Bodega Garzón is a family-owned winery in Maldonado on the Atlantic coast in southern Uruguay. They pioneered viticulture in this area over 10 years ago, and have since become the standard-bearer for premium wines from Uruguay. In November 2018, their pioneering status was recognised by Wine Enthusiast with the ‘New World Winery of the Year’ award.

In 2007, owner Alejandro Bulgheroni invited consultant winemaker Alberto Antonini to visit his 700 hectare olive farm situated between the small town of Garzón and the beach. With stunning views, rolling hills and olive trees, Alberto was taken aback by its beauty, likening it to his native Tuscany. Following proper analysis of the soil and conditions, it became clear that this site had huge potential to produce premium wines. Originally they planted Tannat (Uruguay’s flagship variety) and Albariño, as Alberto identified clear similarities between Galicia and Garzón in terms of the cooling Atlantic breezes and well-draining granitic soils. Over the past 10 years, these rolling hills have been planted with olive groves and vineyards, with 12 grape varieties now planted on the estate. It is a patchwork quilt of 1,150 individual plots of around 0.2 hectares in size, each plot carefully chosen for a specific variety according to its soil and microclimate.

Alberto has a light hand in the winery and is very careful with the use of oak. As with his other projects around the world, he has moved away from barriques in favour of concrete fermenters and large, untoasted oak. He does this in order to produce pure expressions of variety and place and to avoid masking the character of his wines. The winery is specially designed to operate as sustainably as possible and in 2019 made history as the first winery in the world to earn LEED certification for its entire facility (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Built on natural terraces, the winery uses cutting edge technology and operates using a gravity flow system to ensure quality and energy efficiency at every stage of production. Given the spectacular winery and stunning landscape, the on-site Francis Mallmann restaurant and proximity to Punta del Este, Uruguay’s most popular resort, it was no surprise that Garzón was awarded a place within the top five for the third consecutive year at the IWC-sponsored World’s Best Vineyards Awards in 2021, as voted by over 500 wine industry experts.

The Estate series offers superb value. All the wines are fermented and aged for up to six months in temperature-controlled, stainless steel tanks in order to preserve aromatics and freshness. The Viognier is rich yet fresh with white peach and floral characters. The Pinot Noir Rosé is pale, with aromas of strawberries and raspberries and a crisp finish. The `Cabernet Franc de Corte`, a blend of 80% Cabernet Franc, 10% Tannat, 5% Marselan and 5% Merlot, displays aromas of ripe plums, sweet spices and hints of tobacco. The `Tannat de Corte` is a blend of 80% Tannat, 12% Marselan, 4% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, and has soft, subtle tannins and a smooth finish.

Located 11 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, the estate has more than 1,000 small vineyard blocks covering hillside slopes that benefit from varying microclimates, different levels of humidity and intense canopy management. These factors allow the vines to develop with maximum exposure to the sun, resulting in fruit that is rich and expressive. The vineyards are surrounded by lush forest, rocky soils, palm trees and granite boulders.

2022 was a year of changeable weather, with a dry growing season followed by concentrated summer rain. In the Maldonado region it was an extremely challenging year, but large diurnal ranges in temperature aided the flavour development of the grapes. Despite reduced yields, good quality and extremely authentic wines were produced.

Following careful sorting, the grapes were destemmed at the winery. After gentle pressing, they spent an hour on skins to extract colour before fermentation took place in stainless-steel tanks for 15 days. The wine then spent between three and six months on its lees in stainless-steel tanks prior to bottling.