URUGUAY'S GREAT ASCENT

Revisiting the country after two decades, Tim Atkin MW reflects on the remarkable progress made by Uruguay’s winemakers and profiles the regions, grapes and styles to look out for

- Tim Atkin MW

The parallels are seductive, yet ultimately misleading. There are certain similarities between Uruguay and Argentina, neighbouring countries that face each other across the broad Río de la Plata estuary – a love of football, tango, thick steaks and yerba mate infusions – but they are very different places.

It’s not just a question of size. Uruguay is the second-smallest country in South America after Suriname; Argentina is the second biggest after Brazil. It’s also about culture, politics, economics and, generalising slightly, national character. Both are countries of immigrants, largely from Europe, but if Argentina is more ‘Mediterranean’ in terms of its landscape and the temperament of its inhabitants, Uruguay is ‘Atlantic’: greener, wetter, more reflexive, even a little mournful. Sometimes, it feels like Brittany, Galicia or the Portuguese Minho.

Uruguay is a Latin American success story. The Economist has rightly called it ‘an island of calm in a tumultuous region’. It is prosperous, liberal, secular and democratic, with an independent press and judiciary, free healthcare, and education and corruption levels that are almost on a par with Switzerland’s. No wonder Jorge Drexler, Uruguay’s most famous singer, dubs it a ‘forgotten Eden’.

The Uruguayans are enthusiastic wine drinkers: per capita consumption is the highest in the world outside Europe, at 22 litres, even if most of what’s swallowed locally is pretty ordinary, often based on Black Muscat and sold as vino común (VC). As it is in Argentina, wine is part of everyday life – an alcoholic beverage drunk with a meal. The more ambitious stuff – labelled as vino de calidad preferente (VCP) – accounts for about 20% of production, but is growing in importance and quality.

New plantings