There is no formal title on the business card of Aurelio Montes —neither president nor chairman, not even winemaker. It simply reads “Guardian of the Spirit.” Back in 1988 four friends and businessmen decided to start a winery. Little did they know that it would grow into Viña Montes, surpassing 1 million cases annually and generally setting the stage for the Chilean wine industry.

We’ve been invited to talk candidly, regarding Chile and now of course Kaiken in Argentina. And as Aurelio Sr settles into the Wines of Chile Directorship, the Viña Montes brand will include all members of the Chilean wine industry – large, family-owned as well as the small, independent wineries. We’ll discuss how the Montes brand is affecting long-lasting changes in Chile, Argentina and in the entirety of the wine industry itself.

 

#WineStudio Tuesdays 5:00pm – 6:00pm PDT online Twitter

Week 1: 7 July – How do we measure success? – Chile now vs ten years ago. Has the giant finally awoken?

–Background on Montes Winery – Remembering how it all started in reference to the overall Chilean wine industry.

–Montes winemaking today.

–How wine tourism is now playing a major role in Chile.

@MontesWines

Discussion only

 

Week 2: 14 July - What dry farming tastes like.

–Let’s get just a little geeky in this session. Although it’s easy to navigate Chile from a North | South perspective, in actuality it’s Chile’s East | West that’s much more compelling with its new classification system.

–Impetus of Montes to dry farm

–What’s the process for dry farming

Montes 2015 Spring Harvest Sauvignon Blanc
Montes 2012 Dry Farmed Alpha Carmenere

 

Week 3: 21 July – Aurelio Montes Jr. – 2^nd generation winemaker leading Kaiken in Argentina.

–Challenges of following in an icon’s footsteps

–Do Chilean roots clash with Argentine culture or complement?

–Estate vs sourced vineyards

@KaikenWinesUS

Discussion only

 

Week 4: 28 July – The grape-growing Process – what this means at Kaiken.

– Aurelio Jr. believes it is necessary to start describing wines in terms of regions or areas and gradually stop talking about varieties. This way, wines will be better associated with their terroirs.

–The Terroir chart of main vineyard regions – in what particular ways  has researching the terroir helped form decisions in the winemaking process.

–The exploration of new terroirs, grapes and biodynamics.

Kaiken 2014 Terroir Series Torrontes
Kaiken 2012 Ultra Malbec

 

Our July #WineStudio program is sponsored by the Brooklyn NY-based Feast PR, whose “experience, originality, imagination and passion for progress also ensure the production of one-of-a-kind events that drive the message home.” @jenoflanagan

 

What is #WineStudio?

PROTOCOL wine studio presents an online twitter-based educational program where we engage our brains and palates! It’s part instruction and tasting, with discussions on producers, varieties, tourism, terroir, regional culture, food matching and what all this means to us as imbibers.

@ProtocolWine