Culture of Uruguay
Encyclopedia
Contemporary Uruguay
an culture is diverse in its nature since the nation's population is one of multicultural origins. The country has an impressive legacy of artistic and literary traditions, especially for its small size. The contribution of its alternating conquerors, Spain
and Portugal
, and diverse immigrants -Italians
, Germans
, Swiss
, Russia
ns, Jews and Armenia
ns, among others- has resulted in traditions that integrate this diversity with Native American
elements. Uruguay has centuries-old remains and fortresses of the colonial era. Its cities have a rich architectural heritage and an impressive number of writers, artists, and musicians. Carnival
and candombe
are the most important examples of Africa
n influence by slaves, as well as Umbanda
religious beliefs and practices. Guarani traditions can be seen in mate
, the national drink. The folk and popular music of Uruguay shares with Argentina
not only its gaucho
roots but also the tango
.
Influential since the 19th century. Well-known Uruguayan painters include realists such as Juan Manuel Blanes
, constructivists such as Joaquín Torres García
, nativists like Carlos María Herrera
, post-impressionists such as Pedro Figari
and Felipe Seade
, abstract artists such as Carlos Páez Vilaró, and numerous others.
Well-known sculptors include realists Pablo Atchugarry
, José Belloni
and José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín
, as well as contemporary sculptors such as Juan José Calandria
, Águeda Dicancro
, Hugo Nantes, Claudio Silveira Silva
, Mariví Ugolino
and Carlos Páez Vilaró, who created an internationally renowned "livable sculpture," Casapueblo
.
, folk
and waltz
, as well as local forms such as murga
, candombe
and milonga
. Uruguay's annual Carnival
is a major event with many unique features distinguishing it from those of its neighbours. Rock
, jazz
, pop
and other Western musical genres also enjoy great popularity in Uruguay.
is Ariel by José Enrique Rodó
(1871–1917). Written in 1900, the book deals with the need to maintain spiritual
values while pursuing material and technical progress. Florencio Sánchez
(1875–1910) wrote plays
about social problems that are still performed today. Juan Zorrilla de San Martín
(1855–1931) wrote epic poems about Uruguayan history
. Juana de Ibarbourou
(1895–1979) and Delmira Agustini
(1866–1914) were also notable poets. Modern Uruguayan writers include Juan Carlos Onetti
(author of No Man's Land and The Shipyard), novelist Mario Benedetti
, social critic Eduardo Galeano
, Mario Jesús Moraes
.
Protestant groups (about 2%). Macumba
and Umbanda
, religions of Afro-Brazilian
origin, are the currently fastest-growing religions in Uruguay.
Spanish
is the official language of Uruguay and is spoken by almost all of the population. English
is common in the business
world though it is a minority language, as are French
and Italian
. Other languages include Portuguese
and Portuñol
, a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese. Both are present in northern regions near the Brazilian border.
Uruguayans rival only neighboring Argentina in their consumption of beef
, primarily at gatherings known in the continents as asado
s. The parrillada (beef platter), chivito
(a substantial steak sandwich), and pasta are the national dishes. The latter is due to Uruguay's many Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Other Uruguayan dishes include morcilla dulce, a type of blood sausage cooked with ground orange fruit, orange peel and walnuts, and milanesa
, a breaded veal cutlet similar to the German Wienerschnitzel. Snacks include olímpicos (club sandwiches), húngaras (spicy sausage in a hot dog roll), and masas surtidas (bite-sized pastries). Typical drinks include mate
, tea, clericó (a mixture of white wine and fruit juice), and medio y medio (part sparkling wine and part white wine).
(also known in Uruguay as Harriague) have been increasing in Uruguay each year as that country's wine industry develops and the counry is considered the second Tannat notable region after Madiran
, France
. The Tannat wines produced here are characterized by more elegant and softer tannins and blackberry
fruit notes. Vineyard
s in Uruguay have begun to distinguish between the "old vines" that are descendants from the original cuttings brought over from Europe and the new clones being produced today. The newer vines tend to produce more powerful wines with higher alcohol levels but less acidity and complex fruit characteristics. Some wineries utilize both vines to make blends. Now the wines typically spend about 20 months in oak prior to release. Today it is often blended with Pinot noir
and Merlot
and is made in a variety of styles including those reminiscent of Port
and Beaujolais
.
, is a medical doctor specializing in cancer treatment
.
