
About The Tannat Grape
Secret Family Recipe
An Unlikely Alliance
The wine itself is named for the Greek Goddess who used to head up the department of Peace and Tranquilty. Young Alcyone (for surely she was young and pleasant to gaze upon, it's MYTHOLOGY, after all) would be pleased to see her namesake wine invokes feelings of P&T in its imbibers.
Cheers!
I first tasted this wine from Uruguay two years ago, and I can still call to mind its nuanced flavors. Pair it with the right chocolate, and the right company, and it is a wine you'll long remember, a wine of romance, to be sure!
Tannat is a grape most often found in Southwestern France, where it produces a red wine known for its dark color (almost black) and its incredible tannins. It's no surprise that producers from this region turned quickly to the tannin-softening technique known as micro oxygenation to make their wines more palatable to the world market.
But you put Uruguaian Tannat grapes into the hands of winemaker Pablo Falabrino, armed his Great Grandmother's secret recipe (all we know is the wine uses Brandy to stop fermentation, and that it is infused with native roots and herbs, the rest is as sub-rosa as the Colonel's "Secret herbs and spices") the grape produces this amazing sweet wine whose popularity is exploding. I have very few bottles I can get my hands on!
Uruguay wineries have long struggled in the shadow of their more successful neighbors - especially Chile. But they've enjoyed a recent explosion of exports (a four-fold increase between '05 and '07) as a direct result of wines like this one from small, boutique producers that eschew the country's proclivity for mass-produced wines. Uruguay's winemaking traditions grew from immigrants of Spain, the Basque Country, and Italy. With this wine, Falabrino combines winemaking techniques from Sicily with those of Piedmont, crafting in his native Uruguay a cross-cultural product that would be most unlikely in his native Italy.
Dave the Wine Merchant
dve@sidewayswineclub.com
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