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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.2 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 92 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Lord of the Bottles on 5/2/2022 & rated 92 points: Very interesting suggestion from Uruguay. Like dark chocolate, toffee and coffee! Paired well. (1952 views) | | | Tasted by fussyeater on 4/14/2022 & rated 91 points: Dark red in colour with a little browning. Almond biscotti and hint of coconut on the nose, weighty but silky with teeth staining tannins!
Aniseed and black cherry on the palate and good acidity with freshness and lift on the finish. Nicely balanced and impressive dessert wine. BTG (1736 views) | | | Tasted by lewisrise on 11/25/2021 & rated 91 points: Medium tawny with developed aromas of chocolate, vanilla, dried cherries, molasses, fig, raisin and marzipan. High alcohol and acidity with medium plus body, medium tannins and a long finish. Palate of cherry, raspberry , chocolate milk, caramel, vanilla, and coffee. This is a very good wine that should be drunk now with potential for aging (1931 views) | | | Tasted by NickA on 9/26/2021 & rated 92 points: Tannat made in a Marsala style, then aromatised like a Chinato and aged in French oak for several years. Served blind by the somm to accompany a chocolate dessert, we all agreed this was nothing like any wine we'd tried before - closest relative perhaps being Banyuls.
Intriguing nose that was quite vanilla-dominated, with drinking chocolate, coconut and sweet tobacco. Not as sweet on the palate as you'd expect, with notes of dark chocolate and a well-judged amount of acidity that kicked in towards the finish - a good match, and easy to finish the glass. (2143 views) | | | Tasted by johnrm on 8/25/2021 & rated 92 points: Our last bottle and it seemed even better than our previous bottle tasted some time ago. Very deep colour with a rich and fragrant nose. The palate had a lovely texture and was full of sweet dark cherries, vanilla, with almost overwhelming chocolate flavours. Very long. It opened beautifully with time and spice emerged - cinnamon with what fellow-tasters described as ‘hot cross bun’ and ‘marzipan’ flavours. A group of 11 tasters rated this as a 92. Great stuff! (1994 views) | | | Tasted by Central Coast Sharon on 7/1/2021: This Tannat dessert wine had so many familiar flavors - chocolate and slightly minty like the old Vandermint liqueur. Also reminiscent of a coffee-coconut liqueur we brought home from Tahiti decades ago. We all enjoyed this dessert wine! (1144 views) | | | Tasted by GTFreek on 3/11/2021: Both aromitized and fortified. Medium plus nose of syrup, toffee, black fruit, molasses. Palate has loads of chocolate layers, some other notes like spice in the alcohol, but that's the gist. Cool to try, not sure what to do with it after that. (1437 views) | | | Tasted by wineauxs111 on 3/27/2020 & rated 94 points: Lovely deep nose of cocoa and vanilla. Velvety mouth feel with flavors of cocoa, plum, and spice. Exceptionally long finish that lingers until the next sip (whenever that might be). A touch hot, or else it would get 95+ from us. One of our absolute favorite dessert wines. (1654 views) | | | Tasted by bacchus of knockholt on 2/5/2020 & rated 92 points: In the style of a Maury or Banyuls but with a lot more sweetness and complexity, aided by the botanicals of herbs and spices that are added. Inky black with wonderful aromas of a box of assorted chocolates, dark, milk and white. There’s sweet blackcurrant fruit plus almond and marzipan too to accompany the chocolate box aromas. To taste it’s very sweet with those gorgeous chocolate aromas coming through on the palate plus spices and vanilla pod. A distinctive and extraordinary wine which we all universally loved at a Bacchus night. Enjoyed it much more than when I last tasted in 2015 (1705 views) | | | Tasted by Motz on 12/11/2019 & rated 87 points: Concentrated, and showing a strong coco powder element. Otherwise, generally straightforward. Certainly tasty, and a likely bottled headache. (2149 views) | | | Tasted by finewinebuff57 on 10/6/2019 & rated 90 points: Very accomplished and delicious. Last very well in the fridge. Gives good Banyuls a a run for its money.. (1849 views) | | | Tasted by West of Chicago on 6/15/2019 & rated 96 points: Delicious (1906 views) | | | Tasted by johnrm on 3/10/2019 & rated 90 points: Interesting stuff! Sweet, rich, complex with deep dark (mainly cherry) fruit and with strong vanilla, chocolate and coffee flavours. Long and with enough acidity to avoid being cloying. 90+
Tasted at Grand Union Wine Society with Carla Bertellotti of Vinos Latinos. (1664 views) | | | Tasted by christiecsa on 6/16/2018: It smells like dark chocolate and also tastes like chocolate liquor with hints of grape (2431 views) | | | Tasted by Papies on 3/22/2018 & rated 87 points: By the 50ml Glass via Coravin @ 67 Pall Mall, London. Served blind.
