|
By Manos Angelakis
When one speaks about wines and South America, two countries usually come to mind, Argentina and Chile. However, during the last few years a third country is trying to make its presence felt in the US wine market, Uruguay.
It was the third time there was a tasting of wines from Uruguay and, being curious, I decided to attend.
Chile has Carmenère as the “national grape”, Argentina has adopted the Malbec, and Uruguay has embraced the Tannat. Similar in characteristics with Italy’s Nebbiolo and Sangiovese grapes, Tannat wines have high tannin content, intense ruby-red color, full body, and full flavor. On the palate, it has pronounced spicy notes, cherry and black forest berry accents and a lingering finish.
Winemaking has been practiced in Uruguay for over 250 years. Tannat and Folle Noire varietals were brought over from France and eventually the Tannat became Uruguay’s “noble” grape. As most of the winemakers presented at this tasting have their family roots in Italy’s Piedmont and Tuscany, the resulting wines have a great stylistic affinity to wines of those areas. There are 280 wineries in Uruguay, mostly small family owned operations, with over 22,000 acres under vine. The average annual production is about 90 million liters, 95% is consumed domestically.
In the tasting, fourteen wineries presented their products. Noteworthy were:
Juan Toscanini e Hijos. The third generation of a winemaking family is now producing very nice wines in the Canelones region of Uruguay. They presented two 2005 whites, a Trebbiano-Semillon blend and a Sauvignon Blanc. Both very characteristic of the varietals from which they were crafted. On the red side, they presented three monovarietals, a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Tannat. Also a 2004 Tannat Reserve and two blends, TCM and Adagio Espressivo (LWM90 points). This last was the most remarkable of their line. A small production of 500 cases, it tasted like a fruit-forward, very young Barolo. It shows a good promise of becoming quite nice with a little bottle age. To top-of-the-line Barolo aficionados this could become a very viable alternative, though the suggested retail price is on the high end.
Another winery with Piedmontese roots was Viñedo de los Vientos. The vineyard is located 4 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, near the coastal city of Atlandida, and benefits from the maritime influences. All the small yield varietals they presented displayed exceptional fruit concentration. Remarkable were the 2002 Eolo Gran Reserva and Angel’s Cuvee Ripasso de Tannat, though I consider them, especially the Angel’s Cuvee, overpriced. Interesting as well was the non-vintage Alcyone Tannat Dessert, a sweet wine very reminiscent of a Greek sweet Samos wine.
Other noteworthy wines were: From Dante Irurtia, 2002 Reserva del Virrey Tannat Roble and the dessert wine 2002 Botrytis Excellence Gewurztraminer. From Establecimiento Juanico, 2002 Preludio Barrel Select and Bodegones del Sur Chardonnay Viognier Reserve. From Reinaldo de Lucca, 2005 De Lucca Tannat-Syrah, 2005 De Lucca Tannat, and 2004 De Lucca Rio Colorado, a 50% Tannat/30% Cabernet Sauvignon/20% Merlot. Finally from Los Cerros de San Juan, 2004 Maderos Tempranillo and 2002 Maderos Tannat both of which were ready to drink wines at an almost logical price.
In general, I found many of these wines too high priced for what they have to offer. They were nice, but there are also nice and nicer wines from other parts of the world that offer the same quality at lower prices. If these wineries wish to expand further than their internal market – and exhibiting in the US obviously means that they wish to do so – they should decide on better pricing than the suggested retail prices they indicated in the catalog. At least until they become more familiar to our market.
À votre santé.
For more wine reviews and other wine related information, please see The Oenophile Blog our semi-monthly publication.
© April 2006 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
|
