Bodega Garzon 2024 Albarino Reserva, Uruguay

The Wine

Critic tasting note: (2023 vintage)

"Albariño has been Garzon's flagship white wine since the first year it was released, and now it is the top-selling white wine in Uruguay. There has been some minor tweaking since that first vintage, with some experimental trellising and additional skin contact to better express the soil's salinity. They dropped the regular label in favor of farming 100 acres destined for the Reserva program. As the vines enter their teenage years, they are working their roots deeper into the mother rock, and the fruit only gets more mineral and closer to a state of self-balancing.

The property faces southeast (a cooler direction in the southern hemisphere), and the blocks sit close to the winery in a group of hills on decomposed granite. In the glass, the color is a brilliant pale yellow with a green tint at the edge. The nose is enthusiastic and highly expressive, typical of wines from this location - a short distance from the cold influences of the Atlantic Ocean. Everyone involved in the project thinks this is the best-ever release of the Garzon Albariño, crammed full of peach and citrus pith with a full stony mineral finish. 

Lip-smacking and lively, this was made for seafood. Hats off to German Buzzone and Alberto Antonini for making this wine happen. Something magical has happened since last year. Bodega Garzón is close to Punta del Este, La Barra, and Jose Ignacio, the heart of Uruguayan paradise. The property sits a mere 17 kilometres inland from the Atlantic Ocean and is planted to more than 1,000 small vineyard blocks covering its hillside slopes. A paradise for vines. (Anthony Gismondi)." - 91/100, Gismondi on Wine

The Winery

Though Garzon may be the first Uruguayan winery you've encountered, it's likely not the last. Producing wines of exceptional quality, and not yet a victim of tarrif wars, these wines are likely to do nothing but grow over the coming years.

And Garzon will lead the pack, in terms of exports, production, quality and sustainability.  In fact, Garson is the first LEED certified winery outside of the US, Bodega Garzon is a leader in energy conservation and sustainable design and practices.

Geology in the Garzón area belongs to what is known as the 'Crystalline Basement', which gave origin to our planet's oldest soils some 2500 million years ago(ish). When those rocks are altered and broken down over millions of years, a fantastic soil type is formed. Consisting of weathered rock, it is Ballast (see image with wine glass).

But the soil is only part of the Garzon terroir, as these vineyards are close to the Atlantic and influenced by its cooling nighttime temperatures, keeping their wines fresh and lively.