"No Corking Uruguay's Rising Status as Wine Country"
Excerpt from: Los Angeles Times
South America
By Claudia Capos, 07:04 PM PST, November 25, 2008
Wind-tousled grapevines, marching in cornrow-straight lines and hung with pearl-like clusters of light-green fruit, stretch as far as the eye can see across gently rolling farmland. Flowering red rosebushes punctuate the ends of each row, and tiro-tiro birds, named for their unique call, nest on wooden fence posts.
Uruguay is home to one of the world’s least recognized wine regions. Ancient vineyards stretch along the border of the Río de la Plata, the broad, slow-moving river that flows between Argentina and its northern neighbor Uruguay.
Spanish settlers actually brought the first grapevines to Uruguay during the colonial period, according to historical accounts. By the mid-1800s, a viable commercial-wine industry was beginning to take hold, with Tannat as the principal variety of grape.
About 270 wine producers cultivate relatively small vineyards -- approximately 25,000 acres combined -- and occupy a viable niche market in South America. Most Uruguayan bodegas are owned and operated as family businesses, some dating back generations to the early Spanish immigrants and the Italians who followed them and set up wine production.
Uruguay's emergence as a wine tourism destination and exporter of fine wines is no accident.
Atlantic breezes keep the region's vines well-ventilated despite the moist, subtropical coastal climate, and the combination of well-drained clay soil and 220 days of intense sunshine annually produces growing conditions similar to those of France's Bordeaux region.
On the whole, Uruguayan wines have a lower alcohol content and are often described as "softer and more approachable" than their French cousins. Tannat, named for its high tannin content, was brought over from France by French Basque immigrant Don Pascual Harriague in the 1870s. Blended wines made with Tannat grapes, which comprise 25% of Uruguay's vineyards, are increasingly popular. | End Excerpt |
It's evident that Tannat vines traveled an impressive distance before taking root in one of the most verdant modern wine regions in the world, amid the beautiful and temperate climate of fertile Uruguay.
Uruguayan wine vineyards are characterized by
sandy soils and consistent summer heat of the 32 parallel contrasted by
Antarctic jet streams in the winter, creating the ideal environment for the
noble Tannat grape to flourish. Read
more about the Uruguayan
wine terroir
Tannat wine, Uruguay's national grape is gaining rapid popularity with the press and among wine lovers worldwide due to its unique character and extraordinarily high concentration of antioxidants. (Read more about Uruguayan Wine and heart health). Tannat wines are the wine of choice for Uruguayans and many wine enthusiasts throughout South America, and are fast becoming a cult hit with wine enthusiasts and oenophiles around the globe.
TanTerra’s Tannat is rich in aromatic density with a great concentration of color and a soft, pleasant minerality, embodies the spirit of Uruguayan wine and a family winemaking tradition that goes back generation upon generation, giving our estate grown and hand crafted wines exceptional and superior qualities. Described as elegant and refined, with softer tannins than its Tannat varietal relatives from France, Tannat wine is quickly becoming Uruguay's most prized export and a luxurious delight to American palates.
Join us in raising a glass and experience these new and most exciting wines from TanTerra.