Camacho Watcho

I had never heard of Uruguayan wine before venturing down here, but I am now convinced of its place in the world of the wine. In South America, it is just Chile and Argentina that get the hype, but the wine I have had here so far has been delicious! Most of the varieties have been from a grape called Tannat. This grape, grown in only a few places around the world, make a wonderful, light-bodied red wine. There are many mixes with the Tannat grape that are also quite good and it has been our quest to try to them all!

Bouza Winery
Given our interest in the wines here, on Sunday we decided to see a Uruguayan winery, rather than just enjoying the fruits of its production. We headed out to Bouza Winery, which is located just on the northwestern outskirts of Montevideo in the beautiful countryside. Upon arriving, there were not many visitors, so we enjoyed a tour of the small winery with just one other family. The winery itself is very young, only in operation since 2003. It stands on the sight of an old farm, with the brick buildings restored to house the winery itself and the restaurant. Producing only 80,000 bottles of wine per year, it is clear that this winery prides itself on its small, but high quality production.

Car Museum
One unique aspect to this winery is a mini museum you can visit on the same grounds. The owner has a collection of antique cars and motorcycles, which is displayed in an open garage for visitors to view. These cars are mainly Model T Fords and BMW motorcycles, dating back to the 20’s and 30’s.

The Restaurant
While the tour and antique cars were enjoyable, truly the highlight of the trip was the tasting and lunch. The restaurant that is operated at the winery is housed in what was formerly a machine shed during the farm years. The building has been restored and is beautiful with vaulted ceilings, stained hardwood floors, a fireplace and an open air porch on the back. The mood was set with soft piano music played live from the corner of the dining area. The tasting was much different than the tastings I have experienced in Napa and Sonoma. We were seated at a table with white table cloths, dark wicker chargers with white place settings and delicate wine goblets. To begin, we tasted a flight of three wines - Chardonnay/Albarino blend, Merlot and Tannat. This was accompanied by a sampling of mini-crostinis with cheese, sausage and tuna and a platter of cheese, ham, proscuitto and bread. These were fantastic, with the Merlot as my favorite.

We ordered lunch to go with our second flight of wines. My lunch was shared with a friend and was a stacked Mediterrean salad to start and spinach ravioli in a light cream sauce as the entree. My flight of choice was again three wines - Tannat/Tempranillo blend, Tannat/Merlot blend, and a Tannat/Tempranillo/Merlot blend. Again, fantastic wines, but I particularly loved the Tannat/Tempranillo. As I mentioned before, these are young wines, therefore I had expected a bit of acidity. It is slightly detected in the Merlot, but overall they are very good and very smooth, and will just get better with a little aging. I’m looking forward to taking my two bottles that I purchased home with me and putting that theory to the test.

After lunch, we resigned to the outdoors to lounge in the sun before heading home, enjoying the last of our wine. A truly unique experience in a beautiful country. Who knows how many other small, wonderful wineries remain to be explored, but I certainly am up for the challenge to find out!

Posted on October 15th, 2007 by katiejocannon
Filed under: Entertainment, Food, Uruguay