Canelones Wine Country

Most Uruguayan wine comes from Canelones, the department immediately north of Montevideo, and most of it is Tannat, a variety brought from southwest France by Basque settlers in the 1870s that found the clay soils and humid Atlantic climate here more agreeable than at home. The bodegas are largely family businesses several generations deep, many of them small, and they take visitors for tours and tastings by arrangement. Uruguay drinks most of what it makes, so the wines were little exported until recently and the region has kept a domestic rather than a showpiece character.

What to look for

• Tannat - the Basque variety that became the country's signature grape.
• The family bodegas - small multi-generation wineries taking visitors.
• The Basque and Italian heritage - the immigrant families who planted the region.
• The harvest - picking and crushing from late February into April.

When to go

February to April covers harvest and is the liveliest. Bodegas take visitors year round but almost always by prior arrangement. Weekends need booking.

What to expect

Almost nothing accepts walk-ins; visits must be booked. The region is workaday farmland rather than scenic. A driver is needed as the bodegas are scattered.

Nearby

Montevideo is south, and the Church of Atlantida is east.