The UnCorker

Bouza “Parcela Unica” Tannat A8 – 2007

March 14, 2009 | In WINE REVIEWS | No Comments

Uruguay, especially with the tannat based wines for which it is most well known, is evolving as a world class originator of powerhouse reds.  And to our knowledge the source for the most reliably well-crafted of Uruguayan tannat is Bodega Bouza.   Bouza bills themselves as the only ’boutique’ winery in the country.  We’re not sure what that means exactly – but if it means controlled production, incredible attention to detail, and spare-no-expense winemaking then this claim may very well be true.    Quality is a fetish at Bouza – evident in everything they do – from their bespoke monogrammed French Oak barriques to the drip irrigation system installed in their restaurant’s vegetable garden.  The Bouza family made their fortune in the frozen food business, and this winery (purchased in 2001 and completely revamped since)  must be their attempt to purge their souls of all those TV dinners they’ve put into the world.

A lot of Uruguay wineries still use cement fermentation tanks, and Bouza – which also has modern stainless steel and oak fermentation tanks, is no exception.  But the way they have modified their cement tanks reveals a lot about this place – the tanks, which date back long before the family purchased this winery,  have been painstakenly sub-divided, so as to vinify by smaller ‘lot.’   This enables them to individually taste and track each lot of grapes throughout the winemaking process – blending some for their regular tannat, and bottling the best of the lots individually as “Parcela Unica.” The tanks’ beautiful epoxy linings and gleaming steel hardware make you quickly realize that this place may have history – but in Bouza’s case, it’s been retrofitted and tricked out with the latest and greatest technology.  None of this might surprise in California, but this is Uruguay – a laid-back and simple land dominated by agriculture whose only touch of pretension is the visiting hordes of city-slicker Argentinians who flood into the nearby Punta del Este beach resorts.

The A8 lot is from their Las Violetas vineyard, where each berry was hand-sorted and  selected after destemming.   Only 3200 bottles were made.  The wine is their most aged offering, with 18 months on first-use French oak.   Tannat is supposedly to Uruguay as malbec is to Argentina, but this is one of the only 100% tannat wines from Uruguay that can stand up to the very top Argentinian malbecs.  This wine is age-worthy, but enjoyable right now with an extracted boquet of intensely wild briary fruit, dark and full and spicy on the mid-palatte, and a lingering finish with unusually balanced and complete tannins for tannat (the grape’s name means “tannin” after all, in French.)   At around $45, this wine represents value when compared to it’s Argentinian (or certainly European) peers.  For around twice this price, you can buy from the winemakers favorite barrells, which are designated on the label on those particular releases, but we haven’t tried this.  It feels like a gimmick, but may be something a collector would be interested in.  An UnCorker Tip: 2009 is looking to be a fantastic vintage in Uruguay, with a long and dry growing season – in fact, Bouza used irrigation for the first time ever this year… so watch out for these releases a couple of years down the road.