Montes, one of South
America´s most pioneering wineries, is now operating in Mendoza.
Charles Pestridge reveals all.
In the early eighties three men. Aurelio Montes, Douglas Murray
and Alfredo Vidaurre found themselves working together for San
Pedro winery in Chile. Between the three they had winemaking,
sales and finance skills and these were put to very good use,
to the point where this once struggling winery is now one of the
largest in Chile.
It soon became obvious to all three that Chile must start producing
better quality wine and look towards exporting to the world, as
domestic consumption had dropped to a quarter of what it once
was. Consequently the three formed the company Discover Wines,
with only $65,000 between them and teamed up with the fourth founding
partner Pedro Grand, who owned a small winery in Curico. The four
partners were adamant from day one that they could and furthermore
would only produce export quality wines. The company name was
subsequently changed to Montes Wines.
"It was considered that South America generally
speaking was only capable of producing table wine at best and
plonk at worst"
In 1988 their first wine was bottled under their own label. The
following year they introduced their first Alpha wine, a Cabernet
Sauvignon, which very clearly showed the world that Chile could
produce barrel-aged wine that would cellar well for up to ten
years and more importantly it fitted what we now call the US$20
bracket. The year 1996 saw Aurelio produce Chile´s first ever
super premium wine Montes Alpha M, which entered the all-important
USA market with a US$50 price tag and was rapidly destined to
enter the 92 (plus) point category. The move was met with both
scepticism and derision by some of the world´s more informed wine
press. It was considered that South America generally speaking
was only capable of producing table wine at best and plonk at
worst, which at the time was a fairly accurate assessment. Early
in the company´s history the decision had been made that the world
was wide open for wine and that Montes should export to every
country where wine consumption was, or could, become a cultural
norm. This was contrary to conventional wisdom at the time, which
said, only export to the established, known customers. By this
time it was becoming very evident that Douglas had a spectacular
flair for marketing wine and this dove-tailed perfectly with Aurelio´s
rising star as a winemaker, par eccellence. In fact Douglas went
on to introduce Chilean wine to the Japanese and consequently
was accorded the grand title "The godfather of Chilean wine".
"Colleagues within the wine industry considered
the move ... pure folly"
In 1993 Montes purchased a run-down fruit orchard in a small,
unheard of part of Colchagua valley, 200 kms south of Santiago.
With the land came a whole 1000-metre In high, forested, steep
mountain face, which Aurelio had spotted way back in the ´70s.
They set about clearing the forest, planting proven vinestock
and installing drip irrigation. Colleagues within the wine industry
considered the move to be somewhat eccentric, if not absolutely
crazy; in a nutshell - pure folly, as the traditional vineyards
were always planted on absolutely level ground, with flood irrigation.
Why invest a small fortune being different when everybody else
is making money being conventional? Subsequently, in 2002 Montes
Folly was launched, a 100% Syrah, coming from a traditional "Cab"
country. It entered the market as another US$50 wine and was awarded
a 92 point rating by only its second vintage - unheard of before,
particularly in South America.
"Superb teamwork that produces great wines"
In 2001 Montes set-up in Mendoza, concentrating on the exciting
Malbec as well as the more conservative (and well known) Cabernet
Sauvignon. Kaiken Malbec and Kaiken Cabernet Sauvignon entered
the international market in the US$10 price-point. By the following
year Ultra Kaiken wines were launched, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon,
both distinctly different from their Chilean counterparts and
both complementing the very successful $20 Alpha range. Kaiken
Wines now own 150 planted acres and a new winery is being built
in Mendoza. In the meantime high quality grapes are being sourced
from local growers, with both Aurelio and his bright resident
winemaker in Mendoza, Cristobal Underraga, overseeing the state-of-the-art
vine management.
In 2003 Montes was proclaimed New World Winery of the Year by
Wine Enthusiast magazine, the first South American winery to be
so recognized. Today the company exports twenty times as many
cases as was the original target of 30,000 cases and the wine
is going to 76 countries. The excellent, highly informative South
American reference book Austral Spectator rated Aurelio Montes
as having six out of the top seventy wines from the continent,
three from Colchagua valley in Chile and three from Mendoza. This
alone speaks volumes for the man´s flair, ability and understanding
of what the informed wine drinker wants. As Aurelio readily admits,
success on both sides of the Andes is the result of having a great
team of people. Montes is blessed with a great top-line management
group, Andres Turner (general management), Victor Baeza (operations),
Carlos Serrano (exports) and Rodrigo Barria (agronomist), all
of whom support the founding partners and brains behind this exciting
and hugely successful South American winery group. It is, after
all is said and done, superb teamwork that produces great wines
and this group will continue to do so on both sides of the Andes
for a long time, Bacchus willing.
