Mendoza Day 2

On our second day in Mendoza we went to 3 wineries in the Luon de Cuyo valley. The Luon de Cuyo region is the oldest wine growing region in Mendoza, and we were able to tour some vines that had been planted since the 1920s!

We got a driver for the day - Claudio - who was a great guy and told us a lot about the region! The first vineyard we went to was Achàval Ferrer. I unfortunately didn't take any photos at this winery, but it was beautiful (it was still early in the morning!). It was on the banks of the Mendoza River - which has actually been dry for the past 5 years due to irrigation. Claudio and I were making some awesome jokes about all of the water sports we should do on the "river". "Let's have a swimming race across!"; "Let's go canoeing!" - I'm hilarious. Haha. 

I digress! This winery is the place that put Argentinian wines on the map internationally. It's 2010 Bella Vista Malbec was ranked as one of the top 10 red wines in the world. We were able to taste three 100% malbecs right from the barrel. Each Malbec was grown in a different wine region at different altitudes, but was produced using the same technique. They all tasted so different it, was really interesting!! I had never tasted from the barrel before - and I have to admit, I could taste the youngness of the wines. I would LOVE to try their aged Malbecs. Overall - great winery definitely worth visiting! I only wish I could have bought some of their wine!

Our next vineyard I took tons of pictures. Our host for the (private!) tour was AMAZING! Her passion for wines and Mendel winery was incredible. The vines here were planted in the 1920s. 

Side note - roses are planted EVERYWHERE in Mendoza! They are meant to distract the bees from the vines. 

Our host told us all about how they grow the grapes! In order to create new vines, they don't clone the vines, they plant one of the branches of the existing vine and eventually another vine will grow out of it. Once the vine is established, they will cut the connection between the two. Super cool! 

They also showed us their wine tanks and barrels. The building where they make the wine is original to the property - so is almost 100 years old! 

I also learned something new about the winemaking process here. They do not crush the grapes! If you crush the grapes, you can damage the seed inside and it will release a bitter taste into the wine. What they do is drop the grapes from about 2 stories up into a barrel and they break open on their own. Everything they do at this vineyard is very natural. I loved it here! 

Our last winery of the day was Melipel. We had a 5 course tasting lunch! Each course was paired with one of their wines! Before lunch, we got a tour of the winery. 

A lot of French oak is used in this area. They only use it 2-3 times before they dispose of it. Their best wines get the new oak, and then their lower end wines get the second and third uses. 

Lunch was delish!

After a full day of tasting - we were a bit tipsy. I saw this HUGE aloe plant and insisted on brad taking a photo of me with it. In the rain. Isn't it huge!!!

The verdict on day one of wine touring - Brad and I both say the best wine was at Mendel. I think the best overall experience was at Mendel, and Brad thought it was Melipel. 

Tomorrow we are off to the Uco Valley!

Mendoza Day 1

So it has been a while since we have posted.... It's because we have been in a wine coma since we arrived in Mendoza! Now that we are safely in Iguazu Falls, I have some time to write a blog post! We are currently waiting for our shuttle bus to the falls and have some time to kill... So here we go!

I'm not sure if everyone was aware - but Brad and I took a 13 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. We splurged on the "Cama" which is essentially a lay flat seat! We were both pretty excited for the experience! Our bus left at 8pm and was supposed to get into Mendoza at around 9:30am. 

The extra fun part was at about 4:00am when our bus broke down. Apparently they were working on it for a while, but then another bus came along with enough space to take everyone on our bus. So we were abruptly woken up and told (en Español) to take all of our things and leave. In a parking lot. In the middle of nowhere. Anyhoo... It all worked out and we arrived in Mendoza about 1.5 hours after we were supposed to. No biggie. ;) 

Now onto the good stuff! The wine! We arrived at our hotel - which is also a working winery - Club Tapiz! 

We were greeted by Monica who immediately helped us set up reservations with wineries for the following days. It was SUCH a wonderful place to stay and I highly recommend it. We were in the Casa Zolo part of the place - which used to be the governors residence many years ago.

The grounds are beautiful!

On our first day there we enjoyed some complimentary Tapiz wine at Casa Zolo, and then headed to the evening wine tasting on site with Alejandro! It was wonderful to meet the other guests and be toured around the property- wine glass in hand!

Look at how big the wine barrels are! They aren't in use anymore though. 

It was an amazing way to start our trip in Mendoza!! Our next post will be day 2 in Mendoza- when the real wine tasting begins!!!

San Telmo Sunday Market

One of the main reasons I wanted to start off our stay in Buenos Aires in the San Telmo neighbourhood was proximity to the San Telmo Sunday Market. It is mainly an antiques market, but it has so much more than that. There was a wide variety of artists, musicians, street performers, artisans, and street food vendors. It starts at Plaza Dorego and fills the whole square. 

After we checked out the main square we thought we were done - but no! It continues on for at least a dozen blocks all the way to plaza de mayo. 

We spent the whole day wandering around! The antiques stalls are mainly in Plaza Dorego and when we started up the street we were greeted with more handmade items, trinkets, and street food! Some of the more interesting items were entire stalls of small hand painted model soldiers and tanks, stalls full of crystal, stalls with records, and barbies, and hot wheels, and shoes, and I could go on! The strangest thing was that more than one stall had Nazi paraphernalia - like actual SS badges and pins. It was very shocking. 

We stopped for lunch at this Parilla (Argentine BBQ). 

(I was clearly unaware that this photo was being taken...) 

They had Lomo (steak) and Choripan (pork sausage) on buns. It was grilled right in front of us and we topped it off with some chimichurri! So delicious!! And while we ate there were two guys playing tango music. A great experience!

After lunch we continued wandering! I got a handmade brass bracelet that I love and Brad got some churros! 

This is actually Brad's second churro experience. We didn't catch the first one in a photo because we were getting verbally accosted in Spanish by a man wearing his baby and demanding that we give one of our churros to his other child. But since we've been here that has been our only negative encounter! The Argentine people are very open and welcoming! 

We had some time to kill so we found a nice little courtyard and had a bottle of wine. (Despite the sun... It was really chilly... Hence the blanket-like scarf!)

Fuelled by liquid courage, Brad and I went back into the market for some real negotiating and purchasing! I got a painting: 

I think it's wonderful!!! I got a picture with the artist too, who was a lovely woman who really didn't speak any English. 

Brad got some cuff links that he had been looking at earlier in the day. Brad was able to talk the woman down on the price despite the fact that she didn't speak any English and was very hard of hearing! So at times we thought our Spanish was bad... But it turned out that she just couldn't hear us! 

Overall a very successful day and our last day in Buenos Aires for about a week! I can't wait to go back.