Easy to drink and approachable are apt descriptions of the wines of Viña Montes, which was started from scratch with US$50,000.00 by Aurelio Montes and three partners in 1988.

I first discovered the wines of Montes when I lived in Florida and was just beginning to experience wines from South America. I bought a bottle of Montes Alpha Cabernet at a tiny wine shop and I was surprised at the elegance and intensity of the wine, which led me to keep trying different wines from this producer. In Jamaica, no importer carried this wine until the wine club 1876 Wines offered it to their members, then its brief stay here ended when the wine club was sold to importer/distributor Select Brands. I had the honour of visiting Montes at its showcase winery in the Apalta region and was struck by the beauty of the place and also by the peace and serenity that greeted visitors as they stepped through the entrance doors. During a tour of the facility I was not surprised to learn that feng shui played an important part of the design — I could feel it. Jamaica was one of very few Caribbean countries that did not import Montes until very recently, when Select Brands decided to return it to their portfolio. As a wine lover, there are a lot of wines that I enjoy, but there is something about Montes that made me miss it, and now I am happy that it’s back on our shelves.

The Angel

From the bottle images you will notice that on their labels is the image of an angel; this is said to be influenced by the survival of one of the winery’s owners after a series of car accidents. Like many producers, Montes offers a variety of wines ranging from the Classic Series, Limited Selection Series, the premium Alpha series and the 3 Icons — Montes Alpha M, the Montes Folly and the Purple Angel. Their latest product is their first super Icon simply called Taita.

Available in Jamaica now are Classic Sauvignon Blanc, Classic Merlot, Alpha Pinot Noir, Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon, and one of the Icon wines — The Purple Angel. Here are some tasting notes:

Classic Sauvignon Blanc

Pale yellow and 100% fermented in stainless steel. Selected grapes picked to show best varietal aromas and fruit. Extremely attractive tropical

fruit and grassiness, thanks to its part-origin in cool Casablanca Valley. A fresh, crisp, happy wine. Enjoy as young as possible.

Classic Merlot

A young Merlot with six months’ American oak ageing. Elegant, refined with marked fruitiness and spicy black pepper: irresistible to Merlot lovers; harmonious and soft on the palate. Aurelio decided to add 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, to marry better with the oak, adding structure and finesse that also give the wine ageing potential.

Alpha Pinot Noir

Beautiful and delicate ruby-red colour. Intense and elegant nose, with predominance of strawberry and flowery notes that together make this Pinot Noir a very lively, harmonious and generous wine. On the palate it is clean, well-balanced, with soft, rounded tannins and a good level of acidity. The wine is long in the mouth and shows well-integrated, balanced oak. The wine is very lightly filtered, making the aromas and colour very expressive of Pinot Noir.

Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon

A landmark of Chilean winemaking, produced from grapes from the famous Colchagua Valley, and one of our most recognised wines of Chile. A ruby-red, intense-coloured wine. On the nose it’s an elegant, complex and intense wine with violets and red fruit evocations of blackberry, chocolate, black pepper and cigar box scents, while its affinity for oak lends vanilla, butterscotch and coffee notes. A wine in perfect balance showing real finesse and class, firm and round tannins, great structure, medium body and a long and persistent finish.

Purple Angel, the super Carmenère from Montes

This superb wine represents a whole new dimension for Carmenère, the long-lost grape variety that recently resurfaced in Chile after being presumed extinct in Bordeaux, its original home. In Chile, they consider it their signature variety and call it the ‘Jurassic Park’ grape that returned from the past. Aurelio Montes held back on releasing a Carmenère, preferring to take his time and work with the ‘new’ variety until satisfied that his wine would be a top contender, the very best Montes could produce. It was worth the wait: this beauty (a blend of 92% Carmenère and 8% Petit Verdot, aged for 18 months in new French oak barrels) is touched by the wings of an angel… a purple angel!

Christopher Reckord — Businessman, Entrepreneur & Wine Enthusiast. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Follow us on twitter: @Reckord