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Published: November 1st 2009
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We are now in Mendoza, a city wine lovers must know. It is famous for its
Malbec wine.
We left Santiago early towards Mendoza, the bus drive was advised to us as one of the nicest commercial drives in the country. It crosses the andes and passes the highest peak in the chain, the
Cerro Aconcagua .
The trip was well worth it. We took a road through a valley and up over slopes, passing little streams running of the mountains, following a worn out train track along a river, where it would enter tunnels (some of which had already fallen in), dodge huge bolders of rock, and disappear under lose gravel from the tall peaks beside it. All along the Chiliean side the slopes and verges were coverd with blooming
yellow poppys.
We had a few americans next to us (they are everywhere) who had fun taking pictures. So much, that they actually took one every 4-10s with the sound of birds sining coming out of their camera every time, or the false sound of the lens closing. Thank god I had some headphones with me, I could admire the views with the sweet sound of good old Bob Dylan.
We arrived
in Mendoza and took a taxi to our hostel, which turned out to be a shit hole. Not really dirty but worn out and run down. We then decided to walk around and look for a new one, which was rather easy. We got to a street full of bars and found a nice, cheap and welcoming hostel right in the middle of all these bars. Most nights we spent just sitting outside drinking beer in the warm evening sun and just relaxing.
One night we decided to participate in an "all you can eat
Empanada party" including free tequila. This turned out to be shit, as the music playing went from a Michael Jackson remix video including must of his songs, to Spice Girls and then on to the
Shrek theme tune.
The free tequila wasnt much good either as you only got some if you stepped out of the surrounding crowd and placed your head backwards other the bar and let some crazy marradona lookalike poor it all in your hair. We ended up leaving with a girl from denmark, one two kiwis and our room mate, all packed inside a taxi. The one kiwi has been living here
for a few years and managed to persuade the driver taking 6 people with him. By the time we got to the "bar street" everybody was in such a hurry to get out and strech the legs, that we fogot to tip him. Bet he wont do that again.
Then two days later came our big wine tour....
We got picked up at around 10am already feeling the heat of the sun and were taken to the first vineyard where we would learn how to taste, smell and visualize the wine.
After trying to different wines, an 8 year old Malbec (2 years in an Oak cass) and a cabernet sauvignonwe got on our bikes and started the journey towards the oldest wineyard in Agentina, now declared a national heritage site.
The work load here is rather small compared to bigger factorys, the average production is around 150000 bottles a year or something like that.
Guided around the lovely old building, having a look in side the casts, which were made up of german bricks and english cement, we felt like being sent back in time.
They also had a wine, Malbec of course, which was harvested in 2004,
a great year for the wine in arg, and left in the oak barrels for 1/12. This wine was only filled into 4667 bottles ands is a collectors wine. As they only sell the wine from there house/yard they offer relatively low prices. And this wine was supposed to be up there with the best Arg wine in the country. Its so good that it doesnt have an official lable, the lable is hand written from the owner, and the bottle is also numbered. Unfortunately we didnt have enough money with us, and credits cards were not acceppted, as in most places in arg.
We tasted 4 different wines, a young Malbec, and Malbec roble, a cabernet sauvignon and a desert wine. These were all very good, and left us wanting more. But with the boiling hot sun, it was probaly best not to.
We continued our journey towards an olive farm. This tour was rather dissapointing, as the guide wizzed us around in the fastest way ever possible. But, the tasting was great, the oil was delicious and we also brought some olvie paste to smear on bread (which we did in BsAs, and it was mind blowing).
After eating dried tomatoes on bread drenched in oliveoil we left again on the bikes towards a organic vineyard, where lunch was planned and of course, more wine.
The trip to this one was about half an hour by bike, and it wasnt much fun, as the sun was banging it down on us, the wind was non-existence, and trees for shade? No chance.
We were glad to arrive in the cool stone storage halls. After a good taste of wine, a few people already taking the piss of the whole wine tasting methods, we sat down for lunch. We were served some great Empanads for starters, and then came some BBQ chicken with salad and a big glass of red wine. Perfect.
I had been talking to some guy from London for sometime now and found out that he is doing a bike trip from canada to the south of southamerica. He has been going for 18 months now, and has (depsite the oblection from his mother) the map of his trip tattooed to his arm. Would you like that mum?
He has been filming his trip the whole way, editing the vids on the road. I
had a great laught with him and also got to witness one take from a new vid on Argentina. If anyone is interested, here is his page
brainrotting.com The final stop was a choclate factory, which turned out to be the garage of an old womans house. On offer she had different liquors, ranging from chocolate with mint to rose petals and berries. Also loads of different conserved fruit and veg jars were lined on the shleves. A massive oak cass of whiskey and her home made vodka and absinth could also be found in this paradise garage.
We were talked through this huge array of tasty goods by a good looking young women. She didnt mind the sometime slighty rude comments coming from brainrotting and others (yes including me), as she must of guessed that we had some wine.
We then at last sat down to taste the liquors, I went for russian death, i was told that its a vodka based spirit mixed with pepper, but it was the name that got me excited. And I wasnt dissapointed either, it was absolutely great. Sadly we were only allowed one try, and as Diana also took the russian
death, i didnt get to try more. But I would bet that they were all good as no one seemed dissapointed with their choice.
When we got a taste of the chocolate, I chosse the one with orange and it must of been the best orange chocolate i have ever tasted. It was like eating god. hmmm....
oh well, after this fun and tasty last stop we went back to the hostel. Nothing much happend then, had a decent dinner, mexican food and some beer and then left the next day to Buenos Aires for the second time...
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