We’ll cut to the chase here- Montes’ Purple Angel is the world’s greatest bottling of Carmenere, and one of Chile’s top benchmark wines. Established in 1988 by Aurelio Montes, the Montes estate has been one of the principal wineries in Chile for decades, and with each vintage they set the standard for fine wines from Chile. The winery specializes in taking the best vines of each of Chile’s famous grapes from around the country and making them into iconic bottlings that are some of the most collectible wines in the South America, such as the “Alpha” Cabernet Sauvignon, “Folly” Syrah, and “Purple Angel” Carmenere. While many inexpensive Carmeneres can be almost sappy in their fruitiness, drenched in excessive oak treatment and taste like jalapeño poppers, Purple Angel shows Carmenere’s sexier alter ego and proves it is capable of powerful structure and age-worthiness. Tannins are strong but velvety and wrapped in a voluptuous robe of blackberry jam, red and black currants, and dense, ripe black plums with a complex perfume of cedar, cigar ash, balsamic, and mint. It belongs in the same conversation with great New World Cabernet Sauvignons and proves that Carmenere can be a world-class grape in the right hands.
