Uruguay - wine tourism

Galavanting gadabout Geoffrey Dean begins his wine tour of South America with a fruitful trip to Uruguay, where he finds the Tannats are no longer tannic.

With wine tourism’s inexorable growth around the world showing no sign of abating, adventurous wine tourists on the lookout for fresh destinations should focus on Uruguay. Something of an undiscovered gem, even though wine has been made there since the nineteenth century, the ‘kid-brother’ of Argentina, with whom it retains very close links, is punching well above its weight. Wine tourism in Uruguay looks to have a bright future.

The Palacio Salvo in Montevideo

Its relatively small size, certainly by Latin American standards, makes it very easy to get around. Around two-thirds of the surface area of the United Kingdom, it has only 3.4m people and more than three times as many cattle. All grass-fed, these provide some of the best beef in the world. This is an ideal accompaniment for some of Uruguay’s hearty reds, although its reputation of yesteryear for producing tannic Tannats has been supplanted by a desire to make wine that appeals more to the global palate.

While some traditionally styled Tannat remains in production, the vast majority of wine made from this and other black grapes has soft, approachable tannins with forward New World fruit. Above all, this is a country whose wines are now characterised by a freshness that makes them very drinkable.

Narbona Wine Lodge

“We are the New Zealand of South America,” declares Daniel Pisano, who runs the highly regarded Pisano winery with his two brothers thirty kilometres northeast of Montevideo. “We have high natural acidity thanks to the wide diurnal range in Uruguay. Cool nights allow us to retain acidity, meaning that we have to make minimal acid additions. There is a good balance between acid, alcohol, tannin and fruit.”

Uruguay would appear to have all the right ingredients to follow New Zealand’s success as a wine tourism destination of note. It has some wonderful places to stay for wine tourists, and its cellar doors are being flung open to welcome them.

“We say to anyone who loves wine, ‘Please come, we promise you will not be disappointed,” says Fabiana Bracco, owner of Bracco Bosca winery near Montevideo, and an ambassador for Uruguayan wine.

To get to Uruguay from the UK, there are no direct flights, but an agreeable way of entering the country is by ferry from Buenos Aires, whether to Colonia in the west or Montevideo further east. From Colonia, it is an hour by road to the charming town of Carmelo, a natural starting-off point for a wine tour of Uruguay.

Just outside Carmelo is the delightful Narbona Wine Lodge. The only Relais & Chateaux hotel in Uruguay, it has seven ginormous bedrooms, with two in the old homestead and the remainder attached to the bodega. Traditional old furniture gives it an estancia-like feel, and with its vineyard views, it is a pleasurably tranquil place to stay. The food is superb, with its celebrated pasta and homemade dulce de leche.

Carmelo Resort & Spa

Narbona’s Tannat vines, first planted in the 1870s, provide quality fruit that allows talented winemaker, Valeria Chiola, to craft three differing styles from the variety. If Puerto Carmelo 2016, a 12.5% offering with soft tannins and attractive red fruit, is a highly drinkable everyday quaffer, then Tannat Roble 2014 is a premium wine for consumption with or without food.

That sees 30% new French oak, while the iconic Luz de Luna 2014 comfortably copes with 19 months in 100% new French oak. Complex and concentrated, with powerful but beautifully integrated tannins, this is a brilliant advert for top-end Uruguayan Tannat.

Chiola, with whom Michel Rolland worked as a consultant for Narbona from 2011-14, says the Frenchman’s influence was profound. “He helped us most in the vineyards, where we were looking for better balance, especially with the tannins,” Chiola told db. “Our largely calcareous soils have a high pH, which leads to a low pH in our wines and high acidity.”

A few miles down the road from Narbona is the Carmelo Resort & Spa, one of just 16 Hyatt hotels globally to qualify for the franchise’s special Unbound Collection. The only one in South America, its eucalyptus forest location with 24 villas and suites overlooking the River Plate is stunning.

Throw in outstanding cuisine, and an extensive wine list that includes Uruguay’s leading labels, and you have a world-class hotel in prime wine country. Along with Narbona, there are two other notable bodegas locally – Irurtia, which dates back to 1913, and the oldest winery in Uruguay, Los Cerros de San Juan (founded in 1854). Irurtia, a large-scale producer of over a million bottles a year, makes appealing Viognier.

