So last Wednesday I had the opportunity to participate in a Wine Chat (#WineChat) with Montes Winery featuring two of their wines – the 2015 Montes Cherub and the 2013 Montes Twins. Over the course of an hour my wife and I tasted both wines and shared our thoughts on those wines with other bloggers and wine writers on Twitter. So, what did we think of the wines?
2015 Montes Cherub
First, the blend, or in this case, the lack of one – the 2015 Cherub is 100% Syrah grapes grown in the Colchagua Valley of Chile. I picked up floral notes with flavors of juicy cherry, roses, and white pepper on the finish. I loved the color on this wine (check it out in the image at the top), and it paired great with the food that I brought home from my job at the bar – shrimp ceviche nachos and beef empanadas. While February isn’t when I typically drink a lot of Rose’, this was a good Valentine’s Day wine if for nothing else than the color….but it doesn’t hurt that the wine was good too.
2013 Montes Twins
This wine was blended, being a 50/50 split of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. On the nose I picked up aromas of fresh bread and sweet spices. In the mouth I picked up tobacco leaf and some ripe fruit, but it did a great job of avoiding being a fruit bomb, something I commend them for. Nice and balanced, the wine is food friendly with good body/muscle. During the tasting I coined it as being “hella sippable”, meaning that it doesn’t require food, but it will certainly go well with a range of foods, including lasagna and even a nice steak with some mushroom sauce to play off the earth tones in the wine.
Wrapping Up
This was a fun tasting. I’ve had both of these wines in the past (the 2012 of both the Cherub and the Twins), and they’re an amazing value at $15, with both of them drinking at closer to $20-25 a bottle. They’re worth picking up if you see them at the store, especially as we (eventually) move into weather were grills are fired up and porches are available for sitting on.
