.
Today we have a preview of a session to be presented by Dr. Lucia Volk as part of SWE’s 43rdAnnual Conference, to be held on August 14th through 16th in Washington, DC. Lucia is one of SWE’s most experienced and beloved online presenters, as well as a full-time teaching professor! Read on as Lucia tells us about her upcoming session…
If you have been reading wine journals and blogs lately you may have noticed that everybody is talking about Uruguay. The second smallest Latin American country, sandwiched between the two giants Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay has made enormous strides in the past two decades, producing internationally competitive, fresh and delicious wines, both as blends and single variety wines.
Lighthouse near Punta del Este, Uruguay
Uruguay has caused a stir in the premium wine segment with its signature grape, Tannat, vinified in a dizzying array of styles. It is also stepping forward with crisp, aromatic whites—from Albariño to Viognier, Marsanne, Sauvignon Blanc, and more. The vast majority of wineries are family-owned, looking back on multiple generations of talent and tradition. If you are lucky and can visit the properties in person, you will find each winemaker ready to tell you their story. Each has their own passion and drive, and as a result, each Uruguayan wine has a unique personality.
Uruguay is a stunning country. Not only is the air clean and the water pure, 95% of its energy comes from renewable sources. The beef Uruguay produces and exports to the rest of the world is pasture-raised, hormone-free, and traceable by chip to the piece of land on which it grazed. Uruguay has some of the best BBQ in the world.
The national drink is mate tea, which requires that everyone carries around with them a mug with mate leaves and a thermos with hot water to keep refilling the mug. Uruguayans drink mate all day, ideally in good company. Some speculate that there is a link between the bitter tea leaves and the tannic wines Uruguayans imbibe.
.
Tannat is one of the most tannic grape varieties we know, which has some proclaim that Tannat is the healthiest wine you can drink!
There is no other wine that delivers more anti-oxidants per ounce, thanks to an incredibly thick skin and extra pips inside each grape. Tannat’s original home is in the Pyrenees and Southwest France, where French vignerons produced very tight, grippy, structured wines of bracing acidity. The bottles required extended aging before they could be enjoyed.
With new wine-making technologies—such as shorter maceration at cooler temperatures or fermentation without skins—modern Tannats have a softer feel and taste to them.
.
Not everyone approves of the innovations: Uruguayan winemaker Daniel Pisano recently said in an interview that Tannat has the strength and personality of a thoroughbred, and “If you don’t like the nerve of that kind of horse, buy yourself a pony.”
The Wines of Uruguay seminar will give you an excellent opportunity to see what kind of horse you like. We will taste single variety Tannat as well as Tannat blends. And we will go beyond Tannat to showcase some other wines you might want to pour at your next dinner. Lucia Volk, PhD and CWE, was able to travel to Uruguay and meet many of the winemakers whose wines we will be tasting. She reported about her trip in this blog post a year ago. You do not want to miss this first-ever SWE Conference seminar about Uruguay!
Lucia’s session—The Wines of Uruguay: Tannat and Beyond—will be presented on Wednesday, August 14 2019, as part of as part of the Society of Wine Educators’ 43rd Annual Conference, to be held in Washington DC.
Are you a conference speaker that would like to provide a preview of your session? Contact Jane A. Nickles at jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org