Montes Purple Angel Apalta Vineyard Carmenere 2012
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Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a beautiful long and silky red with blackberry and blueberry character plus hints of spices and black pepper. Rose petal too. Full-bodied, yet so fine and gorgeous. It's so drinkable and refined now, but complex and fascinating. Stylish. 92% carmenere and 8% petit verdot. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Suave and plush, with a broad, open texture that transmits a spicy array of dark cherry, currant, blackberry and cocoa powder notes. Very creamy, with silky tannins on the finish of Asian spice and chocolate. Drink now through 2022.
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Wine Enthusiast
As per usual, Purple Angel is a full-force experience. Hailing from a warm year, this is dense and purple in color, as it should be. Aromas of graphite, oak, tobacco and black fruit set up a jammy, full palate with saturated flavors of spice-laden blueberry and boysenberry. Finishing notes of tobacco, herb and oak cement this big-boned wine’s ripe, beefy status.
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Wine & Spirits
A little petit verdot adds structure to this carmenere, framing the fruit and providing a foundation that shows off the gentle juiciness of the variety grown in Marchigue.
Other Vintages
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With the release of the first Montes Alpha wine back in 1988, Montes became one of the first premium wineries of Chile. Their premise, a clear belief that Chile had an untapped potential as a producer of quality wines, made them a benchmark for other wineries to follow. Its original four partners' total involvement and the continuous help of the angels that decorate their labels was key to their success. Two decades later, Montes is the fifth most important winery of Chile where Aurelio Montes continues leading the winemaking area with the same passion as the first day. Hard work and total focus on quality has led Montes to be one of the most successful and respected quality-driven wineries in Chile as they continue pioneering and breaking new grounds in wine.
Dark, full-bodied and herbaceous with a spicy kick, Carménère found great success with its move to Chile in the mid-19th century. However, the variety went a bit undercover until 1994 when many plantings previously thought to be Merlot, were profiled as Carménère. Somm Secret— Carménère is both a progeny and a great-grandchild of the similarly flavored Cabernet Franc.
Dramatic geographic and climatic changes from west to east make Chile an exciting frontier for wines of all styles. Chile’s entire western border is Pacific coastline, its center is composed of warm valleys and on its eastern border, are the soaring Andes Mountains.
Chile’s central valleys, sheltered by the costal ranges, and in some parts climbing the eastern slopes of the Andes, remain relatively warm and dry. The conditions are ideal for producing concentrated, full-bodied, aromatic reds rich in black and red fruits. The eponymous Aconcagua Valley—hot and dry—is home to intense red wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot.
The Maipo, Rapel, Curicó and Maule Valleys specialize in Cabernet and Bordeaux Blends as well as Carmenère, Chile’s unofficial signature grape.
Chilly breezes from the Antarctic Humboldt Current allow the coastal regions of Casablanca Valley and San Antonio Valley to focus on the cool climate loving varieties, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Chile’s Coquimbo region in the far north, containing the Elqui and Limari Valleys, historically focused solely on Pisco production. But here the minimal rainfall, intense sunlight and chilly ocean breezes allow success with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The up-and-coming southern regions of Bio Bio and Itata in the south make excellent Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Spanish settlers, Juan Jufre and Diego Garcia de Cáceres, most likely brought Vitis vinifera (Europe’s wine producing vine species) to the Central Valley of Chile sometime in the 1550s. One fun fact about Chile is that its natural geographical borders have allowed it to avoid phylloxera and as a result, vines are often planted on their own rootstock rather than grafted.