“M”為Montes酒莊的旗艦酒款，以創辦人之一Douglas Murray先生
的姓氏第一個字母命名
蒙帝斯酒莊，由智利四位資深葡萄酒業界人士共同創立於1988年，酒莊的
名字取自創辦人之一兼首席釀酒師的Aurelio Montes先生。如今Montes已成
為智利最大的葡萄酒出口酒廠之一，95%的產品出口到世界各國。
細緻的香氣帶有飽滿的紅色漿果、黑醋栗、雪杉草本調性及些許肉桂辛香料
氣息；入口後明顯地感受到橡木桶帶來的柔潤香草滋味及咖啡燻香，隨後轉
變成豐沛的莓果、黑李等水果表現。單寧細密如織、絲綢般地柔順卻不失整
體架構。融合了波爾多式的舊世界內斂及智利特有的豪邁奔放，蘊出悠長的
多層次尾韻、在舌間持續地繞出豐富的口感變化。
醒酒時間:飲用前一小時
2015 - 2025
The 2010 Montes Alpha M is a typical Medoc blend of a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon with 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% of both Merlot and Petit Verdot from their vineyards in Apalta next to the winery in the Colchagua Valley. It is aged in the best French oak barrels in a magnificent cellar with Gregorian chants continuously playing through the PA system. It’s a serious, meaty Bordeaux blend with a Mediterranean accent, aromas of red and black fruit, earth and some floral undertones, a medium-bodied palate with slightly dusty tannins, good freshness and balance, and it should get polished with some more time in bottle. I tasted 1999 and 2004 and they are still young and vibrant, but obviously there are (huge) differences in oenology and viticulture, especially since 2009. Drink 2015-2025. I first met with Aurelio Montes, one of the pioneers of quality wines from Chile, as the head of the trade association Wines of Chile rather than as a wine producer. We had a nice, relaxed meeting where we agreed to work together, and their collaboration has been vital to my ability to write this report. I don’t know how things were in the past, but my relationship with Montes and Wines of Chile has been very relaxed. They help me with logistics but do not impose or restrict anything I want to do, visit or taste. They help me with wines associated with Wines of Chile as well as with others that are not, and I’m very grateful for that. Of course, Montes is one of the big names when it comes to Chilean wine, and I had the chance to visit their impressive winery in Colchagua and see how they work and how much they invest in R+D projects. They seem to be focusing a lot more on Mediterranean grape varieties, which makes sense, considering the climate they have in Colchagua. Their wines in general seem more balanced, less extracted and oaked than in the past and remain true to their places. Besides those from the warm and powerful Colchagua, they have a whole new range of wines from other regions or produced outside the conventional methods under the Outer Limits series. I tasted some components of future wines which showed very promising. I hope to report on these on future occasions.
