I am in fine fettle this week; the sun is out, I have been drinking some lovely wines and I am just about to head off on a week’s holiday. And, to top it all, I have been having fun working on the next The Oxford Times Wine Club dinner at The Corner Club.

The June dinner will be a celebration of the wines from Chilean producer, Montes. Focused on premium wines, Montes is very much a young estate, having burst on to the scene in the late 1980s.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Montes team have something of the Midas touch. They began with the Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon which was the first truly premium wine to be exported from Chile.

It was an instant hit and the wines that followed; Chardonnay, Merlot and Syrah were equally well received.

Efforts were focused on site selection and careful vineyard management in a bid to produce the very best wines possible. They knew that the Montes Alpha wines were really good but they wanted to push the quality boundaries even further.

What followed was Montes Alpha M, a Bordeaux blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) that seemingly captured the imagination of all that tasted and wrote about it.

The grapes that go to make this wine are grown on the famously steep slopes of the Apalta in the Colchagua Valley, where they benefit from a truly unique microclimate.

I’ve seen it described as a ‘graceful rendition’, ‘wonderfully impressive’ and ‘much loved’ . . . Need I go on?

For many, Carménère is to Chile what Sauvignon Blanc is to New Zealand, but it took a while for the Montes team to fully embrace this one-time Bordeaux grape variety.

It took time to deliver a wine that met their exacting standards and it is only in the last five years that they’ve been making Purple Angel.

As with the Alpha M it is a wine that is made only in the very best vintages and, even then, in only very modest quantities. The opportunity to taste these wines does not come along every day. I read that Japan Airlines have recently selected the Alpha M as one of their wines for their first-class passengers; very nice for folk that travel in that sort of style but I promise you that there is not a wine in the world that does not taste better when you have got both feet firmly planted on terra firma.

At the dinner, you will have the opportunity to taste a selection of some of Montes’ award-winning wines; including Purple Angel and the flagship Alpha M. There will also be an opportunity to win a magnum (that is a jolly big bottle!) of the Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon 2007.

  • June 4, 2009, 7pm, at The Corner Club, Turl Street, Oxford. Tickets £49.95 per person include Chilean themed three-course menu, white wine reception and draw for a magnum of Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. Presented by Eduardo Stark, of the Montes winery, and Sarah McCleery. Contact Theo Sloot for booking and further information. Telephone 01865 301144 or email theo@oxfordwine.co.uk

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