A long day beckoned as we headed east to Maldonado. This is one of the most exciting wine areas in Uruguay at the moment. While most of the country is pretty flat, this area has some hills and rolling topography that is now being developed for high quality viticulture.
Our first stop was the pioneering winery of Alto de la Ballena. We met Paula, the owner, and she wonderfully described how she and her husband set up the winery in 2001 – a little bit on a wing and a prayer and started making wine! They have a beautiful outdoor tasting space above the winery and we all settled in for a top class tasting. A delicious Viognier kicked us off, followed by a lovely selection of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Tannat together with some fabulous cheese, breads and meats. This was a great start!
From Alto de la Ballena, it was another hour to Bodega Garzon – a flagship of the Uruguayan wine industry, and a winery that I have been dealing with for a few years now. It is a truly astonishing winery and restaurant – it shows what an $85 million investment from an Argentinian oil and gas billionaire can achieve. State of the art winery, amazing barrel room, phenomenal restaurant – what’s not to like. We had a fabulous tasting with lunch and the took the tour, enjoying a glass of wine at various points around the winery. It was long day but well worth it.
