Taita Hills

Tasting Notes Montes Taita 

A deep ruby-red wine with an impressive aromatic palette of blackcurrants, ripe cherries, plums, and figs. Additionally, refined notes of cedar, tobacco, coffee, dark chocolate, toasted nuts, and vanilla emerge. The taste is powerful and layered, with silky tannins, impressive concentration, and an exceptionally long, elegant finish. 

A minimum of 1 hour of decanting is recommended to allow the wine to fully express itself. 

Cellaring Potential

This wine has a cellaring potential of 20 years or more and will develop into an even more complex and refined wine over the years.

Wine & Food 

This iconic Montes Taita deserves a special dish. It pairs beautifully with a grilled côte de boeuf, entrecôte, or Wagyu beef. Rack of lamb with fresh herbs, venison loin, slow-cooked stews, and aged hard cheeses also make a splendid combination. Thanks to its complexity, Taita is also a wine to enjoy without a meal, in good company, at leisure.

Additional Information

Montes Taita is the flagship of the Montes winery and belongs to the absolute top of the Chilean wine world. The wine comes from one special plot in the Marchigüe Valley, on the western side of the Colchagua Valley, just 25 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to the granite-rich soils, cool coastal climate, and extremely low yields, a wine of exceptional concentration, elegance, and complexity is produced. Taita is exclusively made in the best vintages and in very limited quantities (only 3,788 bottles in 2020). 

After a strict selection, the grapes are processed solely by gravity, to minimize damage to the grapes. Fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts, followed by 24 months of aging in predominantly new French oak barrels. After that, the wine matures for another 10 months in large wooden foudres and a minimum of two years in the bottle before it is released to the market.

For the Taita harvest, only about 3 tons of grapes per hectare are harvested. This is less than half of what is customary for quality wines. The low yield ensures an enormous concentration of aromas, flavor, and structure. Moreover, the wine is only released after it has matured for years in barrel and in bottle. This is a wine for the true connoisseur!

Awards/Distinctions 

• 🏅 98 points – James Suckling
• 🏅 97 points – Descorchados
• 🏅 96 points – Vinous (Joaquín Hidalgo)

Fun Fact 

'Taita' means 'wise father' or 'respected elder' in various South American cultures. The name symbolizes the many years of experience and vision of Aurelio Montes, one of the pioneers of modern Chilean winemaking.