2011 Montes Folly
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The 2011 Folly Syrah is pure Syrah from the upper slopes of the Montes vineyard in the Apalta Valley. It has a serious, somehow closed, backward nose, and it takes time to show the aromas of ripe plums, olives and raspberries as they are also covered by the notes of the wood, but the palate seems to have the stuffing to balance the wood tannins and improve in bottle. It’s quite full-bodied, with good freshness and focused varietal flavors. Give it some more time; this is a very good Syrah that requires some patience. Drink 2015-2020. 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. Importer: TGIC Global Fine Wine Company, Woodland Hills, CA; tel. (818) 225-5100; www.tgicimporters.com
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Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
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The 2011 Folly Syrah is pure Syrah from the upper slopes of the Montes vineyard in the Apalta Valley. It has a serious, somehow closed, backward nose, and it takes time to show the aromas of ripe plums, olives and raspberries as they are also covered by the notes of the wood, but the palate seems to have the stuffing to balance the wood tannins and improve in bottle. It’s quite full-bodied, with good freshness and focused varietal flavors. Give it some more time; this is a very good Syrah that requires some patience. Drink 2015-2020. ||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. Wine Advocate.June, 2014