Uruguay Quickly Becoming A Major Wine-Tourism Destination

We would never have guessed this, but Uruguay is South America’s fourth biggest wine producer, and now the owners of the fertile vineyards are making a major push to attract wine-tourists. If you’re like us you thought all they did in peaceful Uruguay was eat top notch beef and drink maté until they got hyper enough to go cowtipping. But NO, it appears they have been hard at work producing delicious wine since 1870, when a French Basque named Don Pascual Harriague brought over Uruguay’s signature grape, the tannat. So what makes Uruguayan wine special?

In part, we love it because it’s an underdog. The wine itself is supposed to be capable of greatness- the growing conditions are similar to France’s Bordeaux region-but it’s been a struggle for the vintners to gain a foothold in the global wine market. The effort to give Uruguayan wine and wine tourism a wider appeal began in the 80’s, but it’s only been recently that tourists are really starting to consider it a major destination. One new tourism site invites you to visit the Juanicó region in Canelones, southern Uruguay, where you have the benefit of fifteen established vineyards close together, making a more comprehensive and varied tour convenient.

That cluster of vineyards is making their bid for wine-tourism quite cleverly, offering trendy options like a visit to an environmentally sustainable vineyard, or a gourmet meal and wine tasting package. Go now, before they’re too fancy to ignore the fact that you’re chugging all the samples like Amy Winehouse at last call.

Or, if you’re not prepared to fly your ass out there, sample some delicious Uruguayan vintage at home- try the Castillo Viejo “El Preciado” red from 2002. The maker’s website is ridiculously slick (seriously, we had to restrain ourselves from fluttering our eyelashes at the screen) and reviewers had some pretty impressive praise for this wine;

Amazing effort from this region. A curious blend of 56% cab franc, 20% merlot, 18% tannat and 6% cab sauvignon. This winemaker knows his way around blending for sure. Nose shows some restrained fruit and doesn’t hint to what’s to come on the mouth, vanilla and chocolate give it a very receptive but shy first impression. Once in your mouth it shows amazing balance with an incredible structure, silky mouthfeel, very fine and sweet tannins and an everlasting finish.

Once we stopped snickering at phrases like “mouthfeel” and “everlasting finish” we got really excited about the words “chocolate” and “alcohol.” “Doesn’t hint to what’s to come on the mouth” just sounds like a bad date, but whatever, we’re not going to let that stop us from enjoying our bucket of trendy wine!

No corking Uruguay’s emerging status as wine country [LA Times]

Uruguay - South America’s ‘other’ wine country [Wine Pages]
Bodegas Castillo Viejo El Preciado (2002) [Snooth]