Montes Folly Syrah 2000

Aurelio Montes, our partner and gifted winemaker, knew it all along. Montes Folly was destined to shine by the hand of Aurelio, it was in his DNA since he was born. This sparked his intuition which, from his student days, became obsessed with the Apalta Valley and determined to prove it was the best terroir for reds in all of Chile, a fact few would dispute today. Aurelio's intuition also led him to plant Syrah in the higher slopes of our Apalta Mountain Estate. Thus the Montes Folly name was born: The conventional wine growers and trade considered it "Folly" to plant Syrah, an untested variety in the region, and double "Folly" to do so in the higher slopes, extremely expensive to clear, plant and grow. The genius of Aurelio, however, had us all firmly believing from the start that Montes Folly would be the wild dream we sought, the perfect partner to our beloved Montes Alpha "M". Montes Folly, another bold pioneering step forward, is a wild wine of truly exceptional quality, of a similar excellence level to Montes Alpha "M" but so different in style as the untamed sound of a saxo in a jazz concert would compare to a Stradivarius violin at the opera. One wild, one classical. Both stunning. Totally different. Both reaching for wine heaven, Olympus, in its own style. Montes Folly is grown on the very highest slopes of our "la Finca de Apalta" vineyard, in Apalta Valley, with an inclination exceeding 45º degrees. Denomination of Origin is Santa Cruz, within Colchagua. These high reaches are home to the superb grapes that become Montes Folly, Chile's first ultra-premium Syrah. Yields are extremely low at less than 4 tons per hectare, with grapes and clusters that are much smaller and even more concentrated than in the vineyard's lower slopes. As a result, they deliver more colour and tannins, making Montes Folly richly colored, complex and powerful, with over 14% alcohol. Montes Folly's blockbuster style and lingering finish attest to its pedigree. Harvested by acrobats, all grapes were hand-picked and sorted on a special selection table, where every grape not up to the quality required was removed. Once in the tank, a bleeding of 20% was made to concentrate flavor, ripe tannins and colour. Fermentation was triggered and completed with wild yeasts coming from the fields, giving a true expression of terroir. It was aged 18 months in 100% new French oak barrels. There was no fining and only one very light filtration before bottling. Production was limited to a mere 9,000 bottles. Our hearts, hopes and dreams go with each bottle of Montes Folly.