Uruguay wine on the rise in Japan

Uruguay’s message at ProWine Tokyo 2026 was not about scale, but of a small, quality-led origin still building its reputation in the Japanese market, reports Noriko Nakamura.

With 10 Uruguyan producers showcasing their wines at ProWine Tokyo, and a Tannat Day presentation hosted by the Embassy of Uruguay in Japan on the eve of the show, the South American country looked to build its standing in the market.

Paula Vila, marketing manager at Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura (INAVI), Uruguay’s national wine institute, put that scale into context. Uruguay has 184 wineries, 51 of which export, while more than 90% are family-owned. Annual production is around 90 million litres — modest for an entire wine-producing country — while exports account for about 10% of this volume, with Brazil, the US and the UK among the leading markets.

For Uruguay, Asia, including Japan, is therefore a longer-term development opportunity rather than an immediate volume play.

Japan as a market influencer

Within that setting, Bodega Garzón offered a clear commercial example at the fair. Emilia Barabino, Garzón’s Asia & Oceania export manager, said the winery’s relationship with its Japanese importer will mark its 10th anniversary next year. She described Japan as “the core” of Garzón’s Asia-Pacific strategy, noting that trends established there can influence other Asian markets several years later.

Part of that appeal is stylistic. Barabino defines Garzón wine’s calling card as “balance, elegance and harmony”, shaped in part by the estate’s position 18km from the Atlantic Ocean, which brings freshness and a saline edge. Tannat remains Uruguay’s emblematic grape, but the wines shown in Tokyo pointed to a more polished, freshness-driven expression of the variety, alongside a broader range led by Albariño, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

Balasto, released through La Place de Bordeaux, gives the estate a premium reference point, but the broader message was one of stylistic range rather than a single-flagship story.

Range matters

That range matters in Japan. Barabino describes Japanese consumers as “sophisticated and elegant”, well educated and open to discovery. For a market that values quality, food compatibility and origin, Garzón’s combination of Atlantic freshness, a more refined take on Tannat and the gastronomic appeal of Albariño gives Uruguay a credible route into the Japanese market.

The context is not without headwinds: the weak yen continues to affect the economics of imported wine, while global wine consumption remains under pressure. Against that backdrop, Garzón’s approach is built less on short-term volume than on steady work with its importer, including education, consumer tastings and regular wine dinners — a realistic route in a market where recognition must be built bottle by bottle.

Stable democracy

The embassy presentation added a broader national frame. Speaking at the event, Ryo Kuroishi, director of the South America Division at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described Uruguay as one of Latin America’s most stable democracies, with an advanced economy and a mature food culture to match. While Chile and Argentina have so far led the South American category in Japan, he noted that Uruguay’s refined, high-quality wines are still better known among specialists than among the wider public, and expressed hope that they will become more widely recognised in Japan.

For Uruguay, Japan is not primarily a volume opportunity. It is a market where individuality, freshness and gastronomic relevance can carry commercial weight. Garzón’s work in Japan shows how those strengths can be translated into a clearer, more commercially relevant position for Uruguayan wine.