Fine wine meets bastard palate

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Today Javier (son of the owner of our B&B) is taking us off for a tour of a few of Mendoza´s finer spots for tasting the vino ... his fine taste in selecting our stops from almost 2000 options in the region is pitted against my philistine palate.

So for my own benefit when I return, things to look out for in the supermarket are:
- Stop 1 - Alta Vista Torrontes ... white, crisp but fruity and a recession busting 5 pounds a bottle

- Stop 2 - Achavel Ferrer Dolce ... the pick of the tasting was a red dessert wine, much lighter than a port and a bottle has found is way into our baggage. However the fact that pricked up the ears of our 3 female American tasting companions was the fact that the place is owned by 3 young Argentinians: a lawyer; a pilot and a ski instructor who thought serving their own wine at bbqs would be a bit of a laugh. Now they make 150,000 bottles a year, gotta beat an afternoon in front of Excel.

- Stop 3 is the 5 course tasting lunch pairing a different wine with each course. Absolutely superb, Ruca Malen Cabernet Sauvignon is my pick

- Our final stop, Belgranos, is the coup de grace. Owned by a 60-something local who seems to like his wine almost as much as his women and the tour is an invite into his stunning house. The dining table alone must seat about 20 and is made from a single piece of rainforest timber (environmental concerns can wait). Anyhow what makes the place is our guide Juliet (a fitting addition to the clan apparently). This girl really loves her job ... and who can blame her when work involves drinking fine wine and travelling the globe researching how the best of the rest produce theirs. She breaks out the good stuff for the high rolling Americans (one of whom turns out to have a cellar of 700 bottles) and we tag along for the ride.

We left the Americans to their fine dining for the evening, only so much steak you can handle in a day. Bread and tomatoes in the room and a biopic of Ray Charles is as sophisticated as we could manage.

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