Uruguay sets out diverse stall at largest UK tasting to date

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 24 March, 2023

It’s time to pay attention when Uruguay comes to town these days, especially when the opportunity arises to taste through a hand-picked selection of the best of the ‘new wave’ wines.

The occasion was the Taste Uruguay event at 67 Pall Mall on 24 March – the largest in the UK to date – marking a concerted push by the country into the UK.

Billed as ‘showing exciting new trends and tendencies’, the programme also offered a kind of ‘speed-dating’ side tasting (with dishes to pair), rotating winemakers over three flights of wines, chosen by regional expert and Harpers contributor Amanda Barnes.

These themed flights showed, respectively, innovative styles (think un-oaked, orange, pet nat and amphora-fermented wines), modern whites (dominated by Albariño, but with Chardonnay and outstanding Riesling), and diverse reds (Cabernet Franc, Marselán, Syrah, Malbec, etc), totalling 18 samples in all.

If there was a defining thread, it was the vivacity and drinkability across the flights. As Barnes put it, these were wines in tune with the modern palate and modern gastronomy. And with only one Tannat on show – a 27-year-old, unoaked number – the emphasis was clearly on what else the country can do. And do well.

“There’s no ceiling for Uruguay, it’s at the beginning of this golden era,” said Barnes. “There’s the quality, but now also the terroir coming in as well.”

Braccobosca owner and winemaker Fabiana Bracco, who has long pushed boundaries with her wines, explained why the UK (along with Germany) was now firmly in Uruguay’s export sights.

“This is a good moment for Uruguay, England is a target and people are getting to know more about Uruguay,” she said. “And the UK believed in Uruguay when no one believed in Uruguay in the past.”

Uruguayan listings in the UK have been growing steadily, with champions and importers such as Carla Bertelotti of Vinos Latinos and Lee Evans of Condor Wines among those opening doors. And the country’s producers are now looking to build on such momentum.

“We are known in the world for pushing Tannat, but my mission is to show the world more than Tannat,” added Martina Litta, Uruguay Wine’s foreign trade manager.

“There are a lot of good expressions, styles and interesting grapes in Uruguay. Also Tannat, but with a lot of different styles; pink, carbonic maceration, unoaked – new ways, there is a lot going on.”

Litta is realistic that there is a big piece to be done to “get customers to know and come to Uruguay”, while also showing that the wines “can go with your cuisine”. She emphasised that pressing the message that most wineries are smaller scale, family-owned, with “stories to tell” is central to selling the idea of Uruguayan wines.

In terms of the best varieties to promote as Uruguay’s ‘calling cards’, there appears to be near unanimous backing for its signature Tannat among the reds, although with Marselán as an increasingly successful newish addition to the show. Cabrnet Franc and Syrah are among those that are also delivering standout wines.

With the whites, winemaker Daniel Pisano of Pisano estate is among a growing number that believe there is a strong argument for Albariño as the white counterpart to Tannat, even though so little is currently planted.

“Demand is making us plant Albariño,” he said, adding that while Uruguay is increasingly recognised for the quality of its Sauvignon Blancs, the world is flooded with the variety, “so why would you look for it from Uruguay?”.

It was arguably relative newcomer Garzón that really put Uruguayan Albariño on the (international) map, with big investment and consultant Alberto Antonini behind it. But others, such as Vinos de Mar, Deicas and Bouza also produce superb, typically crisp and saline iterations, with wines increasingly benefitting from texture-enhancing barrel work.

Uruguay now has over 100ha of Albariño planted and this is “fast rising”. However, add great Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs (with far bigger plantings too), plus the likes of Petit Manseng, Riesling, Viognier and Torrontés – to name just some of the most prominent and/or feted white varieties – and it’s perhaps no surprise that Barnes said she wanted to “emphasis the quality of the whites” from this red-dominated country.

Back to Tannat, though, and intriguingly it was an old timer – rather than youthful whipper-snapper – that underlined Litta’s assertion that the variety can be far more of a chameleon than allowed by its popular, sometimes rather macho image.

Pisano showed his 1996 RPF Tannat – made before wine barrels were first shipped by Uruguayan producers – which, despite being “rustically made”, still showed balance and life in it yet.

Barnes had been insistent that this wine was included in the tasting, to show both how the “naked grape” could age, but also how things can turn full circle with regard to an increasing number of modern-day Tannats that are made to be fresher and more approachable when young.

Tannat will remain king, and rightly so. But it is the evolving diversity from this small, Atlantic-cooled country that will help drive an exciting future on the world stage.

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