In order to understand Tannat, earlier this year we headed to Uruguay to explore the Canelones wine region, meeting with wineries representing both the past and the future of Uruguayan wine. While Uruguay produces many varietals and styles of wine, they have begun making headlines lately for Tannat, their flagship varietal.
It was interesting to walk through the vineyards, speak with winemakers and agronomists, and to see both wineries that have existed for over 100 years and new wineries employing the most up-to-date winemaking philosophies and techniques. The result is that Tannat, traditionally a varietal known for being a bit austere and tannic, now can range from a wine with soft tannins and approachable dark fruits to highly concentrated fruit balanced with oak, with many interesting wines in between for consumers to discover (even one winery producing Tannat that tastes like bubblegum due to partial carbonic maceration. Not all experiments are successful!)
There are a very small handful of wineries really pushing the wine quality to the next level, and Bouza Bodega Boutique is among the very best of the best.
Bouza Bodega Boutique is only growing their own grapes, and subdividing their land into small parcels, each season analyzing each parcel to produce single varietal wines from the best of their best. They pay close attention to every detail of the process, buy all new oak every 3 years, have more demand for their wines than they’re able to meet, and are focused on creating wines to age.