We could not place this to save our lives and easily the first tiem we come across such a wine. Dark, toffee, biscuity, rich dense fruit, chocolate. Indeed a wine to pair with rich desserts like sticky toffee pudding but also a bit heavy and not easy to enjoy a lot. An ok and interesting wine but more liquerish, confectionery drink, than wine. 87 (2550 views) | | | Tasted by Thebackroomvt on 12/6/2017 & rated 92 points: Uruguay dessert wine?! Delicious date, tobacco and dark cocoa on the nose. Palette more of the same would be delicious w chocolate, food Gras or chicken liver. Delicious. (2298 views) | | | Tasted by ctbob on 9/18/2017: Less chocolaty than last time. (2523 views) | | | Tasted by CranBurgundy on 8/15/2017 & rated 89 points: This is a nice change for a Port drinker. Less tannic and unnnoticeable alcohol heat, with blatant chocolate flavor overtop some cherry cola and raisin/fig. The spice comes into play as the wine warms in the glass, but isn't much of a factor at refrigerator temperature. Good stuff! (2564 views) | | | Tasted by Xavier Auerbach on 8/3/2017 & rated 90 points: A private dinner (Restaurant Sat Bains **, Nottingham, UK): Bittersweet and spicy, full and velvety, chocolate liqueur, sweet cherries, like a cross between an amaro and Tia Maria, 16% ABV but no heat, good persistence. (2626 views) | | | Tasted by Loren Sonkin on 2/19/2017 & rated 91 points: Saturday at a local store (and a few bonus bottles). (Chuck's Fine Wines): Easily the best Tannat based dessert wines from Uruguay I have ever had. Dark brown in color. The nose is like a Tootsie Pop - chocolate covered with a hard candy shell, likely the chocolate flavored. On the palate, this has more of a Tootsie Roll note to it. A bit of espresso. Slightly sweet. 16% alcohol but not showing any heat. A little goes a long way. Very cool to try. (3015 views) | | | Tasted by diggydan on 12/3/2016 & rated 92 points: Interesting and uncannily like chocolate. "This unique wine combines two different techniques for dessert wines, the Barolo chinato and the Marsala. This wine is aromatised with several roots and herbs." $10 btg at Ruta del Vino. (2449 views) | | | Tasted by klezman on 1/24/2016: Smells very strongly of raisin and chocolate. Tastes like chocolate also. Hints of maple syrup. Think it would go better in a mixed drink than on its own. (4480 views) | | | Tasted by newkid17 on 1/1/2016 & rated 93 points: Had at a New Years eve party. Was surprised by this wine. Super dark and almost black with a great nose of coffee and vanilla. Last was all vanilla and some ripe raspberries. Would look to pick up a bottle for the future. (3761 views) | | | Tasted by bacchus of knockholt on 12/10/2015 & rated 87 points: Dark and viscous. Powerful box of chocolates aromas. The flavours are a cornucopia of sweet chocolate, fruit and nut, caramel,and fig on the intensely sweet palate. Unfortunately the finish lacked a bit of acidity so it felt a bit cloying. A PX style wine. (3181 views) | | | Tasted by maderay on 4/8/2015 & rated 94 points: VG+. Cloves, chocolate, very good and interesting wine. Reminds me of Christmas and Thanksgiving (3664 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Panel Tasting
Decanter, The most exciting wines of 2017 (10/1/2017)
(NV Viñedo de los Vientos, Alcyone Tannat, Atlantida, Canelones, Uruguay, Red) Subscribe to see review text. |  By Gary Vaynerchuk
Wine Library TV, Chocolate and Wine Pairing, Episode #898 (8/3/2010)
(Vinedo de Los Vientos Alcyone Tannat) #1; COLOR-dark; NOSE-exactly like Count Chocula cereal; PALATE-it tastes like hot chocolate wine; just delicious; the 16% alcohol is balanced tremendously well; one of the better late harvest Alcyone's I've had; this is very, very good; a tremendous dessert wine; spectacular effort; GV-90 90 points |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Decanter and Wine Library TV. (manage subscription channels) |
