The presidential republic of Uruguay (República Oriental del Uruguay), located in the southeast South America by the Atlantic Ocean, has its capital in Montevideo and covers an area of 176,215 km². It borders Brazil to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Río de la Plata to the south, and Argentina to the west (separated by the Río Uruguay).

The beginnings of viticulture occurred here later than in other countries in South America. The first vine were introduced only in the mid-17th century from Spain. However, commercial viticulture began only around 1870, when immigrants from the French Basque Country and Italy established the first vineyards. One of them was the Frenchman Pascual Harriague Pascual (1819-1894), who founded the winery "La Caballada" near Salto and planted the grape variety Tannat on about 200 hectares of vineyard area. Therefore, it is also referred to as Harriague here. Today, many producers in Uruguay have over a hundred-year-old Tannat vines.
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