Wine for Dunces: Tannat, Madiran and Uruguay. June 26, 2009

Tannat is Uruguay's signature grape

Tannat is a unique, rugged, deep black-berried grape, most famous as the main ingredient in France’s brawny Madiran wine.

Madiran is in Gascony in the south-west of France. These wines traditionally needed long ageing, though not so much anymore. AC regulations do stipulate that the wine must be aged for 20 months before release though. Destemming (removal of tannin-rich grape stems from the must) is mandatory so as not to exacerbate the wine’s toughness.

Tannat must be 40-60% of the blend; with the balance comprising Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon, Merlot, and Fer. It is unlikely that you will have heard of the last one. It gets its name from the latin name for iron – ferrum – because the wood of the vine is so hard. Good Madiran can plausibly be compared to a Classed Growth Bordeaux.

Madiran may be unloved today but it was appreciated during the middle ages by pilgrims en route for Santiago de Compostela. As it happens, my father-in-law is currently on that very same walk. He has to cover about fifteen miles every day for five weeks. I water the plants every second day in my garden. You can see the difference between us.

Other obscure French ACs that utilise Tannat are Cotes de St-Mont, Irouleguy, Tursan and Bearn. Tannat plantings have been declining in France and, like Malbec, it seems to do better in the balmier climes of South America than in its South-West France homeland. That said, it’s actually not originally from France at all, but the Basque country in Spain.

Basque settlers took the grape to Uruguay in the nineteenth century, where it is sometimes named Harriague. In Uruguay, it may be blended with Merlot, or even Pinot Noir, in an attempt to soften it. Avant-garde Uruguayans even make Beaujolais and Port style wines with Tannat.

Uruguay is the 4th largest producer of wine in South America, after Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Half of Uruguay’s population lives in Montivideo, the capital, and consequently four-fifths of all vineyards are in neighbouring departments.

Consumption is 32l pp per year (about double the Irish figure), and rising. The local market is small – the population is slightly less than Ireland’s at just 3.35m – so wine producers need to export. Fortunately, massive Brazil is on its doorstep and mops up 60% of exports

There is some interest in Uruguay from old world wine companies – Boisset (Burgundy), Bernard Magrez (Bordeaux), and Freixenet (Spain) are all involved in joint ventures there.

O’Briens carry a few Tannat wines: Don Pascual Reserve Tannat, Uruguay €12; Preludio Barrel Select (handsome wooden box in picture, above), Uruguay €22; Chateau Peyros Greenwich Madiran, France. I’ve tasted the first two, and they are excellent.

O’Briens aside, Tannat-based wines are not so easy to come across in the Irish marketplace. Malbec-heavy Cahors will probably have some Tannat in it. But what can you learn about a grape if it’s only 5-15% of the blend? Not much.