Atkin’s pick: top six to try from Uruguay
Cerro del Toro, Albariño Sobre Lías, Piriápolis, Maldonado 2019 95
N/A UK @bodegacerrodeltoro
If you want to make great Albarino in Uruguay, it helps if you’ve spent two years working in Galicia, as Martín Viggiano did. This suberb white is one of the best examples of the grape outside Spain, with wonderful focus, salinity and dry extract, plus notes of celery, white pepper and citrus peel. Drink 2020-2025 Alcohol 12%
Bouza, Monte Vide Eu, Montevideo/ Canelones 2018 97 £ 39.88 Jeroboams
On current form, this is Uruguay’s best red blend, a world-class cuvée of Tannat with 35% Merlot and 20% Tempranillo. Aged in 90% new oak, it’s effortlessly harmonious: top notes of violet, sweet spices and cut grass, palate of cassis, plum, strawberry, nuanced tannins and a detailed, satisfying finish. Drink 2023-2035 Alc 15%
Familia Deicas, Extreme Vineyards Cerro Guazuvirá, Lavalleja 2018 95 £ 25.99 The Good Wine Shop, Vinos Latinos, Wines of Uruguay
Cerro Guazuvirá is an incredible site at 400m on granite soils, planted as recently as 2015. This is an intensely focused red blend of half Merlot with 40% Tannat, some Petit Verdot and a splash of Viognier. Complex and stony, with wonderful grip and density, racy acidity and layers of bramble, red cherry and damson fruit. One of the country’s most exciting reds. Drink 2023-2035 Alc 13.5%
Garzón, Reserva Tannat, Maldonado 2018 93
£ 19.99 Liberty Wines, Vinvm
The focus here, as it is with all of the Garzón wines, is on fruit expression and terroir rather than wood. It’s a wonderfully stylish expression of the variety that handles its alcohol well, showing flavours of bramble and blackberry with darker liquorice, fine-grained tannins and very subtle vanilla spice. Drink 2021-2025 Alc 14.5%
Viña Progreso, Underground
Barrel- Less Tannat, Progreso 2019 93 £ 26.75 Drinkmonger, House of Townend, Valhalla’s Goat
‘A wine of the vintage,’ according to Gabriel Pisano, but this is no Beaujolais Nouveau. In fact, this brilliant unwooded Tannat from one of Uruguay’s best young winemakers, sourced from 30-year-old vines in the Progreso sub-region of Canelones, doesn’t have to be drunk in a hurry at all. Youthful, juicy and fresh, with plum and black-cherry fruit, a stony undertone and sappy, savoury tannins. Drink 2020-2025 Alc 13.5%
Viñedo de los Vientos, Nebbiolo Crudo, Altántida 2019 93
£ 15 Vinos Latinos, Wines of Uruguay
There isn’t a whole heap of competition, but this is Uruguay’s best Nebbiolo, an interpretation of the grape that compares well with anything beyond Piedmont. Made without sulphur, it’s pale, savoury and firm, with notes of black tea and rose petal, plus a core of wild strawberry sweetness. Drink 2021-2026 Alc 13%