Bodega Bouza Winery: Tastings, Lunch and the Classic Car Garage

From Las Violetas to Melilla

The Bouza family entered wine in 1998, when it bought a 35-year-old vineyard at Las Violetas in Canelones. In 2001 it bought a property in Melilla, on Montevideo's rural edge, with an old winery that had worked through the 1950s and 1960s. The family restored that winery and planted new vineyards around it, with oenologist Eduardo Boido in charge of the wines.

From the start the house kept one rule that still defines it: only grapes from its own vineyards go into a Bouza bottle. The family also planted Tempranillo, the other Spanish grape, for the same roots. What began as a restored country winery has grown into an estate with five vineyards, a restaurant, a classic car garage and a second tasting room on the coast toward Punta del Este.

The practical effect for you is that everything at Melilla, from vineyard to glass to plate, is under one roof about 15 minutes from the city centre in the winery's own words.

Uruguay's First Albariño

The family's roots are Galician, in north-west Spain, and Albariño is that region's white grape. In 2001 Bouza planted Albariño in Uruguay, the first winery in the country to do so, and the first harvest came in 2004. The planting has since grown to more hectares, and other Uruguayan producers have followed Bouza into the variety, so the national register now lists Albariño as a white that is gaining recognition.

For a visitor the point is simple: this is where the Uruguayan Albariño story started, so ask at booking whether the day's tasting pours it.

The estate opens every day from 11:00 to 18:00, but guided visits only start at 11:00, 13:30, 15:00 and 16:30. Those four slots decide your day, so pick one and arrive early. Book by phone at +598 2323 4030.

Lunch at the Winery Restaurant

The Melilla restaurant opened in 2006 and serves every day from 11:00 to 18:00. You can order à la carte or take the 7-step tasting menu, and the kitchen cooks regional dishes with Uruguayan and Spanish influence, which fits a house with Galician roots. Call +598 2323 4030 to book a table, especially if you want to line lunch up with the 13:30 visit.

Paying the restaurant bill by card takes 9 points off the VAT on restaurant food until 30 April 2027. The transported Bouza tour with hotel pickup does not include lunch, so budget the meal separately.

The Garage opened in 2017 as a tasting room built around Juan Bouza's collection of classic cars and motorbikes. Tastings run among the vehicles: the winery lists its 4-wine tasting and the four visit times under the Garage. Below ground, the cellar is held at 15 C with humidity above 75%, the conditions the house keeps its bottles under.

For travellers this changes the shape of the visit: if someone in your group cares more about engines than grapes, the garage gives them something to look at while the wines are poured. It is also an indoor option for a cold or rainy day. The tasting in the Garage costs $52.47 (UYU 2,115) per person booked with the winery, and the tour with hotel pickup is the way in without a car.

The house works five vineyards, from the original Las Violetas plot bought in 1998 to the coastal Las Espinas planted from 2016. The distances to the sea tell you where the cooler, slower-ripening fruit comes from, and the dates tell you which sites are newest.

What Bouza Is Known For

Tannat is the answer when people ask what wine Bouza is known for. The grape grows in all five vineyards and covers the largest area of any variety on the estate, which matches Tannat's role as Uruguay's flagship red nationwide. The white side rests on the Albariño the family planted first in the country in 2001, and on Riesling grown at the Pan de Azúcar vineyard, 7 km from the sea, where the cooler air suits it.

Because the house uses only its own grapes, everything you taste at the visit comes from these five sites.

The winery sits in Melilla on Montevideo's rural edge, about 15 minutes from the centre in the winery's own words. If you have no car, the Bouza tasting with hotel pickup solves the whole trip: an air-conditioned minivan collects you at your hotel and brings you back after the tasting. Otherwise take a taxi or ride-hail, or use a rental car, which also lets you continue to other cellars in the same half-day.

No bus route to the gate is published, so a taxi or rental is the reliable choice for the fixed start times. If you are heading to Las Espinas instead, it lies on Ruta Interbalnearia at km 104, then about 6 km of panoramic road past the vineyards to the restaurant.

Las Espinas stands at Ruta Interbalnearia km 104 in Punta Negra, Maldonado. The restaurant sits at 200 m on a hill, reached by about 6 km of panoramic road past the vineyards, with a 360-degree view, and serves lunch and dinner by reservation. The guided visit and tasting run Wednesday to Monday at 11:00 only, places are limited, reservation is required, and the price is $69.47 (UYU 2,800) per person.

The new winery there was begun in 2023, designed by Víctor Lorieto and Valentín Barreiro after the Galician hórreos, the raised stone granaries of the family's home region, with 12 tanks of 3,500 litres. The restaurant has drawn its own attention: Wine Enthusiast included Restaurante Las Espinas in its selection of 57 winery restaurants worldwide, and it appears in The 50 Best Discovery. If your trip continues east, pair the 11:00 tasting with Punta del Este beaches or the afternoon at Casapueblo on the same coast.

• The Melilla winery had already made wine in the 1950s and 1960s, then stood abandoned until the family restored it after 2001 (Bodega Bouza history)
• Bouza ranked 73 in the extended top 100 of The World's 50 Best Vineyards, in the 2026 edition (Bodega Bouza news)
• The new Las Espinas winery is designed after Galician hórreos, the raised stone granaries of the family's home region, with 12 tanks of 3,500 litres (Bodega Bouza, Las Espinas)
• The Melilla vineyard, La Redención, lies under 10 km from Montevideo bay, close enough for the river to shape its climate (Bodega Bouza vineyards)
• The restaurant at Las Espinas was picked by Wine Enthusiast among 57 winery restaurants worldwide and appears in The 50 Best Discovery (Bodega Bouza news)

Melilla is close enough that the winery does not have to eat a whole day. Take the 11:00 visit, taste four wines with the paired bites, and you are back in the city by mid-afternoon for the old town: walk what to see in Montevideo around Plaza Independencia and the old city before dinner at Mercado del Puerto. Prefer a slow one?

Book the 13:30 visit and let lunch at the restaurant run long, then drift east along the water on the Rambla as the light drops. If you are staying near the beach, sleep in and taste at Las Espinas near Punta del Este instead of crossing town. Wine country before dinner works well from most Montevideo hotels, since the drive is short in the winery's own words.