The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.
Wine Description
The Story
The vineyards destined to produce our Montes Alpha Chardonnay are located in the Casablanca Valley, within the Aconcagua wine region. This valley is known for its recognizable gustatory sensations, which collectively known as “cold climate typicity.” This basically consists of notes of asparagus, citrus, and a tremendous sensation of freshness on the palate. All of the vineyards are trellised to vertical shoot position and drip irrigated. Yields naturally range from 8,000 to 9,000 kg per hectare without the need for crop thinning. This low natural fruit load ensures us that the grapes will be very well distributed on the vines and be well ventilated, which in turn results in healthy grapes that ripen evenly.
Delicious, full-bodied, complex and creamy in the mid-palate, our Alpha Chardonnay is one of the few Chilean whites wines that will improve with age. The 1998 vintage was selected as ‘World Champion Chardonnay’ by Slow Food of Italy, after simultaneous tastings in 26 cities around the world, covered live by BBC-TV in London. Grapes are sourced from the renowned white wine area, Casablanca Valley. Fermented and aged in French oak barrels for one year; 40% of the wine undergoes secondary ‘malolactic fermentation’ to enhance buttery flavors. A monthly stirring of the wine or batonage enhances flavor and aroma complexity.
Wine Information
Harvest:
The entire month of April. The 2012–2013 season was colder than the previous year during budbreak, flowering, and fruitset.
Spring presented greater rainfall than the past year, which stimulated a faster and more vigorous onset of vegetative growth (budbreak). The vegetative growth obligated us to take measures to control growth through carefully regulated shoot removal and trimming to prevent microclimates within the canopy that could create optimal conditions for the development of fungal diseases.
January and part of February (veraison and ripening periods) were almost entirely cloudy, although there was no rainfall. This resulted in a delayed and very slow veraison, which in turn delayed the harvest by a little more than 10 days. Certain agricultural tasks were required during the ripening period to ensure the grapes reached harvest in a healthy and evenly ripened state. One such measure was partial leaf pulling in the area around the bunches to improve ventilation and sunlight in order to obtain more sugars and ultimately a greater sense of creaminess in the fruit.
