Understanding Uruguay
Despite its long wine heritage, Uruguay has been slow to win the global recognition it deserves. But as producers make viticultural advances and explore new terroirs, this is beginning to change. Patricio Tapia reports
‘Uruguayans have realised that what they have has very little to do with what is done elsewhere in South America’
Tango offers some of the most beautiful but also the saddest lyrics in the world of music. Disenchantment, loneliness, nostalgia, all surrounded by a halo of melancholy that makes tango a pleasure, but a rather guilty one.
There are many voices of tango, but without a doubt the most famous, the ‘Elvis’ of tango, is Carlos Gardel. The impeccable look, the perfect hairstyle, the cross-lapel jacket, the polished shiny shoes, the bright eyes and his raspy but sweet voice, singing the classic tangos that made a generation of South Americans sigh.
Gardel was a naturalised citizen of Argentina, but he claimed to be Uruguayan by birth (although there is evidence to suggest that he was actually born in Toulouse, France). He certainly fits the mould of a Uruguayan. While generalisations can be tedious, especially when it comes to defining the people of a particular country, Uruguayans seem to display a certain melancholy in their way of being, in their way of seeing life.
That was one of the things that most caught my attention when I first visited Uruguay, in early 2000. Under the shadow of the Chilean wine boom and the incipient growth of Argentinian wine, the melancholy of the Uruguayans translated into a certain resignation at not being able to compete with those new wines, but also some mistrust when showing their wines, as if what they did was not up to the same standard as their neighbours. Today that has changed, and has changed radically, especially since Uruguayans seem to have realised that what they have is not only of good quality, but also has very little to do with what is done elsewhere in South America.
Climatic conditions
Uruguay looks towards the Atlantic and a large part of its territory, in the northwest, flanks the mighty Río de la Plata. Both bodies of water play a very important role in the climate of the viticultural areas, which are humid, but at the same time have moderate temperatures, never reaching the heat levels of Mendoza in Argentina, or the Central Valley in Chile.
It is these conditions which have made Tannat the star grape of Uruguay. Imported for the first time in 1870 from the southwest of France by the Basque Pascual Harriague, Tannat has a firm, thick skin strong enough to prevent the rot of grapes under the heavy Atlantic rains. Thanks to viticultural advances, the diversity of wine grapes in Uruguay is today relatively wide, but in those first years of trial and error it was Tannat that survived. Today it is still the country’s