Tannat: Home Away from Home
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feature / vinifera / Tannat TANNAT: HOME AWAY FROM HOME From Tannat’s contested South American debut, back to its origins in southwest France, and forward to its latest outposts in New Zealand, Julia Harding MW charts the rise of this climate-sensitive and terroir- transparent grape variety, now producing a thrilling range of wines orget the tango and dulce de leche, the competitive debate now simmering concerns Tannat’s first home in South America. Those waving the Argentine flag claim that the variety was brought to their country toward the end of the 19th century byF the Basque farmer Juan Jáuregui (born in Irouleguy in 1812), who traveled from Bordeaux to Montevideo in 1835, moving north to Salto before crossing the River Uruguay and settling in Concordia in the province of Entre Ríos in southern Argentina, immediately opposite the Uruguayan town of Salto. According to Alberto Moroy, a specialist in Argentinian and Uruguayan history, writing in Uruguay’s national newspaper El Pais in March 2016, Jáuregui planted the first Tannat cuttings in Concepción in 1861, brought over from France by his nephew Pedro Jáuregui. They apparently came via his paternal grandfather from the estate of Louis XVI. (Moroy’s account is based on a book by Frenchman Alexis Pierre Louis Edouard Peiret, A visit to the Colonies of the Argentine Republic, published in Buenos Airesin 1889.) Jáuregui was also the first to make wine in Concordia. The story continues with another Basque, Don Pascual Harriague (1819–94), who emigrated from Lapurdi (Labourd) to Uruguay in 1838 and settled in Montevideo. In 1840 he moved north to Salto, which is where he became interested in farming and eventually in grape-growing. He is said to have bought cuttings of Tannat from Juan Jáuregui and planted his first Tannat vineyard on the outskirts of Salto in 1871, producing his first commercial Tannat wine in 1875. The Uruguayan banner, however, is being waved by GRIMVITIS, a multidisciplinary team created in 2000 with joint funding from INAVI (Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura) and the Universidad de la República to carry out research into Uruguayan viticulture (see the GRIMVITIS website for more details). Now part of the Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios Photography courtesy of INAVI courtesy Photography XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Latinoamericanos de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias 172 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 61 | 2018 THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 61 | 2018 | 173 feature / vinifera / Tannat de la Educación de la Universidad de la República, they are Lavignac suggests that Tannat could be the progeny of an in South America—Giménez Méndez in Uruguay, Familia While there are many different styles of working on an eight-volume history of the vines and wines of undetermined variety from the Pyrénées, and that it is also Zuccardi in Mendoza—and in 2007 there were 7 ha (17 acres) Uruguay, including a new project looking into Harriague’s morphologically close to Baroque from the Landes and to in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul. Tannat in Uruguay—from light, fragrant, pioneering role in relation to Tannat. Lauzet from the Béarn in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, “two The second is Ekigaïna, another Tannat x Cabernet and unoaked, to rich, tannic, and oaky— According to Professor Alcides Beretta Curi, “It is not varieties that belong, like Tannat, to the Courbu ampelographic Sauvignon cross obtained at INRA Bordeaux, probably also by they are almost always marked by accurate to assert that Tannat was introduced by Basques in group” (Robinson et al 2012). This grouping is consistent with Pierre Marcel Durquéty. There were just 2 ha (5 acres) in France Argentina […] Although the work is not done yet, our investigation recent parentage analysis carried out by José Vouillamoz based in 2011, and equally minuscule plantings in Argentina thanks their deep color, freshness, and tannic reveals a greater complexity: I dare say that the vast majority on 22 DNA markers suggesting a possible parent-offspring to Zuccardi. structure, although some wines are made of the varieties entered through the port of Montevideo, the relationship between Tannat and Manseng Noir, subsequently to be accessible without long bottle aging main entrance of immigrants to the country, among others the confirmed by Lacombe et al. (2013), who also posit a parent- Tannat in Uruguay Basques. Then they were spread through the country, a process offspring relationship with a variety called Plant de Cauzette. While southwest France is Tannat’s original home, it has found The Uruguayan wine industry is dominated by small- to that has been verified since the establishment of the Uruguayan Lavignac also notes that it was little cultivated in southwest a second one in South America, especially