimbledon Tennis Club during the past Millennium Championship and will remain there. On the other side of the world our importer Down Under, DAN MURPHY'S / WOOLWORTHS, made certain that everyone visiting the summer Olympics in Sydney could find Montes in several restaurants and retail wine merchants. Our gratitude to them.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Montes & Montes Alpha are now also in the best wine merchants and restaurants in Russia. We are proud to have been selected by DP Trade, our distinguished importer in Russia, leader in better wines and representative of the best world brands among which you can find 100 + of the top Bordeaux Grand Crus, Bollinger Champagne, Taylor's Port, Angelo Gaja (Italy), Muga (Rioja), Beringer (California) and others. Shown are their two beautiful Moscow wine shops, Decanter and Magnum, with a third one in St. Petersburg.
JACQUES WEIN DEPOT’S MAGAZINE
Cover (Germany, October 2001) dedicated to Aurelio and his wife Bernardita Montes: "The latinamerican super-star winemaker, A. Montes, and his wife" Jacques Wein Depot stores have done a fantastic job for Montes and Montes Alpha and now have seven of our wines in their many wine stores in Germany and Austria (about 235 stores).
TOP LAUNCHING IN CYPRUS
A warm welcome to Alexis & Nicolas our exclusive importers for Cyprus. Montes & Montes Alpha were presented to the wine trade at the beautiful Annabelle Hotel and are listed already in the best restaurants (like Neon Phaliron in Limassol), stores and hotels, including the stunning Anassa Hotel, considered one of the best ten hotels in the world.
AURELIO MONTES: 2001 WINEMAKER OF THE YEAR
The Chilean Association of Food and Wine Journalists elected our Partner -Aurelio Montes- "Winemaker of the Year" in a ceremony in Santiago, in April 2002. This is the second time Aurelio receives this recognition as in 1995 his colleagues, The Chilean Association of Oenologists, had bestowed the same honor to him.
1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS AT THE MOST LUXURIOUS HOTEL IN THE WORLD.
The BURJ-AL-ARAB Hotel, in Dubai (U.A.E.) the only "Seven stars Hotel in the world" has listed our Montes and Montes Alpha wines. Quite an honour. Having visited the Hotel late last year, they deserve all seven stars and more! We are very proud to also be at the Emirates Tower Hotel, Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, The Metropolitan, The Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, The Hilton Creek (a Gordon Ramsey restaurant) and others. All this thanks to our importer, AFRICAN & EASTERN and the dynamic Jason Dixon and Lisa O’Sullivan plus Sean Hennessey in the Sultanate of Oman, where we are at the Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Hotel, Trader Vic’s and others.
ACTIVITIES IN BOMBAY, INDIA
Asit Chandmal, widely respected wine writer, reported in his column at the Bombay Times (Dec. 8, 2001) a Montes "wine dinner" at Bombay’s Indigo restaurant (only restaurant in India to receive Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence):
A new menu designed by Rahul Akerkar at Indigo is a significant culinary event... It happened last Sunday, when 50 of Bombay’s more discriminating food and wine lovers attended a wine dinner at Indigo... Montes wines are truly wonderful value for money. Akerkar’s newly created dishes and Montes wines should be a regular feature of Indigo. It is such innovations that keep Indigo ahead of others on the culinary curve.
Our gratitude for his dedication and expertise to Mr. Sanjay Menon of Sansula, our importer. He has weathered many storms, high duties and high taxes that would have folded a normal soul and well deserves to be at the forefront of the wine sector in India, with his love for wine.
VIETNAM
ANUONG GASTRONOMY MAGAZINE
Hanoi, Vietnam Nov. 1, 2001, "The Press Club and its Wine Tasting party by Lananh (presentation of Montes and Montes Alpha wines by our importer Donald Berger)… the Montes wines have been famous for a long time as the leading premium wine of Chile. The Vietnamese have been familiar with French, Italian wines but are still unfamiliar with Chilean wines, so the Montes tasting party held by the Press Club on October 4th attracted many people… This is the first time that the Press Club has held a Chile wine tasting party in Vietnam.
We welcome our importer to Vietnam, famous chef Donald Berger, who has had wide success in Asia and entered some of our wines to the first International Wine Challenge
Vietnam 2002, headed by WINE’S Publisher, Robert Joseph. We received GOLD Medals for: Montes Alpha M 1999 and for Montes Alpha Cabernet 1999 and SILVER Medals for Montes Alpha Chardonnay 2000, Montes Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 and Montes Cabernet/ Carmenère 2000.
December 2001
WINE SPECTATOR’S "BEST IN MARKET"
In its December issue Wine Spectator’s "Best in the Market" section highlighted the Chilean and Argentinean wines that –according to their perception– are very good value for their quality. Of the 10 listed, from both countries, 5 are Montes wines!!!
JOY Magazine, Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 2001
IN CHILE WITH MONTES WINERY
By Juan Aznarez
"We traveled to Chile to visit one of the Premium wineries that better represent the wines of South America, to tell you how the famous Montes Alpha and their elder brothers, "M" and Montes Folly, are produced… Montes has revolutionized the production of Chilean premium wines since its birth in 1988… This winery was the creator of the first real premium wine of Chile, Montes Alpha, and the first ultra-premium, Montes Alpha "M".
GREEK PRESENCE
The most important restaurant guide in Greece is the Alpha Guide (great name!) Its 2001 edition mentions the best restaurants, in many of which you can find Montes and Montes Alpha wines. They are, if you visit that beautiful country:
Aristera-Dexia
Interni
Varolilico
Island
Boschetto
Mezzo Mezo
Central
Spondi
Edodi
Vardis
BOUTARI, our importer –who believed in us many years ago when Chilean wines were relatively unknown in Europe, and totally unknown in Greece– has made a patient and steady introduction and are very satisfied with results. We are proud to be with BOUTARI.
TOP RESTAURANTS IN BELGIUM
Brussels is famous for its cuisine and we are grateful to our importer, PALAIS DU VIN, for their placement of Montes and Montes Alpha wines in some of their top restaurants, such as:
Comme Chez Soi (3 Michelin Stars)
De Bijgaarden
Royal Waterloo Golf Club
Royal Zoute Golf Club
MONTES WINES AT OBEROI HOTELS IN INDIA
We are proud to supply most of the Oberoi Hotels, Grand Hyatt New Delhi, several Taj Mahal Hotels, Grand Maratha Sheraton Bombay, the American Embassy AMC New Delhi and several more.
FABER & FABER, London, UK, 2001
THE WINES OF ARGENTINA, CHILE AND LATIN AMERICA
By Christopher Fielden
The original concept was to be no more than a boutique winery but now Montes has grown to be a major international brand synonymous with quality Chilean wine. They are wines that I have enjoyed from Beijing to Birmingham…
