WTN: Montes Folly Syrah 2001

Extremely dark, opaque. On the nose, attractive sweet jam and a slight woodiness. Quite dry with smoke and leather notes dominating. A bit of prune as well. The wine is medium-bodied and seems like most of the tannin has softened. It is likely improve with some short-term cellaring but is drinking quite well now as it is well balanced and integrated. It finishes very long with a pronounced bitterness but at the very end the ripe fruit also makes an appearance. Very good but expensive.

Thanks for the note - I have som,e 2000 waiting to be drunk.

What do they ding you for it down there? It was around $85 C when that was about $60 down there.

Jay said "Very good but expensive"

Boy, I would sure agree with that statement. Here the current vintage (whatever that is) is $80 per 750ml bottle. A lot of South American wines have risen well above $50 and some above $75 like this one. I really like the Montes Alpha syrah, and at $19 I get a few of them from time to time. I love the Montes "M" and have some 10 year old ones that were about $30, now it is $80, and I don't buy any more. I very much like the Catena Alta malbec and cabernet. I have some of those. I found the 2003 cab mis priced at $19.99 and when the store would not hear that it was a wrong price I got a case of it. Now they have found their mistake, I don't buy that anymore at $47. (yes I do know that the Catena is Argentinian not Chilean)

This is now about USD 100.00 here but some of that is due to appreciation of Peso vs Dollar in the last few months. Fortunately I got this as a birthday gift from my friend who is the importer of Montes.

Alpha Syrah and Cabernet are also very good. I don't think the incremental increase in quality of the Folly over the Alpha is worth the price. But of all the Montes wines, I find the Purple Angel Carmenere the most interesting although, again, it has a hefty price tag at about USD 65.

Jay, the wine guy at my BAWS (Big Ass Wine store) has many times sang the praises of the Purple Angle wine to me. It sells here for $50, and I suppose I have to break down and buy a bottle of it. Might take on to Semi-Cool this year for a try out. The Folly must really be a giant step up from the Alpha to warrant the difference in price.Here in Kentucky the Alpha is $19, and the Folly is $80. On Montes wine I have yet to appreciate is their sauvignon blanc, as even their low end bottle sees some time in oak, which I do not like in my sb. I suppose some white Bordeaux also sees some wood, but then it usually has some semillon too which I think covers the oak rather well. Happy belated birthday to you. I will be having one of those myself in a few days.