Bodega Bouza winery is one of the leading wine producers in Uruguay with an exciting range of wines coming from vineyards in Montevideo, Canelones and Maldonado. The energetic partnership between Juan and Eliza Bouza and Uruguayan winemaker par excellence, Eduardo Boido, innovation flows through Bouza’s veins – from being the first to plant Albariño in Latin America, and pioneering select-block super-premium Tannat, to making fine wine from the hybrid vine of Frutilla and planting on virgin terroir on the slopes of Pan de Azúcar mountain. There’s a lot to love about the wines of this Montevideo-based winery and it has one of the best winery restaurants in the country, gorgeous architecture and a fabulous collection of vintage cars to boot. 

 

About Bodega Bouza winery

Just outside of Montevideo city, Bouza winery was founded in 1999 by Elisa and Juan Bouza with winemaker Eduardo Boido with the goal of making premium, small-production wines that reflect the terroir and vintage.

The Bouza family had many years experience in the food industry, but this is their first venture into wine and they purchased a 35-year-old vineyard in Las Violetas, Canelones, which still forms a major part of the winery’s portfolio today.

For the first couple of vintages, the winemaking team used space in nearby wineries until the Bouza family bought the beautiful property they have today in Melilla, Montevideo, in 2001. The historic winery, which hadn’t been used since the 1960s, was restored and new vineyards were planted, bringing a new lease of life to the abandoned property.

The Bouza story started with these first wines from Las Violetas and the vines that the family planted in Melilla, which included Tannat, Chardonnay, Merlot, Tempranillo and South America’s first Albariño. Both the Tempranillo and Albariño were a nod to Elisa and Juan’s family heritage from Spain. Today Juan and Eliza’s children are also involved in the family business and taking part in continuing the family wine story, with the expansion into new vineyard territories too.

 

In 2010, Bouza took on a new adventure by planting a vineyard on the eastern coast of Uruguay – in Maldonado. The winery bought an estate at the foot of Pan de Azúcar mountain near to the coast, which has a significant maritime influence. Here they planted Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Tannat.

The exciting results of those first vintages encouraged the team to develop another vineyard nearby called Las Espinas, which is just three kilometres from the sea and has an ever stronger maritime influence and steep slopes on the hillside. In 2016, they planted Tannat and Pinot Noir there, adding Chardonnay and Merlot later on.

In 2017, the winery also purchased an estate in Canelón Chico, which was originally planted by Eduardo Boido and his family. This vineyard has several different varieties and Bouza is experimenting with Merlot, Tannat, Semillon and Cabernet Franc there.

Each of the vineyards is split into different parcels which are all vinified individually and with a minimum intervention philosophy, in order to get the optimum expression of the variety, vineyard and vintage.

 

About the Bouza vineyards

Bodega Bouza has five vineyards with 42.5 hectares in production for their own wines, using exclusively all their own estate grapes. The vineyards are all managed in a sustainable manner and planted in small parcels of half a hectare or less. Each parcel is managed differently, depending on its mesoclimate and terroir, and each parcel’s wines are vinified separately in small tanks.

Melilla vineyard

This 10 hectare vineyard is in one of the highest sectors of Melilla in Montevideo and was planted in 2002 and 2009. With a slight slope the vineyards are north facing and planted with mainly Tannat and Merlot, as well as some Albariño, Chardonnay and Tempranillo. The fertile soils are clay loam with some lime and there is a strong climate influence from the River Plate, the coastline of which is just 10 km away.

Las Violetas vineyard

Bouza has 15 hectares of vines in Las Violetas in Canelones, which is renowned for its hilly topography and calcium carbonate-rich clay loam soils. Located 35 km from the coast, it has a greater thermal amplitude than the other vineyards and produces some of their top Tannat, Merlot, Albariño and Chardonnay.

