Appy Friday URUGUAYAN STYLE!

Tim Atkin, Master of Wine, one of the most trusted names in the business, named this Uruguay’s RED WINE OF THE YEAR in his 2023 Report. Not “a” wine of the year. THE Wine of the Year. Plus 98 points, the highest score he’s ever handed a Uruguayan wine. Backed up by 96’ers too.

And here’s the super cool part of this incredible wine (besides how yummy it is). It’s the only Uruguayan wine EVER accepted into La Place de Bordeaux, the exclusive French distribution system that also carries Almaviva & Opus One. We don’t want to say that the Frenchies don’t like new world wines, yet… they don’t invite outsiders in very often either.

Skeptical?? Let’s go back a few decades.

Do you remember when South American wines first snuck into the luxury market here in the US? I do. I was working in an affluent neighborhood full of CEOs, celebs, and old money. I poured a few of those South American wines blind against the Napa favorites of the day, Rubicon, Silver Oak, Insignia. They got their booties handed to them. BLIND! It was humbling and enlightening!

Soon after, wine critics everywhere were writing about the wines, and then they were so hard to get! Especially when they started to hit the Top 100 lists! Uruguay is on the precipice of that time! Enter Garzón ‘Balasto’

‘Balasto’, gets its name from the 2.5 billion-year-old granite bedrock these vines are rooted in - no clay, just pure ancient rock supporting the vines for this awesome flagship! A mere 11 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, the coastal climate shapes everything about this wine.

Plus, we wish we had more room to tell you about their sustainable practices. LEED-certified, gravity flow winery built into the hillside, a green roof, and the whole operation runs on wind power, but we’ll save that for some cool & geeky off-the-grid documentary.

Apart from fútbol (soccer), meat, and maté… why haven’t you seen much of Uruguay wine before?

Simply put… they drink almost all of it themselves. Having a huge beef trade that would make a Texan blush, Uruguay is one of South America’s biggest wine-drinking countries by far, out-consuming its neighbors per capita by a wide margin. Exports to neighboring countries, which also have a healthy cattle culture, create high demand.

Wine in general is an extremely internationally competitive landscape, and Uruguay didn’t really start modernizing its wine efforts until the 21st century. Plus most of them are small, well TINY is actually a better word. Wines from Uruguay is a South American best-kept secret that only a larger tourism market recently exposed.

Today, it’s a World Just Found Out Supply Problem, because roughly out of 180 wineries in Uruguay, barely a dozen export here!

And THIS, dear Operatives, is an exciting bottle of deliciousness which we are so PUMPED to share with you today at the best price out there!

42% Tannat, 39% Cabernet Franc, 19% Petit Verdot. Never heard of Tannat? That’s ok - the health industry has! It’s one of the most antioxidant-dense red varieties on the planet, the one researchers point to when they talk about Blue Zone longevity. We’re not doctors, but we support a healthy relationship with BACCHUS. 😀

Stylistically, think Priorat’s minerality and weight meeting a graceful Châteauneuf-du-Pape black fruit profile with linear red fruit pitch weaving its way throughout.

At first look, dark garnet, almost opaque. The crushed blackberry, cassis, and violets lead with a faint edge of orange peel and a mineral streak underneath. Cracked pepper, dried fennel, and understated oak spice bring the savory side forward. Midpalate, Cabernet Franc shows red fruit and bay leaf, while fig and mulberry round things out. Long, structured finish, fine tannins, a touch of fig jam circling back to those first violets.

A complex, fun, and serious food wine Bacchus would be impressed to drink alongside a banquet of aged Manchego or pecorino, moussaka, charred mushrooms, a charcuterie board with merguez or chorizo, short ribs, even a North African tagine. 🥩🔥

HUGE scores… Wine of the Year. Food pairing versatility and true scarcity. Grab this yummy, complex red before the secret’s out!

98 Points - Tim Atkin MW ”Red Wine of the Year in 2023: 2020 Bodega Garzón Balasto, Maldonado. The blend changes from year to year - there’s no Merlot of Marselan in this brilliant 2020 release - but the quality is consistently high. Partnering Tannat, 39% Cabernet Franc and 19% Petit Verdot, it’s a seamless cuvée that ranks as the best Balasto yet. Floral, elegant and enticing, with understated oak spices, cassis, black cherry and fennel flavours, sculpted tannins, a touch of reduction and a subtle, balsamic undertone. World class. 2024-35”

96 Points - James Suckling ”The aromatics are impressive, with orange blossoms, sliced oranges and black fruit. Hints of tar with some minerals, fresh spices and chiles. Medium-bodied with very fine tannins that run the length of the wine. They are polished and curated. Chewy at the end but there’s a finesse, tension and focus. Drinkable now, but better from 2027.”

96 Points - Descorchados ”According to Garzón’s winemaker, Germán Bruzzone, 2020 was a perfect year, especially due to the rains that fell at the right times—something that isn’t at all common in the ever-rainy Maldonado Bay. A dream year that has yielded a Balasto of succulent flavors of ripe red fruits and sweet spices. The palate has tannins that are firm, but seem much smoother and creamier than the last time we tried this wine a year ago, for the previous edition of Descorchados. It has precise acidity to balance the deep, enveloping flavors, and the finish rich in tobacco notes from the cabernet franc. Balasto is Garzón’s top wine and comes from a selection of the best blocks of the vineyard, planted on granitic soils on the slopes inland from Maldonado Bay. In this new edition, they have forgone the merlot and marselan to give a more important role to the two varieties that give them the best results: 42% Tannat and 41% Cabernet Franc. The rest is Petit Verdot.”