Bodegas Castillo Viejo

My decision to come to Uruguay was partially made on my desire to learn more about Uruguayan wines. Largely left out of any of my formal studies for sommelier course, or informal studies for my general wine knowledge, I could not think of any better way to learn then to engulf myself with the wine, the people, in the place! If I only could do this for every wine region I want to learn about i.e. everywhere in the world, but alas, I don't have the funds. Perhaps some day I will find myself perusing in Bordeaux, then off to Alsace, into the Rhine, and then way on down to Margaret River, Central Otago and beyond. Until then, I am going to learn as much about South American wines as I can.


I continued this journey to Bodegas Castillo Viejo, a short drive from Pisano. I was greeted by Francisco and Pablo, export manager and winemaker respectively. Castillo Viejo is another family winery in the area, founded in 1927. While the vineyards are located in San José, about a hour and a half drive away, special care is given to make sure grapes come in well taken care of, including night harvests into small bins for transportation.

Quick upon arrival Pablo was gracious to sample some fermenting wines to try. As of February 15th, only white grapes were in tanks. They are experimenting with a Gewurtztraminer for sparkling




And a yummy Chardonnay



To me, the more wines I taste in this stage, the better. It only happens but once a year, or twice if you swap hemispheres, and some fermenting wines are incredible. It is also a peek into the future-what you will see in bottle many months.

A quick juant through the winery led us to the cellar below-both where they age the reserve wines, and where the original wine tanks of the winery were built into the Earth.




It was in this cellar that we held our tasting. Francisco started us off with their Brut Natural, while Pablo explained to me their various labels and levels within the winery



The sparkling is 80% Chardonnay and 20% Sauvignon Blanc-which made for a bright, crisp wine with only the slightest hint of a tropical Sauvignon Blanc grape.

The second wine here at Castillo Viejo was a similar experience to the second wine I tasted at Pisano-a totally new experience with their 2012 CataMayor Tannat Rose Roble



Spending 3-4 months in oak, with the strong tannin of tannat but delicate as a rosè this wine was utterly different then any I had before.

We then went through a series of red wines, from their CataMayor Reserve label, including the 2010 Merlot




2010 Tannat and Cabernet Franc blend (70 percent tannat)



And the 2010 Tannat



Each of the three were fun expressions of what Castillo Viejo is trying to show-a diversity in wines, from their vineyards with respect to the environment and pleasure to the consumer.

Perhaps none of the wines we tasted we as evident of this philosophy, then of the next wine, the 2010 Vieja Parcela Cabernet Franc



The Vieja Parcela label includes only single variety grapes from the oldest parcels in the vineyard. When I said it had a note of graphite, Pablo chuckled as he confirmed, as the fermenting wine smells so strong of graphite, it is detectable several feet from the tank. The wine had hints of dark fruits and eucalyptus-a wonderful cabernet franc.

We concluded our formal tasting with the 2007 CataMayor Tannat, Single Barrel No 5


When the winemaker goes through the barrels destined for the Reserva de la Famila label (which I did try the 2009 Tannat), he selects a barrel or two of the best for single barrel bottling-the best of the best. These barrels are then aged for a year and a half in, then aged in bottles for another couple of years before release. It was the deepest color of the wines, nearly black, attributed to the 26 day maceration. However, the depth of this wine went beyond color. It had layers of fruit, balck raspberry and blackberry, and of spice, cinnamon and nutmeg that opened up as the wine swirled in my glass.

This glass was a wonderful conclusion to Castillo Viejo, and to my first day in Uruguay. Thanks to Francisco for the hospitality and gracias a Pablo por habló en ingles!

Location:Las Piedras, Uruguay