Uruguay is one potential up and coming wine producers in South America. It's wine history does not go back as far as other areas, dating back to just the end of the 19th century. At that point, Basque and Catalan settlers from Spain introduced Tannat, which is the most planted grape in Urguguay, and Petit Manseng. Uruguay gets a lot rain, so the risk of the crop being diluted is always present. In 1988, the Instituto Nacional de Vinivitcultura was started in an attempt to regulate the wine industry and introduce modern winemaking techniques. Most of the successfully exporting wineries are in the south, where the summers are warm.