Montes Alpha
Aurelio Montes started planting his vineyards in Chile in the 1980’s and very quickly realised the threat of drought if all winemakers persisted with uncontrolled irrigation. He started to wean his vines off irrigation in the ‘90’s, which was considered commercial suicide at the time, as more water means more grapes per vine! The first year was disastrous, with the vines going into shock and producing barely any fruit, 3 years later the vines had adapted but were only producing ½ the fruit, however, that fruit was of a much higher quality and concentration. Today, all of Montes Alpha range is dry farmed with minimal irrigation and as a result the fruit is a great deal tastier.
