A quick perusal of wines in local liquor stores yields bottles from France, Australia and South Africa. There are even Latin American wines from Chile and Argentina. But you'd be hard-pressed to find one from Uruguay.

Soon, that will change.

One company is working to make Uruguayan wines available to Oklahoma consumers as early as the end of the year.

Gaucho Wines Director Haile do Valle Peixoto stayed in Norman for about a month ending Oct. 15 in order to set up sales to liquor stores in Oklahoma.

Uruguay wines are not available in Oklahoma at this time. Some large-scale wineries in Uruguay export their wines to vendors in the U.S., but mostly to large cities on the coasts, do Valle Peixoto said.

There are many wineries in Uruguay, which has an extensive and old wine-making industry, he said.

"We have a pretty good quality of wines," he said. Gaucho Wines is a company formed to represent five mid-size Uruguayan wineries for export to the U.S., he said.

"We try to help these guys to sell here," he said.

The company is starting out in Oklahoma because it is a fairly small market in which to test its products, he said. The company hopes to expand to other states in the region.

"Oklahoma, it's like a test for the country because it's very small market and they know about wines," do Valle Peixoto said.

The time is right to begin exports to the U.S., he said. The signature Uruguayan wine is made from the tannat grape, which creates a red wine.

"The people from the U.S.A., they want to take the red wines," do Valle Peixoto said.

Norman resident Ken Feagins, who hosted do Valle Peixoto during his visit, said the people he met with about introducing Uruguayan wine were excited about the prospect.

"We hope to have it here by the end of the year," Feagins said.