Compañía Uruguaya de Vinos de Mar
Compañía Uruguaya de Vinos de Mar is the project undertaken by three families who have
dreamed of making wines capable of highlighting the outstanding features of the
Maldonado terroir: its sea influence, the granite soil of its hills, the rainfall, and the clouds.
The winery is run by Michelini i Mufatto, focusing on wines from select terroir microunits
and unique plots which stand out for their characteristics, where only three wilfully
chosen vines are grown: Albariño, Pinot Noir and Tannat.
Maldonado
The terroir of Maldonado is Compañía Uruguaya’s soul and heart. A diverse and manifold location where the inland rural villages of Uruguay and the trendy beaches object of international desire merge in a syncretic setting.
Grapes with a local, one-of-a-kind and saline character are born in these vineyards situated in the hills, highly influenced by the marine landscape featuring clouds and rain. Fruits that help us achieve thrilling wines, as unique as the place where they are born.
The soil in the vineyards we work on is made of granite, supplemented by a variable blend of sand, mud and clay, according to each specific area. Said granite is responsible for the texture and length in the palate, typical of our wines.
The Wine Cellar
Situated in the centre of the Garzón town, our wine cellar is cosy yet functional and versatile, conceived as a place to ferment all musts in concrete tanks, and subsequently age the wines in barrels and foudres.
Featuring a simple and modern construction, with details conceived by Juan Diego Vecino, one of Uruguay’s most renowned architects.
Winemaking
Precision, purity, elegance, attention to detail and a long-term vision. The guardianship of the team made up by Michelini i Mufatto, extremely significant for the project, contributes knowledge and prestige, a unique view and a really different working philosophy.
This family has been making top-of-the-line wines in Mendoza (Uco Valley) and Spain (Bierzo) for years, standing out as those terroirs where the best ranked wines by all critics are made. The challenge of making sea wines with high-quality grapes brought them to the eastern end of Uruguay, for the purposes of keeping on experimenting on highly peculiar terroirs.
Our Wines
Our wines are made using just three grape varieties: Albariño, Pinot Noir and Tannat, which reflect the balance between the granite soil, the cloudy weather, and the sea.
Compañía Uruguaya de Vinos de Mar Pinot Noir
Maldonado – Pinot Noir
A translucent red wine with not so exuberant aromas of black fruit and red berry, in addition to earthy notes that are reminiscent of fungi and stones. Fresh in the mouth, while a little fruity and minimally spicy, with a mineral hint in the palate, supplemented by slight smoked notes as a result of its ageing in barrels.
Compañía Uruguaya de Vinos de Mar Albariño
Maldonado – Albariño
A white wine with saline and somewhat mineral aromas and floral notes, besides its slight and elegant white fruit aftertaste. It is fresh, flowing and agile in the palate, showing balanced acidity, mid volume and a minimum toasting hint resulting from its ageing in oak. Its depth makes it the perfect accompaniment for oily fish and seafood.
Compañía Uruguaya de Vinos de Mar Pinot Noir
Sierra De Las Palmas
Conceived as a generic wine, this variety is fermented in concrete tanks using 100% whole cluster and native yeasts, conducting a postfermentative maceration later. Afterwards, it is aged in oak barrels for around seven months and, lastly, the wine is smoothly filtered and bottled. The result is a complex and elegant red wine, featuring an austere yet mineral expression.
Compañía Uruguaya de Vinos de Mar Albariño
Sierra De Las Palmas
Of the total grapes harvested, 30% go through a prefermentative maceration process with their skin and, when must begins to ferment, it is pressed and taken to the barrels, where fermentation concludes. The remaining 70% is directly pressed and fermented in concrete barrels or tanks, followed by an ageing process in the same receptacles.