From Carmelo, it’s a scenic three-hour drive through rolling hills to Montevideo, where two splendid hotels offer wine tourists different options. The monumental five-star Sofitel, a national landmark on the waterfront in upmarket Carrasco, is noted for its opulent French architecture. Built over eight years between 1913-21, it was closed in the late 1990s after falling into disrepair, but re-opened six years ago after a complete renovation.

Bodegas Garzón

By contrast, the boutique Alma Historica hotel, in the old part of the city, was a former mansion overlooking Plaza Zabata that has been beautifully converted. Its location 400 metres from the ferry terminal makes it an ideal hotel for those leaving, or arriving in, Montevideo by boat. Nearby, in the Punta Carretas suburb, is must-visit restaurant Baco.

From Montevideo, many excellent wineries can be reached on a day trip, including a quintet that should not be missed: Pisano, Bouza, Bracco Bosca, Stagnari and Juanico. Garzón, meanwhile, is three hours drive east of the capital, and ideally requires an overnight stay at Maldonaldo. Pisano offers tasting by appointment, but once you are there, the welcome from Daniel and his brothers could not be warmer.

Half of their 30,000 cases per year are exported to as many 48 markets, with the USA and UK numbers one and two. Founded by the brothers’ grandfather in 1916, this is a prestige winery with a host of terrific wines, including the only Torrontés in Uruguay, and two other rare varieties there – Sangiovese and Petit Verdot. Three styles of excellent Tannat are made: sparkling, fortified and dry.

Bracco Bosca, while much smaller, is no less special, for visitors can’t fail to be infected with the irrepressible enthusiasm and bonhomie of owner Fabiana Bracco. Varieties like Ugni Blanc, Moscatel, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah are found there along with Tannat, while her Cabernet Franc is, in my opinion, the best in Uruguay. Silky tannins, gorgeous red fruit and fine structure from 100% new but lightly toasted French oak are its hallmarks.

While Antigua Bodega Stagnari is another boutique producer whose Tannat is excellent, Bouza and Juanico each attract large numbers of visitors. Both are beautiful estates that are immaculately maintained, producing impressive ranges of wines. Bouza makes some very good Albariño and Riesling, along with some Pinot Noir, Merlot and Tempranillo. Its super-premium Tannat is made in two styles: unoaked, and with 80% new oak.

Bouza’s top-class restaurant and remarkable collection of old vintage cars are another reason why it attracts so many visitors. It is a standard-bearer for Uruguayan wine tourism, and a fitting symbol of the quality of the country’s wine industry.

Liquid treasures from one of Austria's greatest cellars

Wine writer Geoffrey Dean has the enviable job of tasting a selection of liquid treasures from one of Austria’s greatest (and largest) cellars at Hotel Jagdhof in the Stubai Valley, including a glorious glass of Lynch-Bages 1947.

Nestled in the quaint Alpine village of Neustift in Austria, Hotel Jagdhof’s cellar boasts 25,000 bottles of wine

Tucked away in the Stubai Valley, south of Innsbruck, the quaint Alpine village of Neustift is hardly a location where you would expect to stumble across one of Austria’s greatest wine cellars. But on venturing into Hotel Jagdhof you will find one of the most extensive family-owned collections of fine wines in central Europe. And some very old wines at that too. The good news is that twice a year, in November and January, the hotel lays on a long weekend of dinners for interested connoisseurs to drink some of these great wines.

Your correspondent was fortunate enough to attend one such dinner in late January at the 5-star hotel, when 20 vintages of Château Lynch-Bages between 1945 and 2000 were unfurled over dinner. More on how the older wines tasted later, but first a little more on what’s in this remarkable cellar, how it came to be, and who is responsible for looking after it.

The cellar is looked after by the hotel’s head sommelier, Albin Mayr

Armin Pfurtscheller, owner of Hotel Jagdhof, started the cellar in 1990, using his family’s connections to buy in a string of classed growths from the Medoc. All of the five first growths are represented, with some ancient bottles of Mouton-Rothschild going back as far as 1937. Right bank icons like Cheval Blanc, Petrus and Lafleur are all to be found, as are Le Montrachet, La Tâche, Richebourg and Grands Echezeaux from DRC.