in Atlantic-cooled medium-sized family businesses, often passed down through State in 1830 (although vines were already cultivated during France until the beginning of the 19th century, when it became Uruguay. Carrau et al (2011) continue the story of Pasucal several generations, with many more smallholder growers colonial times). The research we are doing is strongly oriented increasingly popular owing to its productivity and robustness. Harriague’s vineyard on the outskirts of Salto: “Later in the than wineries. Even if the damp climate makes it difficult to this explanation; this hypothesis would reveal the presence Because of its vigor, it tends to be pruned long. It is slightly 1880s, this vineyard together with a small winery were to farm organically, Uruguayans are proud to cite the of Tannat a few decades before Uruguay began the production prone to rot because although the bunches are big, they are bought by the British brothers G and C Dickinson & Co., who Environmental Sustainability Index, which placed Uruguay of vines for industrial purposes, and before Harriague himself compact, with small to medium-sized berries. As I learned on transformed the winery into one of the best of that time, third after Finland and Norway (Esty et al, 2005). Now some made contact with this variety when he was not yet a my most recent visit to Uruguay in 2017, Juanicó’s agronomist including a laboratory for microbiology […] Although the 90 percent of the country’s energy is from renewable sources, winemaker. The contact of Jáuregui with Harriague should be Gustavo Blumetto recommends cutting off the tips and the technology improved between 1930 and 1970, the wine primarily wind turbines. placed in this context; and since this is not a well-known story, wings of the large Tannat bunches in some case to allow better producers thought in terms of increasing quantity rather than While the climate may not be conducive to organic people have fueled a ‘mythology’ with weak evidence.” ventilation and full ripening. increasing quality.” farming—both rainfall and average annual temperatures are While we cannot confidently confirm where the truth lies, According to FranceAgrimer statistics, in 2016 there were This focus on quantity was encouraged by “a closed market higher than in Bordeaux—it does suit Tannat. Santiago Deicas we can be sure that wherever the cuttings landed and were first a total of 2,974 ha (7,350 acres), around half in the Gers, down for imported wines, very little demand for quality by the of Juanicó emphasizes that this variety needs humidity during planted, their first home was southwest France. from 4,192 ha (10,359 acres) in 2006. The official catalogue of consumer and an increase in the local consumption of wine the ripening season. “If Tannat vines feel severe water stress varieties permitted in France lists 12 registered clones. from about 15 to 28 liters [4 to 7.5 US gallons] per capita.” they block the nutrient interchange with the berries and it is Tannat in France Madiran wines have a reputation for their deep color and A further consequence of this, after hybrids were introduced irreversible, whereas other varieties can go back to normal According to Rézeau (1997), Tannat, spelled Tanat, was first firm tannins, though in recent years some wines have been in the 1950s, was the common blending of Tannat with Muscat interchange once the stress is diminished. This fact is extremely mentioned in 1783–4 in Madiran in the Hautes-Pyrénées in made in such a way as to make them accessible without long varieties or with these red hybrids. As a result, Tannat “did not important to understand why Tannat only develops its full southwest France, where it is still the dominant variety, though it years in bottle. have very good reputation.” potential in a few terroirs.” is also planted in Béarn, Irouleguy, Tursan, St-Mont, and Cahors. Two of Tannat’s offspring are also in the French official A drive for quality began in the 1970s, with greater focus While there are many different styles of Tannat in The first occurrence of today’s spelling dates to 1827. Lavignac catalogue: Arinarnoa, a 1956 Tannat x Cabernet Sauvignon on the best sites for viticulture. This was essential if producers Uruguay—from light, fragrant, and unoaked, to rich, tannic, (2001) indicates that the name Tannat derives from a word in cross created at INRA Bordeaux by Marcel Durquéty. There were going to be able to export their wines. At the same time, and oaky—they are almost always marked by their deep color, the Béarn dialect meaning “tanned,” referring to its deep color, were 179 ha (442 acres) planted in France in 2016, mainly in the first virus-free clones of Tannat were imported from France freshness, and tannic structure, although some wines are made but it might also be to do with the variety’s high tannin content. Languedoc and Roussillon. There are a few also a producers and California, and these have largely replaced the old vines in such a way as to be accessible without long bottle aging.