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Master Winemaker 100: Aurelio Montes Jr

18 February 2026 By db staff writer

The chief winemaker at Viña Montes features in this year’s Master Winemaker 100 guide. He tells db about balancing approachability with complexity, the importance of travel and where he finds peace.

*Aurelio Montes Jr in the Viña Montes vineyards.*

Born and educated in Santiago, Aurelio Montes spent the early phase of his winemaking career travelling around some of the world’s great wine regions. He then brought this experience home to work under Felipe Tosso at Viña Ventisquero. In 2007, Montes joined the family business as winemaking director, working at the producer’s Apalta winery, where he created new wines and studied its vineyard sites as part of a four-year project with terroir expert Pedro Parra. In 2011, Montes moved to Argentina to head up the family’s Kaiken operation. Although now based back home in Chile, he continues to visit Kaiken regularly as part of his role as Viña Montes’ chief winemaker.

A wise person once told me that life is too short to drink bad wine.

A great wine should truly express the terroir it comes from, be a wine with a unique personality, approachable for any consumer, yet complex in its structure.

A great winemaker should be open-minded and understand their terroir deeply, but also stay connected to global trends. They should travel, explore and gather experiences that ultimately show in every bottle.

Perfection is an illusion. What truly matters is authenticity and the pure expression of terroir.

The thing I’d most like to change about the wine world is to encourage people to trust their own instincts and tastes, instead of letting others choose for them. I’d love to see more honest wines: wines that reflect the winemaker’s personality and the uniqueness of their origin.

I wish I could tell the consumer who drinks my wine that it was crafted by a family of winemakers spanning two generations, devoted to understanding our Chilean terroir and capturing its essence in every bottle. Consistency is one of our greatest strengths.

The last time I asked a sommelier for advice was very recently. Sommeliers have a deep insight into consumer tastes and current trends. Our conversations happen almost weekly, and they’re always enriching.

If I couldn’t be a winemaker, I’d be a fruit grower. I love being in close contact with nature.

I wish our vineyards… To be honest, after 35 years working with them, I wouldn’t ask for anything more. I have a deep appreciation for what they give us.

My next ambition is to keep exploring new regions in Chile and beyond. There’s so much still to discover: new places, new adventures and new ways for wines to reveal themselves.

If I won the lottery, nothing major would change, although my wine cellar might get a little bigger.

If there were more hours in the day, I’d spend more time with my friends. I often don’t have as much time with them as I’d like.

When it’s all going wrong, I find peace walking through the vineyard. It’s my way of escaping and finding clarity.

My desert island wine would be a Pinot Noir from Burgundy. I love its freshness and how effortlessly it pairs with almost any food, an important detail if I’m living off whatever the island gives me. Burgundian Pinot is graceful, complex and always full of surprises, which is more than I can say about island survival. At least one of us would stay elegant.