Super Tuscans are also very much in evidence, with Sassicaia, Ornellaia and Tignanello in abundance, while Gaja heads an impressive selection from Piemonte. Vega Sicilia (with fourteen different vintages of Unico to choose from) flies the flag for Spain, while select vintages of Screaming Eagle and Penfolds Grange provide some champion New World representation. I could go on…

Pfurtscheller recruited one of Austria’s leading sommeliers, Albin Mayr, to oversee the cellar’s development from 1994 to 2005. After a lengthy spell in Italy, Mayr was lured back to the Jagdhof in 2017 and given complete responsibility for the cellar. This is a considerable role, as Jagdhof’s restaurant sells a staggering 25,000 bottles of wine every year.

“I buy in that same number each year, and the bottle population in the cellar varies between 18-25,000 at any one point,” Mayr told db. To accommodate such a large number of wines, the hotel built a second cellar in 2003, the first having been constructed in 1990.

Mayer is assisted by Pfurtscheller’s son, Alban, whose passion for wine was enhanced by a three month stint working at Château Figeac a few years ago. Every bottle of the St-Emilion estate’s wines between 1987 and 2015 are in the cellar, along with the 1945, 1950 and 1959 vintages.

But what of the Lynch-Bages? There were 20 vintages from the Pauillac fifth growth on pour, spreading over half a century from 1945 to 1995, and broken down into five flights. The first fight all came from the 1940s: 1945, 1947, 1948 and 1949. The uneven-numbered years formed a triumvirate of great post-war vintages, with the 1949’s fruit the best preserved of all.

Among the stars of a recent Lynch-Bages vertical tasting was the 1947 vintage

Starting with the 1945, this looked the oldest, as it was much lighter coloured. Severe May frost that year led to a very low yield off vines that were mature after negligible replanting during the Second World War. The small crop helped to enhance the concentration of fruit that possessed exceptional ripeness thanks to a very hot, dry summer.

Still in remarkable condition, the 1945 we tasted had glorious fruit with great concentration and notable intensity of flavour. Its length was a clear feature, and its fresh acidity and superbly integrated tannins held it all together. A slight cloudiness was not an issue.

The 1947 had no deposits like the ’45, and was as clean as a whistle, with pronounced intensity of flavour and a very long finish. Voluptuous fruit, vibrant acidity and gloriously integrated tannins made this a wine to be cherished.

The 1948’s tannins were dry and quite clingy, but the fruit was still very much apparent, and its length impressed. Being stuck between two great years in 1947 and 1949, it was largely ignored by the trade but was still a good vintage.

Of the three memorable years from that decade, the 1949 was the winner by a short head. Complex, with excellent concentration and an extremely long finish, it was also an elegant, refined wine with stunning fruit. Its still overt but fine tannins were superbly meshed.

Finally, what of the five wines from the 1950s we were treated to? These were 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1959. The last was the pick of the quintet, with the 1953 not far behind but suffering from drying tannins. It was still a very impressive wine with wonderful concentration and a long finish.

The 1959, from what was proclaimed by many pundits at the time as ‘the vintage of the century,’ lived up to its billing. Pinot Noir-like in its colour, it had such freshness and intensity with pronounced acidity and beautifully integrated tannins. It was also fabulously long.

The 1950 and 1952 showed much better than might have been expected of two largely unheralded vintages, while the 1955, an under-rated year at the time, had lots of character with fine tannins and a long finish.

Hotel Jagdhof’s next vertical tastings in October will include Cheval Blanc, Figeac and Guado al Tasso, Matarocchio. For details visit: www.hotel-jagdhof.at

How Catena Zapata competes with the greatest grand cru sites

Whether Adrianna Vineyard, and other neighbouring sites under ownership of Catena Zapata, are labelled ‘grand cru’ or ‘gran parcela’ the end result is pretty much the same – they produce world class wines that can rub shoulders with the very best that Burgundy and Bordeaux can offer. Geoffrey Dean has an audience with the Argentine estate, tastes all the new releases, and thinks that Laura Catena could be right – these are very much grand cru wines.

