Brilliant light golden-yellow in color. The aromatic nose offers notes of pineapple, mango, and apricots against a backdrop of white flowers, vanilla, and toasted hazelnuts. The palate is well balanced with rich acidity creating a fresh juiciness in the wine with a pleasingly fruity finish.

WINE INFORMATION

Viña Montes started in 1987 when the two founding partners, Aurelio Montes and Douglas Murray, discussed their dream of making high quality wine in Chile. Two years later they enlisted two additional partners, Alfredo Vidaurre and Pedro Grand, to complete the visionary team.

The vineyards where the grapes to make this wine come from are located in three regions: Colchagua, Curicó, and Maule, all of which are found in the Central Valley. All the vines are trained to vertical shoot position and drip irrigated, allowing for healthy, evenly-ripened grapes. After many years of continual drought, the 20/21 season began with a winter of considerable rainfall, concentrated in just a few very rainy days. The summer season was cooler than expected, with a long, drawn-out veraison. Ripening had barely finished when there was significant rain across almost the entire winegrowing area of Chile. This had different effects depending on the local intensity of the rain. In the coastal area, some fruit and leaves were removed in order to increase ventilation and light for the bunches, ensuring the health of the grapes through to harvest.

Sustainably-farmed grapes were hand-picked into small 10-kg boxes and sorted. They were then crushed in two ways. Some were pressed in whole bunches, without destemming, and the juice was then transferred to a static decantation tank.  The rest were destemmed and then underwent a cool pre-fermentation maceration at 9 ºC (48.2 ºF) for 2–6 hours, to extract aromatic precursors from the skins. The juice was then drained off to a static decantation tank and allowed to settle for 24 hours before being racked to remove any heavy sediment. Temperature-controlled fermentation with selected yeasts lasted 12–20 days.  The Chardonnay did not undergo malolactic fermentation, and just 30% of the wine was aged in first-use French oak for 6–8 months.

Cheese, Chicken/Turkey, Cream Sauce Pasta, Fish-full flavored (salmon/tuna), Ham, Lobster & Crab, Pork, Shellfish