Sitting around the table with the Pisano family is one of my favourite wine experiences. I haven’t been to Progreso for a while, but this great-value Tannat is the next best thing. Combining four different iterations of the country’s signature grape, it’s fresh, perfumed and well-structured, with understated oak, bramble and black cherry flavours, a hint of graphite and textured tannins.
Country: Uruguay
On Paragons And Icons
by Tim Atkin
My late friend Michael Cox, who ran Wines of Chile’s UK office for more than a decade, had a great line about so-called “icon wines”. “Is that one word or...
2022 Familia Deicas Atlántico Sur Albariño, Uruguay
( £17.99, 13%, Vinos Latinos )Santi Deicas uses grapes from Canelones and coastal Maldonado to make this pan-Uruguayan expression of a grape that’s making waves in South America right now. Broad and textured with flavours of tangerine, white peach and lemongrass and a stony, mouthwatering finish. Time in stainless steel on fermentation lees adds appealing mid-palate texture.
2019 Pisano Progreso Tannat Reserve, Progreso
( £9.95, 14%, The Wine Society )The Pisanos are among the most famous wine families in Uruguay, as well known for their asados (barbecues) as their Tannats. This is a really good, well-priced introduction to the joys of the country’s signature grape, relying on fruit rather than oak for its impact. Focused and aromatic, it has classic Atlantic freshness, plum and black cherry fruit and a racy, stony finish. The tannins are way less forbidding than on some French examples of the variety from Madiran.
2019 Viña Progreso Underground Collection Barrel-Less Tannat, Progreso, Canelones
( £26.75, 13.5% )“A wine of the vintage”, according to Gabriel Pisano, but this is no Beaujolais Nouveau. In fact, this brilliant, unwooded Tannat from one of Uruguay’s best young winemakers, sourced from 30-year-old vines in the Progreso sub-region, doesn’t have to be drunk in a hurry at all. Youthful, juicy and fresh, with plum and black cherry fruit, a stony undertone and sappy, savoury tannins. Just the thing to drink while you’re reading my 2020 Uruguay Report.