2001 Montes Alpha

Just to elaborate, this wine is from Chile. I had it once with dinner at the recommendation of a sommelier. I think it was the 1995 vintage. It was pleasant, but the tannins were overwhelming. I've never tried it since. Have you had any of the older vintages? How did they compare to this 2001?

Dimitri

I had a case of '93 that I bought based on a bottle in '98. I looked up my notes and found a similar profile to what Bill indicates. A "warm" (i.e. high alcohol) cab style with chocolate and coffee notes on a very full bodied frame.

What was remarkable was that I had three notes out of the case. One for 2000 in which I rate the wine quite high, then two more--one from late '01 and early '02 in which I note the wine as heavily sedimented, flat and "stale".

Apparently that vintage held nicely for no more than 7-8 years and then went away pretty quickly.

A lot has transpired in Chilean wine making since '93, so results may vary not only based on vintage, but also technology. Montes Alpha has always provided good QPR for me.

Bill, ever had the Montes Alpha Syrah? Someone was recently praising it. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

No I haven't, but based on the Cab, I may give it a try.

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Bill Spohn) wrote in news:20031103111625.03666.00000330 @mb-m06.aol.com:

I have no notes, but I do have three bottles! IIRC it is nice but not earth shattering, however, it is good QPR when compared with French Syrah which it mimics most stylistically

You definitely should give it a try!

I had the 2000 in a Chilean red blind tasting last year involving 108 wines. It finished equal third. Top scorers (with prices in Euros):

If you can find the "Folly" - Montes' top syrah -, you should give it a try too. It seems to be extremely rare (the Austrian importer only got three cases, so declined to send a sample for our tasting), but it was the best wine I tasted on my trip to Colchagua Valley a year ago.

M.

Thanks Michael - I'll pick up a bottle of the Syrah today and keep a look out for the Folly.

Was the Roc de Cambes open at all? I've found most big Right Bank '98s to be mostly closed at moment. Roc de Cambes used to be a bargain, but prices have jumped so much in last 4-5 vintages it fell off my buy list (it may be the best new-wave Cotes de Bourg out there, but at $30-40 I'll usually just buy a St. Emilion or a Pomerol). I did pay $20 for the Epicurea de Chateau Martinat, which was well-worth it. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

I recently had the 99 apalta and loved it. though it could have used a few years in the cellar. That night it was one of the best wines at the tasting (we also had roc de cambes 98, turley zin, and lagrezette dame honneur)

at vinexpo I had the Montes M which i found interesting but the price here in Quebec was too high for the wine (and the guy who served us was a prick) When we had the Apalta at 30$cad cheeper than the M I was happy

One Carmenère I love is the Donoso 1810 sells for about 28$cad. but from what I hear, winespec doesnt give it a good rating

Noted

..Chris

I was served a bottle blind a few months ago. Not bad, decent Syrah character. Not likely to be mistaken for a Cote Rotie or Hermitage, though...

Mark Lipton