| Viñedo de los Vientos Producer websiteTannat Varietal character (Appellation America) | Wikipedia
A southern French variety, it's most commonly found in the southwest part of the country near the Pyrenees. Characteristically, it has hard tannins, raspberry aromas, and a fair amount of astringency. Given those tannins, it's successful as the base for French roses, where tannins are minimized by little skin contact. In blends, particularly in California, Tannat adds bite to what might otherwise be flabby or soft wines resulting from overripe grapes.
Wine from the Tannat grape is typically rough and tannic when young, but with aging will mature into a full-bodied red wine. Modern winemaking in France (Madiran appellation) has begun to emphasize the fruit more and utilize barrel aging to help soften the tannins, with the wines typically spending about twenty months in oak prior to bottling.
The Tannat vine was introduced in Uruguay by Basque settlers in the 1870’s and began to flourish as it readily adapted to the local soil and climate. Today it is often blended with Pinot Noir and Merlot, and is made in a variety of styles including those reminiscent of Port and Beaujolais. Although considered Uruguay’s national grape, Tannat is also grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil and in Italy's Puglia region where it is used as a blending grape.
Tannat wines produced in Uruguay are usually lighter in body and lower in tannins than those from France. In France, efforts to solve the harsh tannic nature of this grape led to the development of the winemaking technique known as micro-oxygenation. Vineyards in Uruguay have begun to distinguish between the "old vines" that are descendants from the original European cuttings and the new clones introduced in the 1990’s. The newer vines tend to produce more powerful wines with higher alcohol levels but less acidity and complex fruit characteristics, although some wineries utilize both vines to make blends.
First brought to the US late in the 19th century by a UC Berkeley agricultural professor, Tannat plantings did not receive much attention until the 1990’s when California producers, most notably in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Paso Robles viticultural areas, began using it in blends with Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese and Syrah. In 2002, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms formally recognized Tannat as a separate varietal.
In the vineyard, Tannat is one of the easiest varietals to grow, ripening late and being frost hardy. Unlike other varietals, it is not prone to overproduction and so does not require thinning. The grape’s berries have thick skins, which make it resistant to powdery mildew and botrytis, and which contributes to the varietals naturally high tannins. One notable difficulty with growing Tannat is its thick stems, which cling tightly to the berries and can be difficult to remove at harvest.
Tannat has significantly higher polyphenol content than other red grapes, making it the most bioactive variety with regards to oxidative reactions in food. Doctors have recommended Tannat as being the best wine grape for cardiopulmonary health because it contains a large amount of the antioxidant procyanidin, a chemical which helps bolster blood vessels and increase oxygen flow to red blood cells, ultimately helping to avert cardiovascular disease.
Tannat makes decidedly robust wines, with pronounced aromas of tobacco smoke, plum or ripe berries. The wines also tend to be dense purple-red in color, with significant tannins and a wonderfully spicy finish. Notable California producers include Bonny Doon Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Tablas Creek Vineyards in Paso Robles.Uruguay Wines of Uruguay (Asociación de Bodegas Exportadoras de Vinos Finos del Uruguay) |
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