Touring Montes Alpha winery and vineyard in Chile

Part of the view at Montes Alpha winery and vineyards

Good Morning!

Montes Alpha’s winery is about a mile from Lapostolle’s Clos Apalta and I had heard much hype about them while in Chile. I had actually tried Montes wines back in the US before I came to Chile. Everyone kept saying the winery is huge and is awesome to tour. I had driven past the winery several times and the place was massive and in the most picturesque setting ever, at the bottom of the mountain and miles of vineyards as far as you can see.

So we arrived and it was chilly and windy and the “front” of the winery was really contemporary and so sleek and hundreds of steps going up to the winery entrance. Walking up to the steps you see the Cafe and all the fountain and pools, it was beautiful, it looked like the grounds of a museum.

At the top of the stairs we met our guide and he was an English speaking young man and he took us through a very cool and modern lobby with hundreds of famous people’s pictures with the winemaker and owners of Montes Alpha. They had a great story about a winemaker who still makes the wine and I was also told they are the 2nd largest wine producer in Chile, the biggest being Concha y Toro.

When we walked out to see the production area, all I could see was stainless steel tanks forever! It seemed to go on and on and on. The size was impressive in it’s own right, but then they took us down to the barrel and aging room. It was set up like a concert hall and the moment you stepped in the room you lost all the sounds of the production area, like fork trucks and clangs of the metal clasps being released, all the noise ended and all I heard was soft chanting monk music playing in the background and the lights were dim and the mood was so still and relaxing.

The barrels are in a semi circle, and on different levels, it was set up just like a symphony orchestra. It was just so visually impressive and we all heard the story about how they wine ages and is allowed to be silent and become the final wines in this amazing setting. Then we were taken to the tasting shop and I had to say they make so many different wines and has so many different labels. It was interesting to hear the stories of each different brand they have released. Next we ran into another tour group and they were VIP’s and they invited us to join them in their tasting!

We had signed up for a 5 wine tasting, but the VIP’s had a 12 premier wine tasting set up so we joined in, SCORE! More wine and more great wine is always better! Anyway, the room was set up over looking the vineyards and the mountains and they wines started to flow, I actually liked all their wines but did not love them and did not find any one wine that jumped up and said buy me and smuggle me back the US in you bag. This surprised me, but I also think I had been tasting for several hours at this point and maybe my taste buds were numb.

Montes is a great wine producer, huge variety of wines they release and they are very affordable on a daily basis. I did take many notes on their whites so if I were going to bring some home it would have been the Sauvignon Blanc. After the tasting with my 8 new friends we headed down to the cafe that overlooked the fountains and pools and vineyards…it was a perfect afternoon to hang out and just enjoy the great day of wine tasting!

Tomorrow, I will talk about the winery, vineyard and wines of Casas del Bosque.

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi