In 2013, Montevideo, Uruguay, hosted a blind wine-tasting contest. Tasters sampled Tannat wines made with a grape originating (but not universally beloved) in France, now a prized Uruguay export. The surprise winner: a Bolivian wine.
It was Bolivia's first-ever grand gold medal.
To hear Ramon Escobar, the Bolivian American co-founder of Chufly Imports, known for Bolivian wine and spirits, tell it was unbelievable to the judges.
"It was such a shocker," Escobar says, "that they would not award the medal to the Bolivian winery until they went [there] themselves and verified it was made in Bolivia . . .
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