Early this past Saturday, February 27 at 03:34am, Chile renewed its crown as "King of Earthquakes" (with half of the "top ten" strongest ever and suffered the "worst ever" - No.1 in 1960 (9.5). This Saturday ranks as No.4, worldwide with 8.8 in the Richter scale and over 9 in the Mercalli scale. To give you an idea, this means about 50 (fifty) times stronger than Haiti's.

Geographically, it covered a large area but the hardest hit was Santiago, Curico and Santa Cruz / Apalta (where two of our wineries are). Shortly after the earthquakes-, Tsunamis hit many coastal towns, producing great damage and blamed for more deaths than the quakes themselves.

In short, we are emerging from hell. Fortunately, all our staff is still with us.

Only now, after a preliminary evaluation of the damage suffered as Montes S.A. can we inform you of our "wounds", -our office in Santiago collapsed, our systems were down and there was no power or communications in most of the affected territory.

Equipment and bottling lines are 100% operative and we plan to re-start tomorrow... Our Curico and Chimbarongo wineries, where most of the loss of wine happened, sustained no structural damage (bottling takes place in Curico) so, accordingly we are in a position to assure you of quality and volumes.

Our Apalta winery, our pride and joy, suffered more as the earthquake seems to have been even stronger in the Santa Cruz area of Colchagua. Structurally it is sound (it was inspected by experts yesterday) and we are planning to clean up and proceed with harvest...Last but certainly not least, all our people are safe and sound.

Most wineries in Chile have (today's Chilean press estimates losses of wine facilities at US$600m) but hope that these lines assure you that everyone in our Team will continue to work hard to serve your needs and retain your good will, our greatest treasure. From trials like this, you emerge stronger.

Our gratitude for your support.

Warm personal regards,

Aurelio Montes