Bodega Garzon Uruguay Balasto 2017
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James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine &
Spirits - Decanter
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Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
On the nose this elegantly spiced wine displays fresh red and black fruit notes. In the mouth, tannins are juicy and vibrant with energy and vitality associated with an excellent texture and long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Transparent and direct with dark berries, asphalt and lavender. Medium to full body, very silky tannins and a persistent and beautiful finish. Most balanced blend of this. A blend of 50 per cent tannat, 40 per cent cabernet franc, five per cent marselan and five per cent merlot.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Garzón Balasto is a world-class red wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings power and style to the fore with dazzling aromas and flavors of black fruit, anise, and oak. Enjoy its long and persistent presence with grilled short ribs topped with aromatic spices. (Tasted: February 17, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine & Spirits
Garzón’s top selection is a blend of tannat and cabernet franc, with five percent each of merlot and marselan. The vines grow on rolling hills of ancient weather granite, a soil called balasto, 11 miles from the Atlantic, where Alejandro Bulgheroni’s deep pockets financed the planting of 1,000 separate vineyard blocks. Germán Bruzzone works with consulting winemaker Alberto Antonini on the project, fermenting this wine in cement, then aging it for 20 months in large, untoasted French oak casks. The first impression the wine gives is freshness, a coastal coolness and sunny brightness pervading its berry-scented fruit. The last impression is dynamic, with energy coursing through the savory tannins that linger on the breath long after each taste. It’s silky and stylish with dark tones of oak shadowing the red cherries, blackberries and fresh plums that the flavors bring to mind. As one taster noted, “It’s like watching an Olympic gymnast; they make it look so easy.”
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Decanter
Ripe nose of dense berry fruit with well-managed oak notes and earthy undertones. Really fresh acidity and lovely purity.
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Wine Spectator
Powerful, featuring well-knit flavors of blackberry, dark currant and plum tart, with accents of dark olive and dried savory herbs. The well-spiced and juicy finish offers dark chocolate notes, backed by crisp, firm tannins. Tannat, Cabernet Franc, Marselan and Merlot.
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Wine Enthusiast
Briary berry aromas are thick and slightly reduced, with a lifted note of juniper on the nose. This blend is the top of the line for the producer. Savory berry flavors are blackened by toasty oak, while this is tightly coiled in tannins on the finish. Drink through 2025.
Other Vintages
2018-
James
Suckling -
The Somm
Journal -
Tasting
Panel -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
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James
Suckling -
Wine &
Spirits - Decanter
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Robert
Parker
The Greatest Wines of the World are produced where the grape variety finds the ideal conditions to express itself in a natural and authentic way; like at Garzón, where they produce wines that result from the perfect integration of terroir and the different cultivated varieties.
Bodega Garzón is close to Punta del Este, La Barra and José Ignacio, the Uruguayan paradise with mesmerizing landscapes and the perfect combination of past, present and future. The charm of this sophisticated region, located among sloping hills that meet the sea is portrayed in the postcards of Garzón, a small town with 600 inhabitants which is home to tourists, farmers and local artists. This picturesque landscape offers the best environment for their vineyards, orchards and groves.
The wines love the terroir of Garzón with its ballast hills, a soft, stony soil and Atlantic breezes flowing over the vines that result in perfect conditions for creating elegant and complex wines. Therefore, Garzon products are the result of a careful selection of terroir which is appropriate for the development of premium wines and a wide range of grape varieties. This allows the best winemakers to experiment with a new environment and create optimal blends for a market increasingly eager for new wines. The resultant winemaking is focused on producing wines of the highest quality with a distinctive identity, strong personality and sense of place.
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
Considered one of the most environmentally sustainable countries in the world, Uruguay is also the fourth largest wine producing country in South America. But in contrast to its neighbors (Chile, Argentina and even Brazil) Uruguay keeps more in step with its European progenitors where land small holdings are most common. Most Uruguayan farms are tiny (averaging only about five hectares) and family-run, many dating back multiple generations. At this size, growers either make small amounts of wine for local consumption or sell grapes to a nearby winery. In all of Uruguay there are close to 3,500 growers but fewer than 300 wineries.
On these small plots of land, manual tending and harvesting, as well as low yields are favored; this small agricultural country has never had a need for large-scale chemical fertilizers or insecticides. Their thriving meat industry also follows the same standards: hormones have been banned since 1968 and today all Uruguayan beef is organic and grass-fed.
Uruguay’s best vineyards are on the Atlantic coast, in Canelones and Maldonado (where cooling breezes lessen humidity) or found hugging its border with Argentina. With a climate similar to Bordeaux and soils clay-rich and calcareous, Uruguay is perfect for Tannat, a thick-skinned, red variety native to Southwest, France. A great Tannat from Uruguay will have no lack of rich red and black fruit, lots of sweet spice and a hefty structure. Sometimes winemakers blend Merlot or Pinot noir with Tannat to soften up its rough edges.
The best Uruguayan whites include Sauvignon blanc and Albarino.