Kaiken

Kaiken is the Argentinian branch of the Chilean wine company Montes. They mainly make red wine where the Malbecs are powerful, but more sophisticated than most Malbecs from Argentina. Kaiken now belongs to the top of Argentina (and actually South America) with Catena Zapata. The wines excel in elegance and unlike many South American wines, the style is much more Old World.

Argentinian Kaiken was founded in 2002 by the Chilean wine producer Aurelio Montes. They have three vineyards in Mendoza and one in Salta (before the Torrontès). The three vineyards in Mendoza vary in height from 950 to 1250 meters. There are vineyards in pergola form, with wire guidance and as a gobelet (free-standing shrub). There are minor differences in the soils, but the base is in all cases an alluvial soil due to erosion of the Andes. Some of the vineyards are cultivated biodynamically. The wines are made in Vistalba in a beautiful classic building from 1920 that was bought in 2007. The company in Argentina is managed by Aurelio Montes jr, who is also the chief winemaker. 'Kaiken' is the Mapuche Indian word for a Patagonian wild goose, which regularly travels over the Andes mountains, so as Montes crossed from Chile to Argentina.