Uruguay's road to vintage status

JUANICO VILLAGE, URUGUAY — Wind-tousled grapevines, marching in cornrow-straight lines and hung with pearl-like clusters of light-green fruit, stretch as far as the eye can see across gently rolling farmland near the village of Juanico in the Canelones District. Flowering red rosebushes punctuate the ends of each row, and tiro-tiro birds, named for their unique call, nest on wooden fence posts. Stalwart pine trees shield the vines from unkind winds along the 34th southern parallel.

The Canelones District is home to the Juanico wine region, just a 45-minute drive from the Rio de la Plata, the broad, slow-moving river that flows between Argentina and its northern neighbor Uruguay.

Surprisingly, the Juanico region is not part of Argentina, a well-known wine producer and exporter. It belongs to tiny Uruguay and serves as a gateway to the Wine Roads, a stretch of 15 bodegas where wine aficionados can stroll through vineyards, tour century-old cellars and sample fine wines and local cuisine.

"All the wineries in our wine tourism association export their wines, which guarantees excellent quality," explains Wine Roads coordinator Ana Ines Motta. "Visitors can take organized winery tours from Montevideo, rent a car or hire a private car and driver who will take them on a self-directed tour of the vineyards. Many vacationers also like to combine winery visits with golfing and trips to the beach on the eastern seacoast."

We arrived in Montevideo aboard Celebrity Cruises' Infinity during a two-week trip around Cape Horn in January. This was our first port-of-call after leaving Buenos Aires the day before. While fellow passengers scurried off to the beaches or joined city tours, we chose to spend our day learning more about the wine industry in Uruguay.

During the afternoon, we took a winery tour from Montevideo to the Canelones District that included a visit to the historic wine cellars at the Juanico Winery and a sampling of their award-winning vintages. Having savored the sight of thick sides of beef, pork and lamb sizzling on wood-fire grills at small bistros inside the cavernous Mercado del Puerto that morning, we thought a few glasses of rich, flavorful wine would be a perfect way to round out the day. Juanico proved to be an enchanting estate that whetted our appetite for exploring the many other family-run wineries in the area.