As seen on Charlotte.com

Something new's entering the market: Wines from Uruguay.

Look at a world map and it only stands to reason. Uruguay's location, at 30 to 35degrees latitude, is precisely in line with the southern hemisphere's other major wine producers like Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Australia.

But while Uruguay's wine industry dates back to the mid-1700s or earlier, it's only now making a major effort to export to the United States. They're sending us whites, reds and roses that are mostly soft, light and fruity - and nicely priced.

"We try to make wines that are easy to drink," says Rosaura Etcheverry, spokeswoman for Castillo Viejo.

They're also bringing us a fascinating wine, called tannat, that's old to them but new to us. The grape was grown for centuries in southwest France's Gascony area, where it made a tough, ink-black wine called Madiran that needed years of aging. Brought to Uruguay in 1870 by Don Pascual Harriague, the warm sun softened and tamed its tannins and acids and made a very different wine - a wine that could put Uruguay on the wine map.

Today's Uruguayan tannat wines vary greatly. While most taste of coffee, chocolate and mocha, and have full body and big tannins, their fruit component can range from stewed prunes to ripe black plums and black raspberries.

"Tannat can have many personalities depending on the producer," says Guzman Castro, president of IBESC Wine Distributors of Miami. "They're still experimenting."

In fact, most Uruguayan winemakers who want to export are experimenting now, says Christian Wylie, export manager for that country's Establecimiento Juanico, which exports to some areas of the United States. They're trying to create newer, more international styles.

"The old Uruguayan style can be thin and oxidized," he says. "We're doing New World wines now - fruity, chewy, with big tannins but not much oak."

And they're frank about doing whatever is necessary to get us to try them.

"At $15 we couldn't sell our wines," says Wylie. "At $9 we're really doing well. People don't know us, so we have to be very aggressive."

The tasting notes below describe Uruguayan wines already available in the United States. But other top Uruguayan wines should be in the market soon. Juanico, for example, makes a 2000 Vinson Richards Shiraz, with 70percent syrah and 30percent tannat, that has intense plum and spice aromas, big body and big, ripe tannins - very much the international style. Also coming is Juanico's top wine, the 1997 Preludio, a rich and opulent blend of 50percent tannat, 20percent cabernet sauvignon, 15percent cabernet franc, 10percent merlot and 5percent petit verdot.

"This is Uruguay's ambassador," Wylie says. "The wine our president gives as gifts."

Country name: 
conventional long form: Oriental Republic of Uruguay 
conventional short form: Uruguay 
local long form: Republica Oriental del Uruguay 
local short form: Uruguay 

Government type: Republic 

Capital city: Montevideo (pop 1,400,000)

Administrative divisions: 19 departments (departamentos, singular—departamento); Artigas, Canelones,
Cerro Largo, Colonia, Durazno, Flores, Florida, Lavalleja, Maldonado, Montevideo, Paysandu, Rio
Negro, Rivera, Rocha, Salto, San Jose, Soriano, Tacuarembo, Treinta y Tres 

Independence: 25 August 1825 (from Brazil) 

Geographic coordinates: 33 00 S, 56 00 W 
Area—comparative: slightly smaller than the state of Washington 
Climate: warm temperate; freezing temperatures almost unknown.

Population: 3,308,523 (July 1999 est.) 

Nationality: 
noun: Uruguayan(s) 
adjective: Uruguayan 

Ethnic groups: white 88%, mestizo 8%, black 4%, Amerindian, practically nonexistent 

Religions: Roman Catholic 66% (less than one-half of the adult population attends church regularly),
Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, non-professing or other 30% 

Languages: Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier) 

Weights and Measures: Uruguay uses the Metric System.