Pan de Azúcar vineyard

The Bouza family purchased this coastal estate in 2010, charmed by the beauty of the region and convinced by its potential for great wines. The combination of the maritime influence, located just 7 km from the sea, with a special regional breeze – the virazón wind – which blows every afternoon in the summer, creates healthy conditions for grape growing. The soil profile is also very particular, with granite, rare syenite rocks (which come from the enormous hills near the vineyard which are over 522 million years old) and calcium carbonate veins within some finer clay loam. The 7.5 hectare vineyard is planted with Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Tannat.

Las Espinas vineyard

This 5 hectare vineyard is just 3 km from the coast and has a very strong maritime influence. The soil has trachyte rocks, a finer and volcanic equivalent of syenite, which offer a unique terroir for grape growing, and the vineyard is planted on the slopes of the hillside. Bouza has Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Tannat planted in Las Espinas.

Canelón Chico vineyard

Although the vineyard has 15 hectares of grapes, only 5 hectares are used for their own wines. In a slightly higher sector of this historic region, the vineyard is on gentle hills with fertile, silty loam soils. There are several varieties planted here, but the ones that Bouza is vinifying currently are Semillon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Tannat.

 

About Bouza wines

With both monovarietal wines and blends, Bouza winery has three main lines:

BOUZA WINES

The Bouza line includes wines from the Melilla and Las Violetas vineyards in Montevideo and Canelones respectively. This classic line includes refreshing white wines of Albariño and Chardonnay, as well as a Tempranillo rosé. The red wines include Merlot, a Merlot-Tannat blend, a Tempranillo-Tannat blend and a Tannat, all of which are aged in oak, as well as an unoaked Tannat ‘Sin Barrica’.

BOUZA VINOS DE VIÑEDO

This single-vineyard line of wines represents the specific characteristics of their vineyards, reflecting the climate and soil of each distinctive region. From Pan de Azúcar, Bouza produces a Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Tannat; from Las Espinas a Merlot and Tannat; and from Canelón Chico a Semillon, Merlot and Tannat.

BOUZA LIMITED EDITION

Bouza has several limited-edition wines which are all small production wines focused on reflecting the vintage, vineyard and variety. Parcela Única is a line focused on single-parcel wines, which reflect the particularities of the site. So far Bouza has released Merlot, Tempranillo and Tannat as parcel wines, each identified by the particular number of the select parcel with a limited release of 300 bottles.

Cocó is a full-bodied blend of Chardonnay and Albariño coming from vineyards in Melilla and Las Violetas, and aged in oak barrels. It is a homage to Cocó, Juan Bouza’s mother, who always loved the combination of these two varieties.

MONTE VIDE EU

Monte Vide Eu is the icon wine of Bouza winery and represents their love of Tempranillo, Merlot and Tannat – the three varieties that make it into the final blend, in different percentages each year although Tannat is typically dominant. The wine is created from the best barrels of these varieties each year, and is an age-worthy and complex wine which will cellar well for a decade.

 

About the winemaker, Eduardo Boido

Part of the project from the very beginning, Eduardo Boido has been fundamental in the development of Bodega Bouza’s vineyards and wines. Born into a wine family, Eduardo has grown up surrounded by the vineyard’s of his family’s wine production and worked in the industry since the early 1980s when he graduated as a winemaker.

As well as being renowned for his winemaking career, Eduardo is a respected professor at Uruguay’s leading winemaking university and has worked on several different research projects with international research teams.

 

Visiting Bodega Bouza winery in Montevideo

Bouza winery is open for visits every day and offers a free tour at 10.30am, 1pm and 4pm which takes you through the vineyards, winery and cellar. You can also walk around the gardens and enjoy the flora and fauna of the region.

You can stay for a wine tasting in their special tasting room, Bouza Vinos Garage, which is a casual space for tapas and wine tasting surrounded by the family’s classic car collection. Wine flights include four glasses of wine paired with different tapas, and you can order more wine and tapas from the menu afterwards which is served from 11am till 6pm each day.

Bouza’s winery restaurant is also open daily from 11am til 6pm and offers contemporary Uruguayan dishes, often with Spanish and French influences, using local and seasonal produce.