Your guide to the top wineries, producers, and wines in the wine region of Maldonado in Uruguay. All the information about wine tourism, wine hotels, and restaurants in Colonia.
Compañia Uruguaya Vinos de Mar is a boutique winery located in Garzon, Uruguay and offer guided visits, tasting and gastronomy.
Bodega Brisas winery in Maldonado is one of the newest and largest wineries in Uruguay today, and was completed in 2019 with a state-of-the-art winemaking facility with a capacity for five million litres of wine. The wines, including Altos de José Ignacio and Brisas del Este, are all made in a youthful style focusing on the fresh fruit expression of this coastal terroir.
Bodega Brisas is part of the Maldonado wine estate of modern wine magnate Alejandro Bulgheroni and his second winery in Uruguay, following the success of nearby Garzón.
The winery is spread over 7,226 m² and was built with a design for maximum efficiency and sustainability.
The first vineyards were planted in 2012 and are in a sub-region of Maldonado known as Altos de José Ignacio. The sloped hillside vineyards and the constant sea breezes from the Atlantic provide good air circulation and drainage which is beneficial for healthy grapes. The combination with warm summer temperatures means that white and red grapes can reach full maturity.
The estate is spread over 325 hectares and has 80 hectares of vineyards planted today, mainly with Tannat, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. All of the grapes are machine harvested, in line with the winery’s concept for using modern technology for utmost efficiency.
Bodega Brisas has for different lines of wines, which all come from their Maldonado wine estate:
The Brisas del Este wines is a brand which is focused on the domestic market and sold locally within Uruguay. The Brisas del Este portfolio includes single-variety wines made from Tannat, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as a blend of Tannat-Merlot and the ‘Blend Selection’ which is a blend of Tannat, Marselan and Cabernet Franc.
The Altos de José Ignacio wines are a brand which is destined for the export market and has a Reserva level of wines which includes a Tannat that spends almost a year in barrel and an Albariño that spends 3 months on the lees. The collection also includes an unoaked Tannat-Merlot blend and a Sauvignon Blanc in the classic line.
The Colinas de Uruguay wines are sold in the export market and include a single variety Tannat, Albariño and Sauvignon Blanc. The name of the brand is inspired by the rolling hills, or colinas, of the landscape. These are bright, aromatic and unoaked wines.
Brisas de Mar is a line of sparkling wines, which includes a Brut Rosé made from 100% Pinot Noir and an Extra Brut made from 100% Chardonnay.
Germán Bruzzone is the winemaker of Bodega Brisas as well as Bodega Garzòn nearby.
He was born in a wine-producing family in Canelones, where he became the third generation winemaker of his family winery.
Following several years working at different wineries in Canelones, he started working with the owner of Bodega Brisas, Alejandro Bulgheroni, in his two estates in Maldonado.
Take a look at the opening of Bodega Brisas in 2019 with this quick video highlight reel:
Viña Edén is the vineyard and family winery set up by Brazilian entrepreneurs Mauricio and Rosane in 2009. With almost 250 hectares in Pueblo Edén, near Punta del Este, the vineyard has Tannat, Chardonnay, Merlot, Marselan and Pinot Noir planted and is producing still and sparkling wines, including unoaked Tannat, which embrace the fresh and bright modern school of Uruguayan winemaking.
You can visit the winery for a tasting, lunch, picnic or full-blown asado, and even traverse through the vines on electric buggies.
Viña Edén is a boutique family winery focused on making premium wines in a sustainable manner, taking care of its environment. Mauricio and Rosane came to Uruguay from Brazil and invested in the estate in Puelo Edén, which they fondly call the Tuscany of Uruguay.
The steep hillsides, valleys and hills, with stoney soils and a strong maritime influence proved to be ideal conditions for grape growing and they planted a vineyard in 2009, making their first wines in 2013.
The winery, which is split over three levels, has a gravity flow system: the first level is the grape reception area, the second level is the fermentation room, and the last level – which takes advantage of the cool temperatures, darkness and humidity underground – is the cellar for ageing wines in. The whole winery is built to be eco friendly and uses solar and wind power. In fact, the estate harvests so much solar and wind energy that they can run the entire operation on their renewable energy and feed some back into the grid for the neighbouring village.
The 6.6-hectare vineyard has Tannat, Merlot, Marselan, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines, all planted in high density on the poor, rocky soils of the region. One particular plot, on the highest and stoniest part of the vineyard, is planted with Pinot Noir and Merlot in 1×1 density. Viña Edén specifically selected the clones they planted from France and brought them to Uruguay.
The vineyard benefits from a significant maritime influence with cool, foggy mornings and breezy, sunny afternoons. The free-draining soils also alleviate much rot pressure.
Pueblo Edén is the entry level line of the collection with youthful and fresh wines made with a focus on pure fruit and varietal expression. The line includes a Tannat, Chardonnay, rosé and two sparkling wines.
