Vermut Flores Rosé ($19) As was noted in a previous blog, vermouth is a wine - a fortified wine. A fortified wine that is infused with a mixture of botanical products including fruits, herbs, spices and roots. After the wine is aromatized and fortified, the Vermouth may be bottled dry, or sweeteners such as sugar may be added to create the sweet style of Vermouth, like this one. This Basta Spirit Flores Rosé vermouth is from Uruguay and is made from Tannat grapes that are pressed and left in brief contact with the skins to create a rosé which acts as the base wine for the Vermouth. Flores is ..read more

Wormwood Photo by Simone Garritano on Unsplash You probably know Vermouth simply as an ingredient in a cocktail such as a Martini or Manhattan. But, did you know it’s actually a wine? Vermouth is actually a fortified wine that is flavored with various botanicals, herbs, spices, and sometimes fruits. According to records, vermouth was first produced in the late 18th century for medicinal purposes with aromatics playing the healing role. Wormwood (shown in the image) is credited for the original naming of Vermouth since the German word for Wormwood is “Wermut.” The process of making vermouth in ..read more

2018 Alto de la Ballena Reserva Tannat-Viognier ($26) Alto de la Ballena is a small winery founded by husband and wife Paula Pivel and Alvaro Lorenzo. They began its plantations in 2001 with first harvest in 2005 and the first wines were presented to the market in 2007. Located in the Sierra de la Ballena, 15 km (9.3 miles) from the coast, Alto de la Ballena combines oceanic air and mountain soils. There are just over 8 hectares (~20 acres) of Merlot, Tannat, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Viognier, for a limited production of high quality wines. This wine is produced from both Tannat (85%) and Vi ..read more

Winemakers sometimes blend Viognier with Tannat. But why would they combine a white wine with a red wine? Blending Viognier with Tannat actually provides several benefits to winemakers: Enhanced Color: Tannat is known for its deep ruby red color. Adding Viognier to Tannat actually acts to brighten the overall color of the wine and make it more visually appealing. Greater Structure and Complexity: Blending Viognier with Tannat helps soften the wine and balance it out, providing more even structure and greater complexity. Enhanced Aromas: Viognier is highly aromatic, providing floral and ..read more

2020 Pisano RPF Tannat ($24) Pisano is part of a group of small family wineries in Uruguay with an artisan tradition of making wines that reflect the character of the land and the people who make them. Pisano is located on the ‘Rio de la Plata’ near the Atlantic Ocean in southern Uruguay. At Pisano, family hands cultivate the grapes, taking away excess crops in productive years, taking leaves away to expose the bunches to the sun for better maturation and skin color. The RPF (Reserva Personal de la Familia) wines were created with the aim of keeping limited quantities for the family’s persona ..read more

2020 Bodega Cerro del Toro Tannat ($25) Bodega Cerro del Toro is a Uruguayan wine project that was born in 2016 with the aim of producing high-quality wines in a privileged location on the Maldonado coast of Uruguay. The grapes for this Tannat were grow at the foot of Cerro del Toro (meaning ‘Bull Hill’), just over one mile from the coast in a microclimate with a deep influence of the sea breeze. This wine was produced from 100% Tannat grapes that were destemmed and cold soaked for 24 hours. Fermentation was done in stainless steel tanks with selected yeast for 10 days. Pump-overs were carrie ..read more

Tannat (tahn-naht) is a very old grape variety. It is believed to have originated in the Basque region of northwest Spain, as well as a centuries-old association with Madiran in southwest France. In the late 19th century Tannat was taken to Uruguay by Basque immigrants, where it flourished, and has since become the national red grape variety of the country In terms of worldwide production of Tannat, Uruguay is second only to France In Uruguay, Tannat is also known as Harriague (Ha-ree-AH-gay), surname of the first producer to plant it in the country Tannat is known to ..read more

2021 Bodega Garzón Tannat Reserva ($18) Located in the hills eleven miles from the Atlantic Ocean, Bodega Garzón is close to Punta del Este, La Barra and Jose Ignacio in the Maldonado region of southern Uruguay. In 2018, they were named the New World Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast! Their estate has more than 1,000 small vineyard blocks covering its hillside slopes. Bodega Garzón Reserva wines are made of grapes harvested and classified by hand that are handled with extra care so they can express the variety and identity character of their terroir. This 2021 Bodega Garzón Tannat (tahn-n ..read more

Image Courtesy of Uruguay Wine Continuing with the theme of wines of Uruguay, here’s a listing of their wine producing regions and the overall wine grape planting percentages of each sub-region (which are also knows as “Departments”): Northern Riverside (light brown regions): Artigas (0.1%), Salto (0.9%) and Paysandú (1.9%) Southern Riverside (light purple regions): Rio Negro (<0.01%), Soriano (0.1%) and Colonia (5.1%) Metropolitan (Yellow regions): San José (4.7%), Canelones (67%) and Montevideo (12%) Northern (Green regions): Rivera (0.5%) and Tacuarembó (0.1%) Central (Dark ..read more

The fruit for the Bousquet Estate Vineyards was originally planted in 1998 on virgin terrain in the Uco Valley’s Alto Gualtallery zone at an altitude of about 4,125 feet. With its high-altitude wines recognized for their freshness, vibrant aromatics and fruit-forward qualities, Gualtallary is acquiring a reputation as a source of Mendoza’s and indeed Argentina’s finest quality wines.   Named for co-owner Labid Al Ameri, Domaine Bousquet’s “Ameri” wines are only made in exceptional years and exclusively from selected grape clusters harvested from the estates’ best vineyard. 2020 Amer ..read more