Exploring Brazilian Wine Country
We live right next door to Brazil. But, to be fair, it is still a 4-hour flight to get to the principal wine regions, so the term “next-door” is relative when dealing with such a massive country. But we have travelled to the country several times, my brother-in-law lives there in fact so you would imagine we would know what to expect, right? Wrong! Brazil really surprised us this time.
We had never been to the far South before, and despite spending nearly a decade being involved with wine tourism, we had never tried a single Brazilian wine. We couldn’t even imagine what the wine regions of Brazil would look or feel like, or how Brazilian wine would taste. I would guess very few of you have tried wine from Brazil. In any case, forget the stereotypical images of micro-bikinis on Copacabana beach, the Christ the Redeemer and Iguacu Falls, Brazilian wine country is a whole other animal.
Before we headed south, we were invited to attend ProWine Sao Paulo in October 2024. This is a huge wine trade show and provided our first taste of Brazilian wine. There were hundreds of Brazilian wines on show, plus hundreds from many other parts of the world. But forget those others for now; we had our sights set on Brazilian sparkling.
We had heard that traditional method sparkling wine from Brazil was right up there with Champagne, Cava, and Franciacorta. We quickly discovered that indeed it is, and later, as we continued our explorations in the wine regions of Serra Gaucha and Serra Catarinense, we found high quality in other wine styles too. I am sure much more will be written within these pages regarding this recent investigation trip, and about the many others we are sure to make with clients, but all that is too much for this first blog on Brazilian wine country.
What I would like to do here instead is offer a snapshot of a lovely day out in a small area of Serra Gaucha, to get your juices flowing, and provide an example of some of the fantastic experiences you can enjoy in the area.
Visiting Monte Belo do Sul
This small village is about a 25-minute drive from Bento Goncalves, the city at the heart of the Serra Gaucha wine region. Spending the day in and around Monte Belo is not difficult as there are plenty of wineries, restaurants and the highlight for us, a cooperage.
The MesaCaza cooperage is the only barrel production facility in the south of Brazil, and it is a really interesting and delicious visit. Mauro, the grandson of the founder, speaks superb English, which is quite unusual in the area. Mauro and his father produce barrels primarily for ageing Cachaca but also for beer and wine.
They work with oak, as you might expect, but a new trend is emerging of working with Brazilian varieties of wood. Amburana, Balsamo, Cabreuva, and Grapia are being experimented with, amongst others, not only for Cachaca but also for other spirits, beers, and wines. As you can see in the photos, Mauro shows visitors around the production areas, explaining how the barrels are made, and then you enjoy a tasting of different spirits.
A major bonus at this cooperage is that we can arrange for our clients to enjoy a tasting of wines that Carol, of Seis Maos winery, creates using Indigenous Brazilian wood. Carol is Mauro’s girlfriend, and her boutique winery, Seis Maos (Six Hands), ages some traditional grape varieties in very unusual woods. Pinot Noir, for example, is aged in Grapia, Teroldego in Castahna-do-Brasil, and she also has a rose aged in Cabreuva. All of her wines tasted great, but the Pinot Noir was especially delicious.
Mauro and Carol suggested we eat at a restaurant in the village square, an Italian place called Francesco Trattoria. We are so glad we did. People drive a long way to eat here and the food, service and ambience were superb. We highly recommend this for our clients; it fits perfectly between the cooperage visit and an afternoon tasting at a nearby winery. The pasta dishes we tried were fresh and delicious, one of the best Italian meals we have ever had. And what a beautiful restaurant too!
After such a great lunch you have lots of wineries to choose from to cap your day off really nicely. The one we tried on this day was Vinicola Somacal, founded in 1925. At the Somacal winery, the owner Graziela is very often the person explaining the array of wines and conducting the tasting. Not only is there a selection of great wines to try but the winery also produces some delicious liqueurs also.
Depending on how your timescale is looking there might be the chance to squeeze in an extra tasting at another nearby winery, of which there are many. One of the major benefits of wine tourism in the Serra Gaucha is that there is such a density of wineries to visit, that you are never more than 5 minutes from the next place, and sometimes even less!
This is a quick example of what you can enjoy on a Brazilian wine tour based out of Bento Goncalves, and if this sounds like something you might enjoy please drop us a line and let us plan the perfect experiences for you.
