Aranjuez was Bolivia’s first winery to win an international gold medal for its 2013 Tannat wine. This global recognition set the stage for Bolivia’s improbable rise to wine prominence. Aranjuez is a third generation, family-owned vineyard in the Tarija Valley, straddling Argentina’s northwestern border. From its humble entrepreneurial start, Aranjuez has grown into one of Bolivia’s most prestigious and celebrated wineries. The vineyard sits at an average elevation of about 6,500 feet above sea level, among the highest in Tarija.

Samaipata is the birthplace of 1750 wines and the frontier of South American viticulture. Nestled between the Andes mountains and the Amazon basin, this cool-climate, high-elevation valley is home to 400 years of wine history. The Uvairenda Vineyard blankets the east-facing slopes starting at 1,750 meters (5,741 feet) above sea level — hence the name 1750 wines. This boutique winery uses natural fermentation and sustainable farming techniques to produce less than 2 thousand cases of high-quality wines each year. The 1750 labels don the image of a Guarani woman — a native people whose men and women were revered as fierce and noble warriors.

La Concepción is among Bolivia’s most historic vineyards, dotted with dozens of centuries-old grapevines climbing up and around pink peppercorn trees. The winery takes pride in the vineyard’s long history, which stretches back to the 1600s, preserving and incorporating its ancient adobe buildings and original hacienda into their winemaking activities. Building on these traditions, La Concepción is today producing some of Bolivia’s highest rated wines and distillates — all in limited quantities.

Bodegas Magnus is owned and run by Liz Arancibia Zambra, an unapologetic, self-taught Bolivian winemaker. Liz’s boutique winery produces a little more than 2 thousand cases of wine a year. The vineyard sits on 35 acres in the Tarija Valley, an arid region that butts up against Argentina’s northwestern border. Proudly known in the family as a bit of a black sheep (hence the label), Liz’s estate-grown, sustainably-farmed Magnus wines are a fresh expression of her unique and demanding style.

This delightfully floral, yet surprisingly complex grape brandy (eau de vie) is distilled from a white wine and is akin to pisco. High up in the Andes mountains, Bolivia’s ancestors have been distilling singani for more than four centuries. Bolivians have enshrined the centuries-old singani traditions into law, establishing a D.O. (denominación de origen) and requiring both vineyards and distilleries to be at least 5,250 feet above sea level.