Castel Pujol Folklore Blanco

In 1975, Quico Carrau Pujol, in collaboration with the University of California Davis, began the search for a terroir to plant the first virus-free vines. This place had to have qualities that would adapt to the climate of Uruguay, sandy soils and slopes that would allow good drainage to avoid excess water in the vine. After going through and analysing different soils in the South of Brazil and North of Uruguay, they found this property in Rivera, Cerro Chapeu, in Cuchilla de Santana, with sandy, reddish and deep soils, with low fertility and very good drainage. It is here where the project of selecting vineyards that would adapt to this place began.

In 1997 Francisco Carrau, ninth generation and youngest son of Quico, after touring wineries in different parts of the world, designed the winery, deciding to build it inside a hill to take advantage of gravity and thus achieve vinification with minimal manipulation of the musts.<br data-mce-fragment="1">Currently, Bodegas Carrau is a family business, where five brothers pay tribute to over 260 years of wisdom generated by their ancestors.
Francisco Carrau " Winemaking Legend, Tim Atkin MW Uruguay Report 2021.

Trebbiano, Malvasia

Vineyards planted at 250 meters above sea level in soils of aeolian origin, red sand, with great depth and water retention capacity.

70% Trebbiano, 30% Malvasia.

Handpicked into 15kg boxes. A blend of 70% Trebbiano and 30% Malvasía. The Malvasia and Trebbiano bunches are destemmed and directly pressed. Fermented with selected native yeast in stainless steel tanks sur lie for over 6 months for natural clarification, unfiltered. Then bottled with minimal handling in order to preserve all its freshness with nominal So2.

Lovely tropical aromas, together with peach and floral characters. Integration is seamless with a mineral edge and lovely acidity. Grapefruit pithiness on the finish.

A great match to Pad Thai!

Nolan - Text from the Spotlight on the White Wines of the America's Blog

In our Red Wines of the America's blog, we had a look at Bodegas Garzon in the South of Uruguay, for the white of Uruguay we visit the Northeast of the country and a region called Rivera, on the border with Brazil's famous wine region of Campanha. Rivera is the hilliest wine region in the country but, in a relatively flat country such as Uruguay, do not expect the soaring peaks of our previous two countries, the highest vines here are only planted at 250m above sea level.

Rivera only has one commercial winery, Bodegas Carrau, where the whole Castel Pujol range are produced. The modern winery is not built on a hill, it is built into the hill with the whole winery being gravity fed so no power is used to pump juice and wine around the winery. Being underground, the winery is also nice and cool, having natural temperature control so less energy is needed to regulate the ambient temperatures or to chill the fermentation tanks. An added bonus, is that the physical winery itself blends in better with the surrounding landscape of this very rural area.

This white wine is produced from a blend of 70% Trebbiano and 30% Malvasia. Trebbiano is the key white grape of Rivera, with Uruguay having a whopping 0.24% of the world's total plantings! 96% is grown in Italy alone where it produces wines in every quality level. Trebbiano has naturally high acidity, low sugar levels and a high degree of disease resistance. The disease resistance is important as even in this drier, continental climate it means that chemical sprays do not need to be used, the Castel Pujol range are considered fully natural wines. For the most part, Trebbiano produces fairly neutral wines, conveying it's high acidity but without too much character of its own, the Malvasia blended in is where this wine gets it's inviting, tropical bouquet. Malvasia has lower natural acidity but packs way more flavour into its berries, giving characters of peach, ripe pear, honey and pink grapefruit to this wine.

Sustainable, and bright, this is a feel-good wine. Perfect for drinking in the sun with salads, cheese and walnut tarts. There is enough body here to stand up to pork, and it would be interesting paired with pork tacos with a mango or pineapple salsa.