Mendoza Mendoza

Unbelievably, it’s been over a month (almost two by now, in fact) since I got back from Argentina. I only recently got a new computer to replace the one that died part way through my trip though, which means that I missed out on blogging about some of my favourite parts of the trip.

Once we left the rather harsh weather conditions of Patagonia (I have memories of running down the dirt road from the restaurant back to the hostel because it was so cold and windy), we hopped on a plane back to Buenos Aires. We had planned to go into the city and take an overnight bus to Mendoza, but on a whim we stopped by the ticket counter on our way out of the airport. They offered us a decent price on a flight leaving an hour or two later, so I bought my first last-minute airline ticket at an airport.

On our first full day in Mendoza we did an organized tour in the afternoon, visiting two wineries and a place where they made olive oil and dried fruit. (I bought a very small sample bottle of olive oil to bring home and though I’ve been savouring it, it’s almost gone and now I wish I’d bought more - delicious.) All the wineries around Mendoza are actually in outlying neighborhoods, not in Mendoza proper. We visited Chacras de Coria, Maipu, and Lujan de Cuyo. It was quite interesting to learn a bit more about the process and see the big barrels and cellars.

But for me the highlight of that day was our trip to the Vines of Mendoza tasting room when we got back into town. As if we hadn’t had enough wine that day (actually we’d only had a few samples), we ordered a tasting flight of Argentine reds and a platter of cheese. We sat at the bar, and our knowledgeable server, a Mendocino girl around our age, told us about each wine. My favourite was the Pulenta Estates Merlot 2005, which was said to have hints of eucalyptus and mint.

Afterwards we stumbled over to Ampora Wine Tours to book a day-long tour for the next day. I was delighted to see that Pulenta Estates winery was on the itinerary.

The next morning our tour guide Luciana (who, by the way, was excellent - super friendly and fun) picked us up at our hotel. First, we visited a bodega boutique called Clos de Chacras. It felt a bit strange to taste wines at 9am, but hey, you do what you have to do. We sat on couches in the tasting room and, for those of us who were new to tasting, learned about how to stick your nose in the glass and smell, swirl, and then smell again to get the secondary aromas. Tasty wines here - Caro and I both bought a bottle to bring home.

Next was my personal favourite, Pulenta Estate. I loved every wine we tried there and had a hard time deciding which one to buy to bring home. Then we headed on to Ruca Malen, where instead of doing a tour we sat down on a beautiful terrace in the winery's backyard to a five-course lunch. Each course had a wine pairing. I wasn't quite as crazy about the wine there, but the food was delicious. The main course was steak, which was probably the best I had on the whole trip. For dessert there was a cream cheesecake with dulce de leche - I don't usually go for such things, but it was heavenly.

Lastly, once we could barely see straight, we went to the Bodega Benegas, where I was introduced to the sangiovese grape for the first time.

Needless to say, by the time we boarded an overnight bus back to Buenos Aires later that evening, I didn't have a hard time dozing off.