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
an culture is diverse in its nature since the nation's population is one of multicultural origins. The country has an impressive legacy of artistic and literary traditions, especially for its small size. The contribution of its alternating conquerors, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, and diverse immigrants -Italians
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns, Jews and Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
ns, among others- has resulted in traditions that integrate this diversity with Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
elements. Uruguay has centuries-old remains and fortresses of the colonial era. Its cities have a rich architectural heritage and an impressive number of writers, artists, and musicians. Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
and candombe
Candombe
Candombe is a musical genre that has its roots in the African Bantu, and is proper of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil .Uruguayan Candombe is the most practiced and spread internationally and has been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity...
are the most important examples of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n influence by slaves, as well as Umbanda
Umbanda
Umbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with Catholicism, Spiritism and Kardecism, and considerable indigenous lore....
religious beliefs and practices. Guarani traditions can be seen in mate
Mate (beverage)
Mate , also known as chimarrão or cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink, particularly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern states of Brazil, south of Chile, the Bolivian Chaco, and to some extent, Syria and Lebanon...
, the national drink. The folk and popular music of Uruguay shares with Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
not only its gaucho
Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...
roots but also the tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
.
Art
Juan Manuel Blanes
Juan Manuel Blanes was a noted Uruguayan painter of the Realist school.-Life and work:Blanes was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1830. He was raised by his mother, with whom he relocated to the countryside in his early teens...
, constructivists such as Joaquín Torres García
Joaquín Torres García
Joaquín Torres García , was a Uruguayan plastic artist and art theorist, also known as the founder of Constructive Universalism...
, nativists like Carlos María Herrera
Carlos María Herrera
Carlos María Herrera was a Uruguayan painter.Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Herrera began his studies there under the instruction of Pedro Queirolo, later relocating to Buenos Aires for two years at the Círculo Estímulo de Bellas Artes...
, post-impressionists such as Pedro Figari
Pedro Figari
Pedro Figari was a Uruguayan painter, lawyer, writer, and politician. Although he did not begin the practice until his later years, he is best known as an early modernist painter who emphasized capturing the every-day aspects of life in his work...
and Felipe Seade
Felipe Seade
Felipe Seade was an Uruguayan painter and teacher of Lebanese descent who spent most of his life in Uruguay.Seade was born in Santiago de Chile, the elder son of a Lebanese immigrant family. Eleven years later his whole family moved to Montevideo, Uruguay...
, abstract artists such as Carlos Páez Vilaró, and numerous others.
Pablo Atchugarry
Pablo Atchugarry is a Uruguayan sculptor. He is noted for his marble work, which are public pieces in several towns in Lombardy, Italy. Atchugarry has held more than 80 solo and collective exhibitions worldwide.-Biography:...
, José Belloni
José Belloni
José Belloni was a Uruguayan sculptor of the Realist school.- Biography :José Belloni was born in Montevideo, in 1882. His family returned to Europe in 1890, however, and the Bellonis settled in Lugano, Switzerland...
and José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín
José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín
José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín was a Uruguayan sculptor.One of the pivotal sculptors from Uruguay, he have significant impact in the monuments of the capital city of Montevideo...
, as well as contemporary sculptors such as Juan José Calandria
Juan José Calandria
- Biography :File:Juan_Jose_Calandria.jpg|Juan José Calandria - 1939File:Sculptor Juan_Jose_Calandria.jpg|Juan José Calandria - 1962Calandria was born in Canelones, Uruguay in 1902....
, Águeda Dicancro
Águeda Dicancro
Águeda Dicancro is a Uruguayan sculptor from Montevideo, noted for her plastic art. Her art is featured at the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales in Montevideo.-References:...
, Hugo Nantes, Claudio Silveira Silva
Claudio Silveira Silva
Claudio Silveira Silva was a Uruguayan sculptor.-References:*This article was initially translated from the Spanish Wikipedia....
, Mariví Ugolino
Mariví Ugolino
Mariví Ugolino is a Uruguayan sculptor.-References:*This article was initially translated from the Spanish Wikipedia....
and Carlos Páez Vilaró, who created an internationally renowned "livable sculpture," Casapueblo
Casapueblo
Casapueblo is the house of noted Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró located in Punta Ballena near Punta del Este, Uruguay. It is a homage to the artist's son Carlitos Paez, one of the sixteen survivors of the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571...
.
