Uruguay: The Basque Vine

Why did a Basque immigrant fleeing the Carlist Wars plant a vine from the Pyrenees on the banks of the Uruguay River in 1870 — and how did that single decision produce what may now be the healthiest red wine grape in the world? How does a pre-phylloxera cutting, preserved in Uruguayan soil while the original European stock was wiped out, become a living archive of a grape that no longer exists in its original form in France? And what does it mean that Uruguay didn't pick Tannat — Tannat picked Uruguay?

Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Uruguay and the Basque vine — the Carlist Wars, the old vines, the cardiology research, and the smallest nation ever to win the World Cup...

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