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Finca Ogawa

We arrived in Mendoza early Monday morning (Feb 6th) after yet another overnight bus ride. The buses in Argentina are comfortable and generally quite good, however they are usually quite delayed! We were met by one of our hosts at the bus station and brought to a car rental agency. After signing away and loading our things into the small white chevrolet classic we were soon travelling south on the famous Route 40 toward Tunuyan and our accommodations at Finca Ogawa, in the Uco Valley region. When we arrived we immediately felt we were in heaven at this very peaceful and secluded vineyard/farm located about 8km outside of the main town. We very quickly met our neighbours, fellow Canadians and to boot, from Etobicoke! We chatted with them for a bit and were then greeted by our hosts. Barbara was so helpful and said that if there was anything we needed, don't hesitate to ask. We were shown the laundry facility (we were in desperate need of clothes washing), the chicken coop where the fresh eggs came from, the small vineyard, the vegetable garden with over 8 different types of veggies, the apple, peach and pear trees, and the 1000 raspberry plants all ripe and ready to be consumed... what more could we ask for! We quickly got dressed after settling in and drove out to Clos de Los Siete, Bodega DiamAndes for our first wine tour and tasting. Clos de Los (as we like to call it) is made up of five wineries and owned by seven different partners (mainly from France). The winery produces a very elegant and modern type of wine, which is extremely delicious... let the Mendoza wine tours begin!

The next day our winery visits continued and we went to O. Fournier, which came highly recommended. This vineyard was just in the stage of early harvest for sauvignon blanc so we got to share in the experience of the process. Many features of this bodega stood out as they have an entire garden of rosemary (roughly 800 feet square) over top of the main cellar - the rosemary provides absorption of the heat from the sun, keeping the cellar (one of the largest in Argentina) naturally cool... a very intuitively engineered design! In keeping with the design, the winery itself is constructed vertically, using the power of gravity to move the wine through its stages of processing (rather than using pumps of any kind). After a few tastings we were on our way and satisfied by yet another Mendoza bodega. This day culminated with a typical Argentine asado prepared by Chris... chorizo and bife de lomo; one of the best cuts of meat we have had so far, with a side salad... oh how the Argentines know what they are doing!

Wednesday was yet another highlight as we went to Andeluna winery for the highly recommended lunch. We enjoyed our meal on a veranda overlooking the vineyards with the Andes as our backdrop, and was is it ever special. The chef catered flawlessly to Liz's allergy and we enjoyed mouth watering gourmet cuisine with, of course, perfectly paired and delicious wines! A tour of the vineyard and processing facilities took up the rest of our day before we headed back to the Finca for our home-cooked chicken dinner, braised in a criolla salsa made using the fresh herbs and veggies from the garden - deelish!

For our last day on the Finca, we planned a "do nothing day" - this included relaxing on the patio, reading books, eating freshly picked fruit, and playing with the dogs (yes - Liz made some new friends during this part of the trip!). As a gift from our hosts we were treated to a horse cart ride around the farm - we each took turns "steering" the horse and thankfully there were no collisions! For our last meal we enjoyed a multi-course asado, with Chris expertly manning the grill once again. We started with burgers, followed by beef and veggie kebabs, bbq potatoes, and bife de lomo... a meal not for the faint of heart (nor for vegetarians!). Some of Mendoza's finest Malbecs accompanied the meal perfectly and our last dinner on the farm was certainly a memorable one.

La Maison

Our second stay within Mendoza county proved to be quite interesting as well as memorable! After dropping off our rental car, we were picked up by our host Stephane (a sommelier-chef and Michelin Star restaurant manager back in France) and taken to La Maison, a lovely B&B in the valley of Lujan de Cuyo (another Mendoza wine region). After arriving we enjoyed some delicious coffee and relaxed by the pool side, reading books and enjoying the glorious weather. After taking the customary siesta, we headed into the town of Chacras de Coria for a late dinner (late, because the earliest that any of the restaurants open is 8:30 pm!).

On Saturday we went with Stephane to tour three very different wineries. Our first stop was Alta Vista, which produces great wines, specifically a very interesting and unique Torrontes (a white wine, made from a grape native only to Argentina). As Stephane has some close connections at these wineries he acted like he owned the place, which worked out quite nicely - we were even able to taste their icon wine. Our next stop was at a completely organic and biodynamic winery, Familia Cecchin. It was amazing to see the difference in how these vineyards look as compared to a regular winery. As our very enthusiastic guide explained, the vineyards comprise an entire ecosystem! After a short tour we sat down under a giant old walnut tree to enjoy lunch, which included some dishes typical to the region... needless to say, everything was delicious! To accompany our lunch we selected a very balanced bottle of red wine from the shop and after this, the rest was history... thanks to Stephane's connections (he is close friends with the family that runs the winery) we found ourselves at a table with the owners and a local sommelier of Mendoza, sharing several special bottles and even tasting some wines that haven't been released yet! To say that this was a special and unique experience would be a significant understatement. When we were finally able to pull ourselves away from this glorious afternoon, we headed on to the last winery, Bodega Pulmary. This was a completely different experience, truthfully a little underwhelming after our amazing time at Cecchin, but interesting nonetheless - Pulmary is a very small family-operated, artsy winery, which includes a tasting room in what was once a large fermentation tank (there are still sugar crystals on the walls to prove it!). The highlights of this place included tasting wine directly from the concrete tank, as well as the discovery of a surprisingly enjoyable malbec rose... perfect for hot summer days!

After wrapping up our day of special wine tours and tastings, we headed back to La Maison where Stephane prepared an excellent dinner for us starting with a small green salad on top of a potato and zucchini paty, a 400g striploin steak sauted with mushrooms in a red wine reduction sauce (which included delicious mushrooms from France) and of course accompanied by a little more wine from Cecchin. The next day we enjoyed another "do nothing day", this time relaxing by the pool and even taking a little swim. On Monday we walked around the city of Mendoza, searching out (and finally purchasing) a small suitcase in which to transport our bounty of wine.

On Tuesday, we boarded our "El Rapido" bus bound for Santiago. After a few overnight buses we were happy to take this one during the day, as even though it is about 7 hours, we were told that the scenery is incredible. Well, we were not disappointed. For most of the ride out of Mendoza, our view (from the very front seats on the upper deck of the bus - yes, strategically planned) was as though we were about to drive into the Andes at any moment. The twisting and turning road finally brought us to the Argentina-Chile border, where thankfully, we had a better experience than the Costa Rica-Panama crossing. However, they are quite strict about what you bring into Chile, so of course, out of our entire busload, our 2 bags were the only ones singled out! (Thankfully they were not too concerned about our jars of dulce de leche and we were quickly on our way). The most exciting part of the drive came right after the border, when we descended through 27 switchbacks (180 degree turns on a very narrow road on the mountain pass Paso Internacional Los Libertadores. A few hours later we were in Santiago, Chile!

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