Bodegas Garzon Tannat Reserva 2023

This one comes from Bodegas Garzon, a winery that is easily the best in the country but is making a push as one of South America’s elite. They are consistently racking up some big scores and great press and are essentially the first to break through each and every barrier with American wine writers.

Consider this: they are the first winery in Uruguay to win Wine Enthusiast’s “Winery of the Year” award, the first to be featured in Wine Spectator’s “Top 100 Wines of the Year,” the first to be featured in Wine Spectator’s “NY Wine Experience,” and have already become South America’s largest Albarino producer.

These guys are working from a winemaking oasis, and they’re not messing around. The region is tiny but ideal, located amongst rolling hills that meet the sea in a tiny, low-traffic town famous for farming. With the influence of the sea, the heavily sloped vineyards, and a soft, stony soil, the wines here are both elegant and complex with juicy, tropical-fruit flavors, backed by minerality, salinity and a strong acid backbone.