William's Article: Brazilian Virtue

Just before Christmas, I spent a few weeks in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. In their profoundly different ways, Uruguay and Argentina are among the most exciting and beautiful New World wine destinations.

Carmelo Patti continues to produce elegant, older-style Cabernet Sauvignons that defy Argentina’s full throttle trends. Alejandro Bulgheroni’s sprawling new Garzon estate continues to show great progress and now produces crisp and racy Sauvignon Blancs. It would be easy to talk about the first two regions, Uruguay and Argentina, but what really amazed me were the Brazilian wines.

I had dinner the other night with Reuters’ correspondent in Brazil, Brian Winter, who has produced some great reports on the blossoming Brazilian wine industry. He poured a Salton Virtude 2012 Chardonnay, which comes from the Campanha wine region near the border with Uruguay. It was the best Brazilian wine I’ve ever had.

The Salton Virtude Chardonnay was rich, round, minerally, and nutty. It embodied many of the qualities that I love in Meursaults. Bravo! It paired perfectly with the vatapá, a quintessential Brazilian dish of shrimp, coconut milk, finely ground peanuts and palm oil mashed into a creamy paste. My Brazilian friends jokingly deprecate their country’s wines, but they should have tried this Chardonnay! 

My contrarian streak, compounded by the punishing taxes that Brazil imposes on European wines, always compels me to look for Brazilian wines when I am there. The quest is increasingly rewarding, as the upper echelons of Brazilian wines grow more and more polished and enjoyable. The upcoming World Cup games in Brazil and the 2016 Olympics will bring the wineries a lot more international exposure. Keep your eye on that ball.

William McIlhenny is associate publisher of JamesSuckling.com. A former American diplomat who held a number of assignments in Europe and Latin American. He lives in Washington, D.C., and serves as an adivisor to several international foundations.