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Published: December 25th 2012
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Our Mendoza trip started off very well. Nice, sunny weather, and a quick ride to our hotel. Stephen's upgrade request (Starwood gives out these 'suite night rewards' after you have stayed a certain number of nights) had been approved, so we got to stay in a nice suite. We had some trouble getting into the room though, and had to switch to another room eventually. Not really an issue to us in any way.. But the hotel clearly thought it was, and a 'sorry for the hassle' cheese and meat platter and bottle of Malbec arrived to our room 10 minutes later. Well, so our lunch plans were settled then 😉.
That evening we went to the Vines of Mendoza, a wine bar/shop that offers tastings, for a 101 in Argentinian wines. The vast majority of Argentinian vino comes from the Mendoza region, so we were in the right place! We found for instance that the Malbec is not the only wine Argentina does really well, but we also 'discovered' the typical Argentinian wines of Torrontes (white) and Bonarda (red). On the way back from our tasting, we of course also had to try the other thing, besides steak and
wine, that Argentina is well known for: ice cream!! Ahh, the joys of traveling in Argentina! For our next day, we had something special scheduled. Our original plan had been to tour the wineries by bike. However, after reading many reviews and blogs (on a separate note: it's unbelievable how much time you can waste on things like that, life was so much easier in the time that you'd have your guidebook and that's it..), we decided to indulge and take one of the higher end wine tours with Trout and Wine. This was supposed to give us a much more special experience, as we'd see a more interesting mix of wineries, learn more, and taste more exclusive wine rather than only the entry level wines (are we becoming wine snobs 😉)? And another plus was that we wouldn't have to cycle in 35-40 degrees Celsius, which probably is a good thing when tasting wine..
And it was totally worth it!! As we were the only guests, we had a private tour with Victoria, a knowledgeable and talkative girl of my age, and our driver. Not only was she full of wine tips (e.g.: everyone always drinks Malbec young,
but you should try and keep a USD 10+ for a few years, and you'll notice it gets so much more interesting!), she also told us much about her life in Argentina in general. How she loves to travel but can't justify going outside of South America as it's so much more expensive and there is so much to see close by, how her grandfather, an economist, believes the recent surge is soy production is just another example of Argentina going all overboard on one thing which will just weaken the economy in the longer run, how the import restrictions do not only drive the price of electronics and such up to ridiculous levels (3000 USD for an iPad, anyone?), but also clothes, and many more things. You get the picture. One interesting topic for discussion is of course always Argentinian trade and monetary policy. The Argentinian government controls all the exchange from Argentinian pesos, and is trying to keep the exchange rate artificially high. Argentinians can't exchange money into a foreign currency unless they request it officially for a trip, and even then it's capped. But the people are finding a 1001 ways around this, although the government tries
to close more and more gaps. There is a thriving 'blue' (rather than black, don't ask my why.. ) market at a rate of about 20 percent lower. However,you need to know where to go, and hotel staff won't tell you. Victoria explained us how some of her guests had been successful in getting a better rate by going to the exchange just before closing, but as it was the weekend now we were unable to try this.. We were to wait until we'd get to Buenos Aires where Cecilia, Ines' friend, was kindly going to exchange money for us at the blue rate.
Anyhow, back to the wine! The tour provided a nice mix of larger and smaller wineries, giving us different kinds of experiences. We started off at Altavista, a larger winery owned by a French family. Victoria's connections paid off, and after the tour we got to taste double the number of wines the others did 😊. Whites, reds, accompanied by chocolate if we'd like some, sparkling wine, all very tasty. At 10 AM..ahum. Some of the really special ones apparently are only sold within Argentina, for over 100 USD a bottle.. Clearly a wine for
special occasions ! When we got to the next winery, after a long, private tasting, there was a group already waiting for us. At this winery, we tasted how the same grape grown under different conditions can make for such a different wine. It also showed off the potential of the Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon, which apparently is often underappreciated, in particular in the US where 'people have a very fixed idea of what a Cab should and should not taste like'. I can testify it's worth giving the Argentinian Cab a shot!
After two tasting sessions we were in need of a proper lunch, and fortunately that was exactly what was on the planning. We had a very tasty 3 course lunch at a winery with great views over the vineyards.. This winery was Swiss owned - most ground is apparently owned by Europeans, who typically can outbid the locals. The lunch was accompanied by 4 local reds, all poured at the same time so we could pick and choose what to combine with what. Bliss!
Then after a long, nice lunch it was time to head over to the last winery. Fortunately this was a bit of
a drive away, so it gave us some time to rest and relax in the car. Tough job, this tasting! The final winery was Carinae a small, boutique-y French owned one. It had been bought by the owners not too long ago, after the previous owners had gone bankrupt and the vineyards had been maintained by locals to sell the grapes only. It made some pretty tasty wine now though!
We wished we would have been able to buy some of the special wines we tasted, and take them home, but unfortunately shipping rates are incredibly high.. It had been an amazing day though, everything we had hoped for and more!
The next day, Sunday, we took it easy and did like the locals do: we enjoyed the beautiful parks, had a big tasty lunch, and relaxed. In the evening, we went to a nearby beer festival that Victoria had recommended to us. Live music, grilled food, and beer, at a comfy 30 degrees, what is there not to like? When we arrived around 9.30 PM it seemed a bit empty, but hey, this is Argentina, and indeed, by 11 PM it was packed. Many people had come
with little kids, and no one seemed to be even close to sleepy. Personally, I did not find the beer too interesting. Stout, honey beer, etc, it all seemed to be a bit weaker in flavour than I am used to. As it is with the wines, people probably prefer the fresher versions in this climate. Ah well, who goes to Mendoza for the beers anyway? The music was good, and when Babasonic (apparently huge in the 90ies), the final band, came on stage, everyone went crazy. ..a good night, that it definitely was..
And then, with pain in our hearts, we had to leave Mendoza the next day..
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