Wines from Uruguay – Wines with Soul

Uruguay: Small Country, Serious Wine

Uruguay may be the second-smallest country in South America, but its wine landscape is remarkably diverse. Shaped by the Atlantic, the coastal vineyards are humid and lush, with rolling green hills and limestone- and clay-rich soils. Travel north and the climate becomes drier, the terrain rockier, and the wines subtly different in character. For such a compact country, Uruguay offers an impressive range of styles and grape expressions.

Wine has been part of Uruguay’s story for over 250 years, but its modern identity took shape in the late 19th century, when French-Basque immigrant Don Pascual Harriague introduced Tannat vines from France. Few grapes have ever found such a natural home.

Tannat thrives in Uruguay’s clay-loam soils and temperate maritime climate, producing wines of depth, freshness, and balance. Today, it stands proudly as the country’s signature variety and a benchmark for quality.

Stylistically, Uruguayan wines sit closer to the Old World than many of their South American counterparts. The climate — often compared to Bordeaux — is humid, seasonal, and influenced by the sea, with vineyards at low altitude and limestone soils rich in calcium. The result is wines with structure, elegance, and a strong sense of place.

Uruguay’s wineries are almost exclusively small, family-owned estates. Hands-on and deeply personal, winemaking here remains largely artisanal, guided by tradition, intuition, and generations of experience. Each bottle reflects not just the terroir, but the personality and passion of the people behind it.

These are wines with soul — wines that tell a story of land, climate, and family.

Often overlooked, Uruguayan wines offer outstanding value for money. Their quality regularly rivals far more famous regions, and while Tannat is a natural partner for beef, these wines are far more versatile than that reputation suggests.

They are expressive, complex, and quietly confident — well worth discovering.