2022 Montes “Limited Selection” Pinot Noir, Aconcagua Coast, Chile (Alcohol 14%, Residual Sugar 3 g/l) LCBO Vintages $13.90 with HST savings (750ml glass bottle)
Good inexpensive Pinot is often seen as an oxymoron in the world of wine, but sometimes, very rarely, a vinous anomaly finds its way into my wineglass.
While this bottling is undeniably a simpler take on this grape, it actually tastes like Pinot Noir, a feat that many wines priced up to around $30 often have some trouble achieving. This is a matter that actually boggles my mind on a regular basis.
Apparently 40% of this wine is aged for 10 months in first-use French cooperage, something that truly puzzles me, as French barrels certainly don’t come cheap.
It’s a reductive wine, with a fair bit of rubber (my fetish!) coming off on the nose, but there’s also a whole whack of red cherries, candied fruit, rhubarb, beet, rose water, and some sweet vanilla oak notes. The palate is extremely ripe, but there’s the correct bordering-upon-crunchy acidity to bring some balance back to the wine. The tannins sit like mildly steeped tea, and there’s a little bit of sapidity present here that I find rather pleasant. The hefty alcohol means that this tastes slightly sweeter than it actually is. The finish is quite leafy and earthy but surprisingly gratifying.
I’m extremely happy that Montes manages to produce a wine that expresses Chilean Pinot character without coming close to breaking the bank. Now, I understand that many a Burgundy lover would scoff at such a confected wine, but in the grand scheme of things, I feel it is an excellent budget wine that seriously overdelivers. We can’t all afford Chambolle-Musigny, you know.
(Four out of a possible five apples)
