Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020 - 77

NEW WO RLD

Top 100 Wineries

Bodega Garzón
URUGUAY
Uruguay's Atlantic coast proves a source of
vibrant, fresh tannat.

Montes
CHILE | COLCHAGUA
A pioneer in Chilean wine, Aurelio Montes, Sr., has helped deﬁne
regional expression in the country's varied terroirs.
BACK IN 1987, WHEN AURELIO MONTES and Dennis
Murray founded Discover Wines-what would
become Montes-Chile was two years away from
free elections and was still largely closed off from
the outside world. Locals, if they drank wine at
all, were content with oxidized sauvignonasse
and overcropped cabernet from Chile's warm,
fertile Central Valley. Montes looked beyond the
valley, into the hills and to the coast, planting
vines as far north as the beach town of Zapallar
and, most recently, as far south as an island off
Chiloé in Patagonia. At his top estate vineyards
in Colchagua, Montes pioneered syrah and carmenère, growing it in the hills of Apalta and,
later, far west in Marchigüe. Originally, he broke
into export markets with a clean, international
style; in more recent years, Montes and his winemaking son, Aurelio, Jr., have focused more
directly on regional expression in their top estate
wines, a focus that earned Montes this fourth
Top 100 award. -J.G.

FOUNDED:

1987

OWNERS:

Aurelio Montes,
Sr., Sergio
Barros, José
Antonio Garces

2017 Colchagua Valley Purple Angel ($95, 94
points) This is Montes's top carmenère, a blend of
fruit from Apalta and cooler Marchigüe in western
Colchagua, its purple color deepened by a little petit
verdot. That rich purple develops during a weeklong
cold soak before fermentation, and time on the skins
post fermentation. Then it rests in French oak barrels, 80 percent of them new. It's a recipe for power
and international fame, goals transmitted in the
wine's immediate richness of oak. But beautiful fruit
becomes the primary driver as the wine opens to
blackberry, black currant and blueberry depths, with
a satin texture that's hard to resist.

WINEMAKER:

Aurelio
Montes, Jr.
VITICULTURIST:

Rodrigo Barria
ACRES OWNED:

2,000

700,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

65%
IMPORTER:

Kobrand,
Purchase, NY

FOUNDED:

2007
OWNER:

Alejandro
Bulgheroni
WINEMAKER:

2017 Colchagua Valley Twins ($17, 91 points)
Tempranillo makes up only ten percent of this blend
with cabernet and carmenère, syrah another 30, but
together they point it in a Mediterranean direction.
The wine's fragrant red fruit and herbal scents turn
Colchagua's warmth toward freshness.

Germán Bruzzone
VITICULTURIST:

Eduardo Felix
ACRES OWNED:

248
ANNUAL

2017 Uruguay Balasto ($120, 94 points) Garzón's
top selection in 2017 is a blend of tannat and cabernet franc, with ﬁve percent each of merlot and marselan. This wine's fresh coastal coolness and sunny
brightness pervades its berry-scented fruit. It leaves
a dynamic, lasting impression, with energy coursing
through the savory tannins that linger long after each
sip. It's silky and stylish, with dark tones of oak shadowing the red fruit.
2018 Uruguay Single Vineyard Tannat ($30, 91
points) A supple Atlantic red, this is a generous
take on tannat, with bright ﬂavors of cranberries
and thyme accenting a dark, dense core. The generous, round tannins have the succulence of ripe plum
skins, and a dark rose scent that lasts. Delicious with
thick-cut lamb chops off the grill.

PRODUCTION:

ANNUAL
PRODUCTION:

GERMAN
BRUZZONE

BODEGA GARZON IS A SERIES OF surprises. Owned
by a billionaire, its 248 acres of vines, all under
ten years old, defy convention. Mostly tannat,
marselan and albariño, those vines are scattered across some 1,200 parcels in Maldonado,
a region on Uruguay's southeastern coast, their
subdivisions determined by the topography
of the collinas, small hills or knolls, where the
mother rock interrupts the surface. That rock is
ancient granite locally called balasto-thought
to be the earth's oldest, as it is part of the same
Gondwanaland-age deposit found 5,000 miles
away in Angola and north to Nigeria, having
formed before the breakup of the supercontinent. Eons later, it is now largely decomposed
and slowly crumbling into the sea a few miles to
the east of Garzón's vineyards. Consulting winemaker Alberto Antonini credits the well-drained
granite soils for what he calls "voltage" in Garzón's tannat (the ﬂagship grape of Uruguay,
far from its French-Basque home of Madiran).
That voltage-the tension and explosive freshness of the fruit-is enhanced by fermentation
with ambient yeasts in unlined concrete tulips
prior to aging in untoasted 2,500- and 5,000-liter
casks. It's a spare style of élevage that brings clarity and vibrancy to the wines.-S.E.S

2019 Aconcagua Costa Classic Sauvignon Blanc
($13, 92 points) This wine includes fruit from Montes's vineyards in Zapallar, Casablanca and the
coastal hills of Aconcagua. It's a long line-drive of
Asian-pear ﬂavor, brisk and juicy, markedly mineral in
its smoke-tinged acidity. It's one of our Top 100 Best
Buys of 2020.

100,000 cases
ESTATE GROWN:

100%
IMPORTER:

Paciﬁc Highway
Wines & Spirits,
Greensboro, NC

2018 Uruguay Reserva Tannat ($20, 92 points)
This clean, austerely tannic red is frisky with turmeric
and green-peppercorn scents, lasting on meaty dark
fruit in pleasant contrast to its high-toned acidity.
Structured and savory, this will age well over the next
several years; if you open it now, decant it for a salad
of duck conﬁt.
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Wine & Spirits - Winter 2020

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