Uruguay – Spanish Language Variations & Wine Tour

We started the morning at Flora, a cafe a few blocks from our apartment. The issue we have had even though we both speak and read spanish is that the spanish language has variations and Uruguay spanish is no different.

Above is snapshots of the menu. Can you guess what queso dambo is? We didnt know and the translator app didnt help. We asked Chatgpt:

Queso Dambo (Uruguayan cheese)

A semi-soft, mild cheese widely available in supermarkets and delis. Colonial brand offers “Dambo para sándwich” and shredded hebras varieties  . It’s sold by weight (e.g., 500 g or 3.7 kg blocks), with prices around $300 UY per 500 g at Mercatino  .

Dambo (the company)

Dambo S.A. is a well-known Uruguayan agro-export firm specializing in grains like rice, soy, and seeds. Headquartered in Rivera, with major mills including a new rice-processing plant inaugurated in Treinta y Tres in Feb 2023 by President Lacalle Pou  . Led by CEO Zeferino Escosteguy  

So in essence, “Dambo” is a name brand of cheese similar to saying “Kraft” cheese in the United States.

What about palta? Turns out that is the word for avocado here which is notmally aguacate in Spanish.

Lomito is a small cut of beef.

After breakfast, I went for a walk to look for a network cable but stopped by at some fast food places to capture food costs. The menu below is from McDonalds. $400 Uruguay = about $10 USD.

If you want a bargain value meal, there is a franchise called Mostaza that sells the combo meal below for $259 or $6.40 USD.

For lunch, I cooked up the Gourmeat outside fajita skirt meat I bought the other day. It was great, however all the beef here has a consistent organic “earth” flavor. This has been true of the short ribs, ribeye steaks and the outside skirt. I suspect the cattle is served grass and not corn for the duration of their feeding. If you come from the U.S. and eat the meat here you may be put off by the flavor but this is what real organic meat is supposed to taste like!

On our way to our afternoon wine tour, we stopped by this butcher shop which is typical of all butcher shops we have seen so far. As you can see from the photo, the selection in limited and this shop has more cuts than the usual butcher shop. For a wider selection and premium cuts, you need to visit Gourmeat.

Below were some of the sample sales of the meat market above.

This is the city winery tour where we saw a short video about the history of wine making in Uruguay.

It’s a very nice place inside but if you need a wheelchair beware that this place has three stories and only stairs.

There is a cool room on the third floor that features an immersive 360 video room that shows the history of the Pizarro wine legacy.

A scene featuring the ocean from all side and bottom of room.

Our setting outside on the third floor. Pro tip: They change the wines every few months so don’t book multiple tastings on the same week as they’ll likely feature the same wines.

The food pairings that go with each wine. Brie cheese with walnut paired with white Albarino, a “hummus” dish paired with Nebbiolo wine, a salmon on toast paired with Syrah, an empanada paired with a Tannat, and a Tiramisu dessert paired with a Pizzorno reserve blend.

The Pizzorno logo on barrel.

The winner (the one we bought) wasnt part of the tasting, we asked to try the Pizzoro Tannat reserve and our host obliged.

We also picked up some Pizzoro olive oil and Tannat infused salt.

Lastly we ordered some empanadas to eat as dinner since it was getting late.

Back to apartment to do laundry….