Uruguay’s wine producers produce exceptional wines, wine writer Amanda Barnes says. And they are looking for U.S. distributors. Listen to my interview here, and read the notes below.
Uruguay is a nation of small family vineyards, more that 600 in all that produces some exceptional wines, Amanda Barnes, author of South American Wine Guide, told me. It’s also a nation that values democracy in a way that is unique in South America and deserves the support of Americans. And its small producers are looking for distributors in the U.S.
She’s in Washington, New York and Dallas the week of Nov 8 to speak at tastings of wines from Uruguay.
The nation has two principal wine regions. Tannat, one of the most tannic of wines, is the champion wine grape of Uruguay. Because Uruguayan producers have been producing wine for so long, they’ve learned how to “tame it.” The cool thing about Tannats is that some wine produced from the grape really should be aged. But there’s also some that can be enjoyed by consumers within a year.
There are also many other varietals, including some familiar to fans of California wines.
Amanda Barnes is originally from the United Kingdom but now lives in Buenos Aires. The book, which is an in-depth guide to not only wines from Argentina and Chile, which get written about all the time, but also lesser-known regions in other countries, is the result of 10 years of living in South America plus two years of actually writing the book. She says she’s seen enormous changes in South American wines in the last 10 years
Barnes’s wine education started at the family dinner table. Her interest in travel was also nurtured at home in the UK. With an American mother, they traveled to the U.S. each year to visit their American family and vacationed all over Europe.
In 2009, she made three crucial decisions. First, after working for newspapers from age 15, she decided she wanted to focus on food and travel writing. Second, she said, she didn’t think one could seriously write about food without understanding wine. Third, she decided to take a one-year sabbatical, go to South America to freelance and learn about wine. “Wine has everything,” she says. “Culture, gastronomy, geography. I’ve never had to go beyond it.”