Lets learn about wine!

One of the things I was most excited about on this first leg of our trip was heading to Anuva Wines in Buenos Aires to get some inside tips on the boutique wineries of Argentina and to learn something more about Argentine wines!

Argentina produces almost 75% of the world's Malbec, and we have been working our way through many different bottles of it on our trip so far. At Anuva we learned about several other types of grapes that grow in this region that I have never heard of before! The Torrontes grape is a white wine grape and is know as the "lying grape". It smells very sweet like a Muscat but doesn't taste sweet. It's the juxtaposition of the sweet smell and dry taste that make it so interesting!! 

We also tried a Bonarda grape that is the second most produced grape in Argentina that is mainly used for table wine. Not my favourite - even though they have improved the production techniques over the years... It still screams table wine. Sorry Bonarda. 

We tasted two different malbecs that had totally different characteristics, even though they were from similar regions in Mendoza. One was much lighter and spicier, and the other was dark and rich! My favourite was the dark rich Malbec... But maybe it was because the pairing was with a dark chocolate truffle! The wine made the chocolate taste even better (if that is even possible) 

If you are wondering how I could have possibly remembered all of this after what appears to be 5 glasses of wine... Worry not! I took so many notes - wine nerd for the win! 

So much so that I had to use the back 

Overall - I would highly recommend Anuva Wines. The knowledge they had was amazing, and the regional food pairings were perfect! They were pouring healthy servings and seconds of our favourites so I really can't complain. They also gave us some awesome recommendations for our upcoming trip

to Mendoza! 

Can't wait to put our new knowledge to the test in Mendoza!! 

Primero Parilla y Vino

We had our first bottle of Argentine wine in Argentina! 

It was $74ARG which is about $7 CDN depending on the exchange rate. It was delish! We were served it while waiting for a table at our first Parilla. In Argentina a Parilla is like a BBQ restaurant that serves delicious cuts of grilled meat. We had the flank steak, pork sausage,  and an Argentinian blood sausage. We dug in before I took a picture, but you get the idea 

Brad had already scooped the blood sausage off the platter.... But it wasn't really the favourite of the meal. The flank steak was awesome! I can't imagine what a better cut of meat would have been like! 

We can't wait to try out some more Parillas in the near future!! Brad says "if it isn't steak or wine, then I'm not interested!!"

 (I'm going to have some pizza though... Who are we kidding!)

We are here - and we are back!!

Hola amigos y familias!

Brad and I are back at blogging and now in South America! We arrived in Argentina after a 24 hour journey! Our flight took off from YVR at 6am and landed at LAX at about 8:30am. Our next flight didn't leave LAX until 1:50pm so we had time to kill. They are renovating LAX so that it is less lame... And let me tell you - it is getting very nice! Our favourite terminal was #5. 

After about an hour and a half of puttering around the terminals, we realized that our next flight was in a different new international terminal that we had to go outside to get to! We high tailed it over there and had to go through security again but made it to our next gate with tons to time to spare!

Our next flight was supposed to be direct to Santiago, Chile, but we found out that it actually stopped in Lima!! We didn't have to get off the plane, which is apparently why it wasn't explicitly noted. Lame none the less!

The plane we were on though was great though!! Tons of free food and wine and movies! We left LAX at 1:50pm PST and arrived in Santiago at 4:00am PST ish. At that point we finally found our gate to our final destination!

 Finally!! The end seemed nearby!

We boarded our plane to Buenos Aires and had a nap while we got there.  I woke up at one point and was acutely aware of how bright it was in the plane. I quickly realized that we were flying over the Andes. It was AMAZING! The picture doesn't do it justice. 

We arrived in Buenos Aires at 10:20am local time - which would put it at about 27 hours since we had left our place in Vancouver. We had a driver scheduled to pick us up for simplicity's sake. After the drive from the airport to our hotel I have a new appreciation for how some people drive. Squeezing your small car between two semi trucks while ignoring the lines on the road is truly an art. 

Finally arriving (somewhat safely) at our hotel we were told it would be another 2-3 hours before our room would be ready! Sorry nap - you will have to wait. We went out to explore the San Telmo neighbourhood in the rain until our room was ready. Our first impression was great - even in the rain! We went to a covered antiques market where one store had 3 antique 3D cameras (this one is for you uncle Dan!). 

We were also so impressed by the extensive street art.(more to come later!)

We finally got into our room and were able to enjoy some much needed rest!! Welcome to Argentina!!! We are so excited!