A wine-themed tour of beautiful Uruguay

It might not have a Machu Picchu or an Iguazu Falls, but Uruguay is my favourite South American country, said Julia Buckley in The Times.

A place where it's exceptionally easy for visitors to find "cat- in-the-Sun contentment", a trip here is less about "bucket-list sightseeing" and more about enjoying "bucket-list bliss". Uruguay has gentle, green landscapes and huge Atlantic beaches. Montevideo, its capital, is "simpler, daintier, less highly strung" than its giant neighbour, Buenos Aires. And it has beautiful resort towns, excellent restaurants, and – the focus of my latest visit – remarkable wineries. These are not as famous as Argentina's or Chile's, but they are quite as good, and several have attractive hotels, allowing for a "heavenly" wine-lovers' tour of the country.

A good place to start is Bracco Bosca, 30 miles east of Montevideo along the vast Rio de la Plata estuary. Founded five generations ago by Italian immigrants, it produces "wonderful" wines from grapes including syrah and petit verdot.

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The "star of the show", however, is tannat, or Harriague. This "oddball" variety is usually blended with cabernets in France because its high tannin content makes it bitter – but in Uruguay, it yields "gutsy-but-elegant" reds, and has become the "national grape". In 2020, Bracco Bosca's owner built two "modernist" cabins among the vines – delightful places to stay, and from which to visit two new winery restaurants nearby, Cerro del Toro and Las Espinas (where the filet mignon is "worth the airfare alone").

Further along the Atlantic coast lies José Ignacio, an "upmarket" beach resort that is a "foodie heaven" (don't miss the tapas bar Solera; its owner has created a map of the country's wineries – see mapadelvinouruguay on Instagram). In the hills to the north, there's another "top-notch" winery restaurant, Viña Edén, and a great vineyard hotel, the Luz Culinary Wine Lodge – a "dreamy" place with eight rooms and a "baguette-slim" infinity pool.

Journey Latin America has a 12-night trip from £3,853pp, excluding flights.