Montes Alpha Aconcagua Costa Chardonnay 2023
A medium gold in colour. Standout ripe tropical fruit notes of pineapple and papaya balanced with toasted notes of vanilla and dried fruit from the 12 months in French oak. The palate has enjoyable acidity with a persistent fruity finish.
The vineyards are in the Aconcagua Costa region, where the proximity to the Pacific Ocean and influence of cool sea breezes produce the perfect conditions to enable slow and full ripening. The variable sandy to sandy-loam soils lend complexity to the wine, with great cool-climate typicity. All the vineyards are vertically trained and drip-irrigated. The clusters are evenly distributed on the vines, which keeps the grapes well-ventilated and healthy.
The grapes were harvested by hand into 300 kg containers. Harvest was carried out early in the morning to maintain the lowest possible temperature in the grapes until their arrival at the winery. Upon arrival, the grapes were sorted by hand and underwent a combination of whole bunch pressing, pressing of destemmed grapes and cold maceration for several hours, allowing the team to play with the aromatic extraction from the skins and level of structure. Fermentation took place at controlled temperatures of between 13°C and 14°C, for around 25 days. 30% of the wine was fermented in new oak barrels and remained there for 12 months before blended and prepared for bottling. Finally, the wine was filtered before being bottled.
