Montevideo and Uruguay's Wines

 Our tour in Montevideo on Tuesday took us into one of the wine regions of Uruguay. Agriculture is the third largest industry in the country, after cattle production and tourism. Along with being the breadbasket and the rice paddy for much of southern Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay is in the Southern Hemisphere Wine Belt, in company with New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and Chile.

We drove out to the Juanico winery, one of the largest and most established in the country. They have vineyards in the central part of the country, where we were visiting, as well as toward the Atlantic coast. On the way, our tour guide asked if anyone knew the origin of Montevideo's name. Of course no one did, so she told us: The land in and around the city is very flat, with the exception of one hill of 500 feet in height. Apparently when the Spanish arrived to look it over, someone yelled 'I see a hill!' And that's how it got the name: Monte = hill, Video = I see. This may or may not be true, but it's a great story.

The winery's land was originally owned by Jesuit monks from Europe who planted vineyards to produce wine for celebrating Mass as well as other agricultural products to support the Indians who had converted to Christianity. In the 1760s, the Spanish government exiled the Jesuits and began transferring their property, and in 1830 the land was transferred to Don Francisco Juanico. There was a period in the 20th century when it was owned by smaller family groups who came from the eastern part of Uruguay, and in 1945, after WW II, as part of the payment of debt owed by France for the agricultural products Uruguay sent during the war, a plot of vineyard was given the authorization to plant the grape varietal used to make Cognac, and to make the Cognac in the French method. It is known as Cognac de Juanico. This authorization lasted for 60 years, until 2005, and although none can be made now, Juanico still has some of the Cognac in both bottles and barrels. In 1979 the Deicas family took over 307 hectares of vineyards including the Cognac plot, and now they concentrate on producing quality wine for export.

                                   

Uruguay is in a drought at the moment, having had very little rain in the past few months, but the vine roots have reached deep enough that they haven't needed to use their irrigation systems yet. The resulting grapes are small but very sweet. We know that because we were allowed to try some 'very, very young wine' right off the stems.  

We were given historical information about the winery, the terroir and the types of grapes they produce during our tour into the vineyard, and then headed to the dining room for our tasting. The winery is a popular place for wedding receptions and other functions, and I imagine that a dinner here would be quite spectacular.

The small appetizer plate to go along with
our wines

The five wines on our tasting menu.

We had a great time during the tasting and were very impressed with all of the wines. The two varietals that are most associated with Uruguay are Albarino, a white wine, and Tannat, which is red. Both came from Europe initially; Albarino is now connected with Spain, and Tannat is barely grown in France, only used in small quantities for blending. But the Deicas family has found a way to make Tannat palatable on its own and has developed a signature wine from Uruguay. LCBO, are you listening???

We were also shown the original wine cellar that the Jesuits built. The winery uses it to age its best wines in their barrels.

On the ride back to the ship, I noticed this sculpture on the roadside near the winery. There is quite a lot of grape production in this western part of Uruguay, as well as in the east closer to the Atlantic Ocean, where we will be going tomorrow.

To cap off the day, we had dinner at 'Hot Rocks' out on the Pool Deck. This is where you are provided with a 400 degree F stone and your raw food, to cook it yourself. Now you can't blame somebody else if your steak is overdone! Being Valentine's Day, the butler crew came around delivering roses to all of the ladies.

Caesar salad

Just to keep everyone clean, we were all given
a classy bib to wear

Steaks on the 'grill' and fries. The sides come cooked,
but I put my vegetables, and even my fries, on
the rock to heat them up as they cooled. That
worked out well, too.

Cheesecake for dessert

We sailed out of Montevideo at 11 p.m., heading for Punta del Este, on the north side of the Rio de la Plata close to the ocean, a trip of about 250 km.