Description
Bouza Winery was built in 1942, early in that country’s wine history, and has been a family run business for its entire existence. Tannat is a red wine grape, historically grown in Southwest France in Madiran and nearby appellations and is now one of the most prominent varieties in Uruguay, where it is considered the national grape. Tannat wines produced in Uruguay demonstrate a broad range of style—much more so than in Southwest France—and illustrate, as well, the dynamism of Uruguay’s small but fascinating wine industry. This wine is big with intense flavor, slightly spicy, well-structured with balanced acidity and ripe but firm tannins; it demonstrates the enormous potential that exists for Tannat's future in Uruguay. Introduced to Uruguay by Basque immigrants in the 19th century, Tannat is, like Malbec in Argentina, another native French variety enjoying a uniquely South American journey.
100% Tannat, the grapes were sourced from three maritime influenced sites—Melilla, a fairly cool climate site that surrounds the winery, Las Violetas, a warmer, clay driven site about 15 miles north of the winery; and Pan de Azucar, one of the country’s premier coastal vineyards and a site that sits below the world-renowned rock formation of the same name, located about an hour east of Montevideo. Vineyard rows in Melilla are uniquely topped with two feet of pink granite from a local quarry to collect and radiate additional heat for their grapes. No irrigation—all the vines are dry farmed for maximum depth of flavor in the finished wine. This is a textbook Uruguayan Tannat with tremendous purity and sense of place, with buckets of black brambly fruit, licorice and cocoa, it is tannic yet fresh, and ideal with hearty meat dishes.
