Such is Aurelio’s reputation that even wineries that compete with Montes wines seek out his expertise. In addition to his duties at Montes S.A., Aurelio serves as consultant to a group of wineries, including Ventisquero, Santa Ines, and Viu Manent, among others, and currently consults to the research institute Fundación Chile. He also was an advisor for Casa Lapostolle (run by the French family that owns Grand Marnier) until a few years ago.
Born in Santiago, Chile in 1948, Aurelio graduated from the Catholic University of Chile with a degree in agronomy and oenology. After completing his military service, he traveled extensively, acquiring Old World winemaking know-how and exploring New World technology. While deeply proud of his Chilean heritage, he enjoys the knowledge gained from years of travel, study, and experimentation—particularly the winemaking traditions of France and the modern vinicultural and viticultural advances of California and Australia.
Over the years, Aurelio has witnessed tremendous progress in Chile’s wine world. Beginning at a time when a winemaker employee was granted no leeway for experimentation, he has moved steadily to the position of partner/owner with carte blanche to create the ultimate expression in Chilean wine. Today he stands at the forefront of the industry, defining his country’s new quality image with wines that transcend the straightforward “fighting varietals” for which Chile was once best known.
When asked to predict Chile’s next ten years, Aurelio says, “All the top wineries are working hard to improve their quality. For some, because it has become a national obsession. Others feel it is a necessity. But it can be safely predicted that Chilean wines will compete at the top echelon, producing wines to challenge the best in the world in ten years—or less. Our Montes Alpha “M” and Montes Folly have drawn international acclaim even sooner than that.”
Aurelio receives frequent praise for his wines at home and abroad. In 1995, he was elected “Winemaker of the Year” by the Association of Chilean Oenologists. And in 1999, Montes took the VINITALY 1999 TROPHY for the prestige and overall showing of its wines. Aurelio is particularly proud of this because only one trophy is awarded per country. Of the 22 countries participating in 1999, only seven were selected for this distinction of excellence. The Chilean Association of Food & Wine journalists honored Aurelio by naming him “Winemaker of the Year” for 2002—the same year that he joined Managing Director Douglas Murray at the podium to accept Wine Enthusiast’s award of “Winery of the Year: New World.” Also in 2002, Aurelio was named “Best Chilean Agricultural Entrepreneur” by the National Society of Agriculture. The award was presented by the President of the Republic, Ricardo Lagos. In November 2004, Aurelio and Douglas Murray were asked to be co-Mentors of the 2004 graduating class of Bordeaux University Business School’s Wine MBA Program, offered jointly with University of California, Davis; University of Adelaide (Australia); and Universidad Católica de Chile—the four most prestigious universities associated with wine. Also in 2004, Aurelio was a member of the Examining Board for the Doctoral Thesis on Terroir of the first Chilean Doctoral candidate at the Grignon Institute in Paris.
Aurelio Montes is married and has five children. In his spare time, he enjoys sailing, alpine skiing, and golf, and to save time, whenever possible he takes the controls and flies his own plane, a fitting pursuit for the man piloting Chile’s journey to wine excellence. 
