Uruguay’s Tannat wine leads the market

Uruguay’s Tannat wine leads the market as it is the flagship grape variety of this Latin American country.

Uruguay’s Tannat wine is so special that it leads the global market in production. Nearly one-third of the world’s Tannat wine is produced in Uruguay, a red grape with a reputation for being robust and “challenging,” which has become a success that put the country on the world wine map.

In fact, Uruguay’s Tannat wine production ranks second only to France, the birthplace of this grape variety.

With a total of 5,848 cultivated hectares, 866 producers, and 164 wineries, Uruguay has found its identity as a wine-producing country, thanks to the exceptional conditions the territory offers for this variety.

The Tannat grape variety made its way into the country in the last quarter of the 19th century when some immigrants started cultivating it in the region. It was the Basque immigrant Pascual Harriague who gave it a significant boost.

Harriague arrived in Uruguay in 1840, and after various activities in livestock, he settled in the city of Salto. Around 1870, after several years of experimenting with different grape varieties, he found in Tannat grapes the conditions for making an excellent red wine.

Uruguay’s Tannat wine

Uruguay’s Tannat wine is known for its notes of red fruits and spices, as well as its high alcohol content, exceeding 15° due to the sugar concentration in the pulp.

Today, Uruguay boasts 1,572 hectares of Tannat, with over 5 million plants throughout the country, making it the world’s leading producer of this grape variety, with production volumes even surpassing its place of origin.

In the 2022 harvest, 29,486,210 kilograms of Tannat were processed, equivalent to 22,114,658 liters of wine.

Uruguay’s Tannat grape is exported to 47 markets and is considered unique in the world due to the combination of its specific soil characteristics, climate, and viticulture practices.

This results in Tannat wine having distinct characteristics compared to other regions producing this variety.

Uruguay’s Tannat wine exports are overshadowed by those of beef, milk, and soybeans, but they are still a significant figure: 4.8 million bottles of wine, mainly red, with a value of $18.5 million in 2022, according to data from the National Institute of Viticulture (Inavi).

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