The winery, wine institute and Juanico

We have a lot to post; here goes:

Javier and Carlos met us at our hotel yesterday morning and we took off for the Canelones region (Uruguay´s premier wine region) to see an abandoned winery currently for sale that Steve found on the internet. Javier is the local fellow representing the owner, John, in New York. He drove us straight to it and called the next door neighbor who worked for ten years at the winery when it was in production nearly 35 years ago! We can´t remember his name, but he was extremely passionate about the winery and explained in great detail what they used to do, how everything worked, how many people worked there, how much and what type of wine was produced and where and to whom it was sold. He was quite a talker and it took both Javier and Carlos to keep up with him translating for us. We took many pictures and Steve again became very excited as it was a large production facility and the cement tanks in the basement of the building are still in very good condition. We liked the ´neighborhood´ by the winery much more than the one by the vineyard, but to be clear, it was still in an extremely rural and rustic area. We learned that the name of the winery was Santa Teresa which was very well known across the country.

It also happened to be right down the road from the Uruguay Wine and Viticulture Institute, so we went there next and again Carlos and Javier translated for us as the professors spoke no English. Steve learned about their programs and how they´ve been working to improve the vineyard and winemaking practices in Uruguay. They were very welcoming and would be willing to help us if we started making wine here. Coincidentally, one of the professors was the son of the old man who lived next door to the winery and had shared so many stories with us.

As I mentioned, we were in a very rural area again yesterday as we had been on Monday. As such, it was fortunate that yours truly - who is never without food - brought snacks! As we tooled down the rural roads passing horses pulling their carts and commenting on the variety of homes and landscape, we munched away on Trader Joes almonds and Bare Naked granola!

Next, we headed to Juanico Winery. It was simply amazing! The largest producer and exporter of wine in Uruguay. We didn´t have an appointment for a tour, but it was no problem at all. After a short wait in their unbelievable facility - think super rustic, very spacious, beautiful yet simple and understated art all tied together with Spanish accents - an adorable French-Spanish ´guia´ (guide) took us on a private tour of the grounds and cellars. The facility was quite opposite from what we saw on Monday ' Juanico is a place of mass production, whereas Bouza has chosen to concentrate on a few wines and be the very best they can be at them. We liked them both very much! Juanico is most famous for their Don Pascual wines, but they also currently own the Santa Teresa name. (See above.)

Headed to dinner...will post more later...