Read the full article - January 2019

Geoffrey Dean’s Top 10 wines: New World won the day in 2018

In picking his Top 10 wines of 2018, Geoffrey Dean concluded that the New World was where his favourite wines came from – mainly South Africa and Australia, two countries he visited during the year; Geoffrey has also slipped in a crafty Bordeaux sticky as well as a cracking old vine Malbec from Chile.

Top 10 wines … in alphabetical order

Ten wines that made a big impression are how I’d like to describe my selections below, difficult as it was to keep it to that number, for there were so many more. It’s a New World weighting this time round, with Australia and South Africa leading the way. The former’s cricket team are getting a bit of a pasting, but at least their wines are in fine form. Please note there’s no batting order – it’s an alphabetical line-up.

Chateau Biac, Secret de Chateau Biac 2012, Cadillac.

Sumptuous sweet wine from 9-hectare estate with spectacular views over the River Garonne south of Bordeaux. Botrytised Semillon fruit (with a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc) offers seductively lengthy notes of dried apricots and white peaches.

De Martino, Limavida Old Vine Malbec 2013, Maule.

A special Chilean wine, made from vines planted in 1945, that includes a dollop of Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere. Such an elegant, gently-extracted wine (13.5% abv), but with real freshness from its low pH. £33.50 at Berry Bros, and worth every penny.

Picardy, Tete de Cuvee Pinot Noir 2013, Pemberton.

Brilliant advert for West Australian Pinot from cool climate Pemberton, south-east of Margaret River. Bill Pannell, and son Daniel, have crafted a Burgundian-style beauty which has great poise, balance and length.

Pikes, The Merle Riesling 2014, Clare Valley.

Benchmark Aussie Riesling that is drinking well now, but will age for another decade. Neil and Andrew Pike have combined to unfurl a ripper of a wine with pristine lime notes and a very long finish. With a pH of 2.97, it possesses notably vibrant acidity. The label, named after the brothers’ mother, is only produced in the best years. 

Podere Forte, Petrucci 2014, Orsia.

A classic Sangiovese from biodynamically-farmed vines in southern Tuscany. Savoury red cherry fruit and soft, well-crafted tannins make this a delight to drink even at a relatively youthful age.

Saronsberg, Full Circle 2015, Tulbagh.

Top South African winemaker, Dewaldt Heyns, has fashioned a stunner of a Rhône-style blend (82% Shiraz, 9% Grenache, 7% Mourvedre, 2% Viognier). Multi-layered, with finesse, silky tannins and a very long finish. Unsurprisingly, it got a Gold Medal from my fellow IWC judges.

Scali, Syrah 2015, Paarl.

Wille de Waal, helped by wife Tania, makes exquisite Syrah from organically-farmed vines in the Voor Paardeberg ward, just south of Swartland. Nearer in style to the Old World, this is one of South Africa’s best expressions of the varietal. Elegant, medium-bodied and with glorious red fruit.

Schalk Burger & Sons, No.6 2006, Wellington.

One of the most affable South Africa rugby players you will meet, Schalk Burger Sr named this outstanding Rhône-style blend after the shirt number invariably worn by his Springbok son Schalk. Six varietals, of course, go into this wine – Syrah (majority), Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault, Pinotage and Viognier.

Voyager Estate, Tom Price Chardonnay 2014, Margaret River.

A superb Chardonnay, made by Steve James, that ticks all the boxes and more. Intensity of flavour, exceptional length, a perfectly-judged new oak regime and immaculate balance combine to make this a world-class example of its kind. 

Whistler Wines, Get In My Belly Grenache 2015, Barossa Valley.

This boutique winery on the Seppeltsfield Road is going places, especially after Josh Pfeiffer, then assistant winemaker at Henschke, was lured back to the family concern by viticulturalist father Martin. Josh favours wacky labels, but make no mistake, his wines are superb – beautifully balanced with great fruit. 

Geoffrey Dean on Argentina’s Extremes Barullo Session

The latest focussed wine tasting from Wines of Argentina in its popular Barullo Sessions format was sub-titled The Extremes. In it wine ambassador Phil Crozier introduced a small selection of wines that he feels breaks new ground by being born of the challenges that the extremes of Argentinian climate and terroir pose to the winemaker. Geoffrey Dean dusted down his poncho, packed his tasting glass and went along for the ride.

Read the full article - October 2018