Mr. Hugo

Yesterday was another one of the best days I've had on this trip and probably in my life. Originally we tried to sign up for a wine bike tour through our hostel but it filled up quickly so we decided to do it on our own. Mendoza has a ton of wine districts that are about 20-40 minutes outside the city. One of the most popular is Maipu where people go to rent bikes and follow the wine bike route, which is about 20k and brings you past nine or so different bodegas. Most of the places are wineries but there's one chocolate and liquor factory and an olive oil factory.

Guide books and word of mouth led us to Mr. Hugo's bike rentals. The Mr. Hugo experience lived up to its popular reputation. Mr. Hugo is an older man, maybe 60 who opened up his home to make a living off of renting bikes to tourists. His location is at his house, the yard has tables and chairs to hang out and the bathroom is literally inside his house. He was one of the friendliest people I've ever met- I can't imagine having so many people around my house all day every day but Mr. and Mrs. Hugo love it and really are there to make sure you have the best possible experience. Patrick's bike broke in the middle of the route and he got a ride on a police moped (hilarious/I don't know how to spell moped?) to the Vina Cena winery who contacted Hugo and within 30 minutes he pulled up with an extra bike. So nice! He was great, loved to talk and laugh and hang out with the tourists. I should mention one of the reasons he gets such great reviews is because you get as much free wine as you want when you get back from the tour.

First we stopped at the chocolate and liquor factory which was really adorable. It's a tiny family business run in a small kitchen and all the products are made by hand. It made me really happy to see all these family businesses and wineries that have been passed down for generations and are still going strong and sharing their life with visitors. For 10 pesos we got a tour and some samples. I tried their chocolate mint liquor, which was absolutely amazing and an interesting wine type drink that was very sweet and served heated up, it kind of tasted like christmas. The chocolate was obviously amazing as well. We continued on to the bodegas, each of which were 4-9 k apart from each other so we got some good exercise on the way. Each place was very different with totally different styles and methods of wine making, etc etc. We skipped the big industrial winery as everyone agreed that the smaller family run places were the best to see.

The first bodega was Vina El Cerno. I think it was the most beautiful place I saw on the tour. The vineyard stretched out forever and behind it the Andes provided a nice background. We ate lunch here outside on a small patio in front of the barbeque where for 25 pesos you get a typical Argentine asado with salad, bread and carne. Before lunch I experienced my first wine tasting. Sort of awkward when you know nothing about wine except for the different types of Franzia... But it was awesome, we sampled 10 different types and passed them around in the order the woman suggested. Even though I'm no wine expert it was easy to tell they were all really good wines and the two mature wines, a malbec and a cabernet were incredible. I learned a lot about the wine making process, the scents, the taste, etc etc. I might actually sound like I know what I'm doing next time I order wine. We ate outside in the sun and each treated ourselves to a glass of their nicest wine. By the time we left everyone was starting to get that wine happy buzz. A forewarning for anyone else who does this, make sure your bike is in good condition, you remember how to ride one and don't cross the line from buzzed to drunk. We were completely fine but there were a few close calls on the way, I'm amazed no one wiped out.

Next was Tempus Alba, a nice modern place that was less personal than the others and a bit more industrial. We had a glass of their malbec on a really pretty rooftop terrace where everyone sat and soaked up the sun for a while. I should mention we had picked up quite the group for this trip. Patrick and Darash and then this English kid we met at the hostel named Chris. Everyone was having such a good time and got along perfectly. Somehow I lucked out because those 3 were hilarious and kept the entertainment going all day.

The next was Familia Di Tomaso, the oldest winery in Argentina. It was really impressive with huge underground brick wine cellars that are still in use today. The tasting was great and everyone was at the perfect level of wine drunk, the one where you can't stop smiling or talking and are just completely content and happy with life.

Finally we saw an olive oil factory called Laur where we did a tour and got some great samples of bread, sundried tomatoes and olive oil. Mr. Hugo gave us 2 bottles which we split between the 6 of us and then walked us to the bus station to head back to the city around 8. It was Scott's last night in Argentina so we went out to a tenedor libre recommended by Hugo himself and after to the brewery Antares for some beer to switch things up a little bit after drinking wine all day. Overall one of the best days ever. Lizz you have to do this when you come to Mendoza!

Off to Cordoba for a night with Charlie then monday to B.A. and home tuesday. I am so pale I'm going to scare people when I get to the beach. F.

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