Viña Edén is the premium line, for which wines mature for some time in the cellar – either in concrete tanks or barrels. These are more complex wines with good potential for ageing, and some highlights include the fresh and bright Tannat Cemento (aged only in cement tanks) and excellent range of sparkling wines made by traditional method and aged on the lees for several months.
Cerro Negro Gran Reserva is the top-of-range wine which is a complex blend of Tannat, Merlot and Marselan.
Marcelo Breganti is the head winemaker of Viña Edén. He grew up in a winemaking family in Canelones and studied at the Thomas Barreta winemaking school. Having worked in several wineries in Uruguay, he joined the team at Viña Edén in 2015, the winery’s third vintage. Today he regularly contributes to different oenological and viticultural studies and research topics at the Agronomy Faculty in the local University.
Marcelo and Viña Edén’s winemaking philosophy is to respect the terroir and let the fruit express its character in the wines with minimal intervention in the winery.
Ideally located beyond the hills of cosmopolitan Punta del Este, Viña Edén is in the heart of the growing wine route of Maldonado. You can visit the eye-catching winery and vineyards for a tasting, tour or a bite to eat.
All of their wines are available to taste in different flight options and you can enjoy a plate of local charcuterie, cheese and artisanal bread, or stay for lunch at the restaurant which uses local ingredients from nearby organic farms. You can either enjoy a full-blown asado or a three-course pairing menu, or enjoy a picnic in the vineyards under the shade of centennial trees.
Visitors can also organise for tours around the vineyard on their electric carts, and you can book a private tasting with the winemaker.
Cerro del Toro winery and vineyard is the wine project of Japanese businessman Makoto Kambara who planted 28 hectares of vines within his large estate on a rocky hillside in Maldonado just a few kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean in a bid to make premium, coastal wines in this unique Uruguayan terroir.
Cerro del Toro winery was started by the Kambara family from Japan in 2016 with the goal of making top quality wines on their estate in Maldonado. Located on the northeastern face of the Cerro del Toro hill in an 800-hectare estate in Piriápolis, the family currently have 28 hectares of vines planted and are constructing a winery which will be open for tourism in the near future.
The Kambara family first came to South America in 1956 when Hideo Kambara arrived from Japan, following World War II, to Brazil and Paraguay looking for new business opportunities there. He arrived to Uruguay in 1975 and bought a 17,000 hectare estate in La Coronilla in Rocha where the family has a rice farm today.
In 1989, the family purchased the 800-hectare estate on Cerro del Torro. Given its historical importance as the wine estate of Francisco Piria in the late 19th century, the family decided to restart the tradition with the help of Norwegian businessman Lars Ugland and local vigneron Alvaro Lorenzo.
The vines are now producing their first vintages with very promising results.
The first vines were planted in early 2016 with local vine cuttings and a small selection of imported vines. The majority of the vines are red varieties, with mainly Tannat and Merlot, and a third of the plantings are white vines including mainly Albariño which has already become a hallmark of the winery. Other grape varieties planted include Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Gamaret, Lacryma Christi, Chardonnay, Viognier and Pinot Grigio.
The vineyard has been separated into different sectors and the soils are predominantly rocky soils with clay loam, granite, calcium carbonate and decomposed metamorphic rocks. Every aspect of the vineyard is exposed to the strong maritime breeze – just a couple kilometres from the sea – with a slope gradient of 12 to 15% and altitudes ranging from 60 to 128 m.a.s.l.
Cerro del Toro wines are reflective of their coastal terroir, and the emphasis on the viticulture is sustainable and minimum intervention while the winemaking is focused on the best varietal expression.
At the moment Cerro de Toro winery is still producing its first vintages of the young vines and includes a Clásico and Reserva line.
In the Clásico you can taste an Albariño, a Pinot Noir rosé and a red blend, which are all focused on fresh fruit and varietal expression without any oak ageing and allowing the strong maritime influence to express itself in the wines.
The Reserva line currently includes a Tannat which has been aged in oak barrel and an Albariño which has been aged on the lees. The Reserva line is focused on making wines from select lots with a precise varietal expression.
This premium line is focused on small-production wines with a focused expression that shows the refreshing Atlantic influence.
This is the very top line of the winery which comprises terroir-driven wines which include a red and a white blend, as well as a varietal Tannat.
Cerro del Toro winemaker Martín Viggiano is an up-and-coming 35-year-old Uruguayan winemaker who specialised in the wines and soils of Maldonado for his thesis. Having worked as a journalist before, he is new in the career of winemaking and has made it his mission to help advance Uruguayan Albariño with his work at Cerro del Toro and following two vintage experiences in Rías Baixas in Galicia in Spain.
Since last year, Cerro del Toro winery has opened for visitors and wine lovers to explore its steep, sloping vineyards and take in the views over Maldonado and the ocean. The winery includes a tasting room, wine shop and special wine experiences.
