This Week In Wine: Viñedo de los Vientos Dessert Wine

Served at leFarm in Westport, Viñedo de los Vientos “Alcyone” is a wine worth sampling.

An Uruguayan dessert wine made with the Tannat grape, you'll experience luscious flavors of cocoa-dusted black raspberries, vanilla bean and exotic spices.  Intense and rich without being cloyingly sweet, this wine is positively addictive.  Pair with molten chocolate cake, pour over vanilla ice cream, or sip on its own as a fantastic liquid dessert!

Tannat, known as one of the most tannic grape varieties in the world, was originally grown in southwest France in the commune of Madiran.  Basque immigrants brought the grape to Uruguay and it is now the country’s flagship grape.

Viñedo de los Vientos (“vineyard of the winds”) is located in Atlántida, on the southern coast of Uruguay near the capital city of Montevideo.  Although on the same latitude as Mendoza in Argentina, the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean results in a cooler climate, closer to that of Bordeaux.   Winemaker Pablo Fallabrino is the son of Italian immigrants and uses traditional Italian techniques in his winemaking.      

Available retail for around $32 per 500ml bottle at: 

Saugatuck Grain + Grape, 40 Railroad Place, Westport 

Wagon Wheel Liquor, 1051 Long Ridge Road, Stamford

If you would like to “try before you buy” it may also be found by the glass at LeFarm in Westport