Between the mighty South American powers of Argentina and Brazil, you will find Uruguay, a country of only 3.5 million inhabitants where vintners have decided to compete on quality instead of price – often resulting in surprises for tasters across the world. Despite the proximity to other great wine countries Argentina, Chile and Brazil, Uruguay has a wine growing climate more similar to Bordeaux, France or in New Zealand – and when you look at the map you’ll see that much of the wine from Argentina and Chile comes from areas near the Andes mountains, far away from Uruguay.

The greatest concentration of vineyards in Uruguay is in the Montevideo area near the southern coast. A number of wineries in the region have come together and created the ‘Wine Roads’, where visitors can visit nice bodegas to try the local wines and sample Uruguayan food. For some excellent local Tannat wine, visit Bodegas Bouza where you can combine the tasting with a superb lunch, and then continue to Bodegas del Viento – but don’t forget checking if they will be open before you take the time to get there. Other lovely places to stop for some sampling are Juanicó Winery, Los Cerros de San Juan and Bodega Marichal.

This is the eighth part of 10 about amazing and beautiful wine regions to visit in South America, a series which has been previously summarized in GotSaga. For more wine places, go through the backlogs to read about wine places in France and Spain. After South America, we promise you the world, and a look at the amazing wine regions in New Zealand. Enjoy!