Bodega Garzon - Balasto 2016

Bodega Garzón Balasto 2016 · Maldonado, Uruguay

THE WINE
Balasto is the top selection at Bodega Garzón, made only in the best vintages and only from the finest parcels. It is one of the few South American wines accepted by the merchants of La Place de Bordeaux, which tells you how seriously the world takes it. The estate sits eleven miles from the Atlantic, and you can taste that distance.

BLEND
45% Tannat, 25% Cabernet Franc, 18% Petit Verdot and 12% Marselan. Tannat gives the backbone, Cabernet Franc brings the herbs and tobacco, and Marselan adds perfume. It ages 20 months in untoasted French oak foudres, second use, so the wood supports the fruit instead of covering it.

VINEYARD NOTES
Balasto is the local word for the weathered rock that lies under the estate's 540 acres of vines. These are granite formations from the Crystalline Basement, shaped over billions of years into thin, stony soils. The decomposed granite drains fast and stresses the vines, and that is where the vibrancy and the salinity come from.

TASTING NOTES
Fresh red and black fruit with licorice, graphite, forest floor and a hint of tobacco. The palate is full bodied and driven by acidity, with firm grainy tannins and a chewy