Carmelo Wine Country

Tannat arrived in Uruguay from southwest France in the nineteenth century and found conditions that suited it better than home, producing a deeply coloured, tannic red that has become the national grape. Around Carmelo, on the Uruguay river near the Argentine border, a cluster of small family wineries makes it alongside albariño and other varieties, and the scale is the appeal: most are family operations where the person pouring is the winemaker, and tastings happen at a table rather than a counter. Several have rooms and restaurants. The town itself is quiet, with a swing bridge, a riverside beach and the sense of a place that has not yet been discovered by the volume of visitors that Colonia gets.

What you actually see

• Family winery tastings - small producers pouring tannat and albariño by appointment.
• The harvest - picking and crush in February and March.
• Carmelo town - the swing bridge, riverside beach and quiet streets.
• Colonia del Sacramento - the colonial town an hour southeast.

When to go

October to April for warm weather, with harvest in February and March the most interesting time to visit a working winery. Winter is quiet and several small producers close to visitors.

Honest expectations

Almost all wineries require advance booking and do not take walk-ins, which regularly catches people out. Tasting means driving between properties on rural roads, so a driver is the sensible arrangement. Tannat is genuinely tannic and unfashionably heavy for some palates; taste before buying a case.

Nearby

Colonia del Sacramento is an hour southeast; Buenos Aires is a ferry ride across the river.