Bolivian Wine

We've not been to Bolivia before, so let's go there today. It's a new country, relatively speaking for wine, so we are looking forward to it, but first we have to figure out how to get there. 

We called all the major airlines and none of them were overflowing with flights to this country. Finally, we worked out a route and boarded our first flight of the day from Atlanta to Miami. Thos one was easy as we've made it before. Arriving at Miami International Airport, we changed terminals to fly outside the US and took another flight to Bogota, Colombia. Despite being in South America, we still had two more flights to go. The first took us to Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz and finally, we boarded a little prop plane for our lest leg to the southern Bolivia town of Tarija.

Nearer to Argentina than any other country and closer to Paraguay than the heart of Bolivia, Tarija is the epicenter of the Bolivian wine industry. It's about the only place in the country suitable to wine production as the mountainous area near the capital of La Paz gets bitter cold and the warmer areas to the east are incredibly humid year round. The department of Tarija os which the town of Tarija is the capital has spent a good part of its existence struggling for a home. It's been part of Peru, the Incan empire, Argentina, and finally Bolivia as the world became more stable. But, for all these challenges, they are making reasonable wine.

Even in Tarija, the closest place to ideal for grape growing in the country, the grapes are grown at serious altitude. The nearly 1900 meters /6100 feet above sea level location for vineyards would make most serious wine producers crings. The additional proximity to the sun puts severe stress on the grapes requiring very thick-skinned varieties.

For this, Tannat is perfect. This very thick-skinned red grape, indigenous to France, but grown mostly inland in South America today is quite tannic (tannic and Tannat have some similarities) and produces bold red wines.

An interesting little tidbit is how to identify a Bolivian Tannat tasting blind. The key, and it must be from what else is planted in Tarija and its surrounding is not the blackberry and raspberry notes which are common to Tannat, but the finish that is brimming with artichoke hearts!

Pair your Bolivian Tannat with a flank steak garnished with those same artichoke hearts and you will have a local treat.

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