Montes Aconcagua Costa Pinot Noir

Country: Chile  Region: Aconcagua Costa  Vintage: 2018

Category: Red Wine  Colour:  Red

Producer: Montes

PRODUCER
Montes was established in 1988 by Aurelio Montes, Douglas
Murray, Alfredo Vidaurre and Pedro Grand, with the aim of
producing the best wines in Chile from the best regions. We have
long admired Montes and what they have done for Chilean wine
over the past three decades. Their wines are consistently good
because they are meticulous throughout the entire production
process. Montes owns 800 hectares of vineyards in Apalta and
Marchigüe located in Colchagua Valley as well a single vineyard
Zapallar, located in coastal Aconcagua Valley.
The Limited Selection wines are classic examples of matching the
variety or blend to an area. The grape growers and winemakers
are given carte blanche to take outstanding fruit and come up
with some wholly individual wines that are perfect expressions of
site.
VINEYARDS
The vineyards that produce the grapes for the Montes Limited
Selection Pinot Noir are located in the Casablanca, Leyda, and
Zapallar Valleys, in the Aconcagua Costa wine region. All the
vineyards are close to the sea — Casablanca is 25 km from the
coast, Leyda 9 km, and Zapallar is 7 km inland. This brings freshness
and minerality to this cool-climate wine. The soils are granitic, with
varying amounts of clay content and all vines are vertically
positioned.
VINIFICATION
The hand-harvested grapes were destemmed and the berries
were sorted before transferred into open-top stainless steel tanks
where they were cold soaked at 7°C for five days. This is to extract
aroma and colour, especially important for the thin-skinned Pinot
Noir. The temperature was then raised to allow for fermentation
which lasted approximately seven days at 23º– 25ºC, with two
pump-overs and punch-downs per day. After being pressed, the
wine underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks
with some of the wine aged in French oak barrels for six to seven
months, while the rest remained in stainless steel tanks. The wine
was lightly filtered prior to bottling.
TASTING NOTES
This wine is ruby red in colour. On the nose, there are intense
aromas of fresh strawberries and tart cherries, with notes of rose
petals and wild herbs. The well-integrated oak adds elegance
and complexity – lightly toasted hazelnut and vanilla notes and
very gentle, rounded tannins. A vibrant palate with plenty of red
fruit and a balanced, lingering finish.