Music
Uruguayans enjoy musicals such as tangoTango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
, as well as local forms such as murga
Murga
Murga is a form of popular musical theatre performed in Uruguay and in Argentina during the Carnival season. Murga groups operate in Montevideo and at the Buenos Aires Carnival, though to a lesser extent than in Montevideo; the Argentine murga is more centred on dancing and less on vocals than the...
, candombe
Candombe
Candombe is a musical genre that has its roots in the African Bantu, and is proper of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil .Uruguayan Candombe is the most practiced and spread internationally and has been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity...
and milonga
Milonga
Milonga can refer to an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of music which preceded the tango and the dance form which accompanies it, or to the term for places or events where the tango or Milonga are danced...
. Uruguay's annual Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
is a major event with many unique features distinguishing it from those of its neighbours. Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and other Western musical genres also enjoy great popularity in Uruguay.
Literature
One of Uruguay's most famous works of literatureLiterature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
is Ariel by José Enrique Rodó
José Enrique Rodo
José Enrique Rodó Piñeyro was a Uruguayan essayist. He called for the youth of Latin America to reject materialism, to revert back to Greco-Roman habits of free thought and self enrichment, and to develop and concentrate on their culture.He cultivated an epistolary relationship with important...
(1871–1917). Written in 1900, the book deals with the need to maintain spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
values while pursuing material and technical progress. Florencio Sánchez
Florencio Sánchez
Florencio Sánchez was a Uruguayan playwright, journalist and political figure. His artistic work unfolded in the River Plate region...
(1875–1910) wrote plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
about social problems that are still performed today. Juan Zorrilla de San Martín
Juan Zorrilla de San Martín
Juan Zorrilla de San Martín was a Uruguayan epic poet - he is referred as "National Poet of Uruguay" -and political figure . He is featured on the 20-peso note.-Well-known poems:...
(1855–1931) wrote epic poems about Uruguayan history
History of Uruguay
This is about the history of Uruguay.-Pre-Columbian times and colonization:The only documented inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrua, a small tribe driven south by the Guaraní of Paraguay...
. Juana de Ibarbourou
Juana de Ibarbourou
Juana Fernández Morales Vd.ª De Ibarbourou, also known as Juana de América, was a Uruguayan poet of Galician origin. She was one of the most popular poets of Spanish America...
(1895–1979) and Delmira Agustini
Delmira Agustini
Delmira Agustini , a Uruguayan poet, is considered one of the greatest female Latin American poets of the early 20th century.-Background:Born in Montevideo, the daughter of Italian immigrants, Agustini was a precocious child...
(1866–1914) were also notable poets. Modern Uruguayan writers include Juan Carlos Onetti
Juan Carlos Onetti
Juan Carlos Onetti was an Uruguayan novelist and author of short stories.A high school drop-out, Onetti's first novel, El pozo, published in 1939, met with his close friends' immediate acclaim, as well as from some writers and journalists of his time...
(author of No Man's Land and The Shipyard), novelist Mario Benedetti
Mario Benedetti
Mario Benedetti was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet....
, social critic Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego and Las venas abiertas de América Latina which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and...
, Mario Jesús Moraes
Jesús Moraes
Jesús Moraes, , Uruguayan writer, born in Bella Unión, Artigas Department, Uruguay, who specializes in short stories.-Subject and nature of writings:...
.
Religion
Uruguay is South America's most secular country. It has no official religion and church and state are separate. Religious freedom is guaranteed. Sixty-six percent of Uruguayans are Roman Catholics. Most Uruguayans baptise their children and marry in churches but less than half attend church on a regular basis. There is a small Jewish community in Montevideo (about 1% of the population) as well as several evangelicalEvangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
Protestant groups (about 2%). Macumba
Macumba
Macumba is a word of African origins. Various explanations of its meaning include "a musical instrument", the name of a Central African deity, and simply "magic". It was the name used for all Bantu religious practices mainly in Bahia Afro-Brazilian in the 19th Century...
and Umbanda
Umbanda
Umbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with Catholicism, Spiritism and Kardecism, and considerable indigenous lore....
, religions of Afro-Brazilian
Afro-Brazilian
In Brazil, the term "preto" is one of the five categories used by the Brazilian Census, along with "branco" , "pardo" , "amarelo" and "indígena"...
origin, are the currently fastest-growing religions in Uruguay.
Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
is the official language of Uruguay and is spoken by almost all of the population. English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
is common in the business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
world though it is a minority language, as are French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. Other languages include Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
and Portuñol
Portuñol
Portuñol or Portunhol is the code-switching of Portuguese and Spanish.The word portunhol is a portmanteau of the words Portugués/Português and Español/Espanhol ....
, a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese. Both are present in northern regions near the Brazilian border.
Food and beverages
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
, primarily at gatherings known in the continents as asado
Asado
Asado is a term used both for a range of barbecue techniques and the social event of having or attending a barbecue in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil. In the former countries asado is also the standard word for barbecue. An asado usually consists of beef alongside various...
s. The parrillada (beef platter), chivito
Chivito (sandwich)
Chivito is the name of a sandwich-style national dish in Uruguay, and consists primarily of a thin slice of filet mignon , with mayonnaise, black or green olives, mozzarella, tomatoes and commonly also bacon, fried or hardboiled eggs and ham. It is served in a bun, often with a side of French fries...
(a substantial steak sandwich), and pasta are the national dishes. The latter is due to Uruguay's many Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Other Uruguayan dishes include morcilla dulce, a type of blood sausage cooked with ground orange fruit, orange peel and walnuts, and milanesa
Milanesa
The milanesa is a common meat dish mostly in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, as well as in other American countries to a lesser extent, where breaded meat fillet preparations are known as a milanesa The milanesa is a common meat...
, a breaded veal cutlet similar to the German Wienerschnitzel. Snacks include olímpicos (club sandwiches), húngaras (spicy sausage in a hot dog roll), and masas surtidas (bite-sized pastries). Typical drinks include mate
Mate (beverage)
Mate , also known as chimarrão or cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink, particularly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern states of Brazil, south of Chile, the Bolivian Chaco, and to some extent, Syria and Lebanon...
, tea, clericó (a mixture of white wine and fruit juice), and medio y medio (part sparkling wine and part white wine).
Wine
Plantings of TannatTannat
Tannat is a red wine grape, historically grown in South West France in the Madiran AOC and is now one of the most prominent grapes in Uruguay, where it is considered the "national grape". It is also grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Peru, and in Italy's Puglia region where it is used as a...
(also known in Uruguay as Harriague) have been increasing in Uruguay each year as that country's wine industry develops and the counry is considered the second Tannat notable region after Madiran
Madiran
Madiran is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.It is the centre of a wine producing area.-Madiran wine:Wine is produced around Madiran under three Appellations d'Origine Contrôlées : Madiran for powerful red wines primarily from the grape variety Tannat, Pacherenc du...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The Tannat wines produced here are characterized by more elegant and softer tannins and blackberry
Blackberry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the Rubus genus of the Rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. The plants typically have biennial canes and perennial roots. Blackberries and...
fruit notes. Vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
s in Uruguay have begun to distinguish between the "old vines" that are descendants from the original cuttings brought over from Europe and the new clones being produced today. The newer vines tend to produce more powerful wines with higher alcohol levels but less acidity and complex fruit characteristics. Some wineries utilize both vines to make blends. Now the wines typically spend about 20 months in oak prior to release. Today it is often blended with Pinot noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
and Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...
and is made in a variety of styles including those reminiscent of Port
Port wine
Port wine is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine, and comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties...
and Beaujolais
Beaujolais
Beaujolais is a French Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée wine generally made of the Gamay grape which has a thin skin and is low in tannins. Like most AOC wines they are not labeled varietally. Whites from the region, which make up only 1% of its production, are made mostly with Chardonnay grapes...
.
Smoking
Roughly 1/3 of Uruguayan adults smoke tobacco, according to Uruguayan research groups. On March 1, 2006, a law went into effect banning smoking in all enclosed public spaces in Uruguay, including restaurants and bars, among the toughest smoking bans worldwide and the strictest in Latin America. The penalty for businesses that allow smoking is a fine of roughly US $1,100 or a three-day closure. One opinion poll found that 70% of smokers supported the ban. preceding President of Uruguay, Tabaré VázquezTabaré Vázquez
Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas is a former President of Uruguay. A physician by training, he is a member of the leftist Frente Amplo coalition . Vázquez was elected president on October 31, 2004, took office on March 1, 2005, and relinquished the office on March 1, 2010...
, is a medical doctor specializing in cancer treatment
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
.
External links
- Uruguayan Government Portal
- Uruguayan writers in Centro Virtual Cervantes http://cvc.cervantes.es/el_rinconete/anteriores/agosto_04/09082004_02.htm