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Published: March 11th 2018
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Negotiating a sale
In the San Juan Centro Market. Our last full day in San Juan was spent wandering the central city watching as folks just lived their lives...and of course visiting some vineyards!
It took us a while to figure out all the roads and the parking system, but once we did we left the car for three hours while we window shopped and Argentine watched in the central part of San Juan. Like Mendoza, the city has blocked off several main streets in the center part of town and made them into pedestrian malls. They are full of restaurants, artisans, musicians, and shops....a delightful way to hail your neighbor, meet a friend, sit and enjoy a coffee or wine.
We had lunch at a grill where we could sit and watch the cook manage all sorts of meats and sausages over hot coals that he would rake under the grill from a raging fire in the back of the kitchen.
We set off down Rte 40 to the south to find a few more places to learn about wine making and sample the wares. First stop was Miguel Mas, a very small operation that makes sparkling wine--the entire process from harvest
Sparkling wine
Hand bottled and racked, once the sentiment filters down it is into the freezer. to bottling by hand! They first squeeze the juice, which we sampled from the cooler, and then fill bottles, adding the yeast and sugar in each bottle to exacting measure. Then they cap the bottles, put the upside down, and let mother nature work her magic. Of course, this leaves sentiment so they put each bottle upside down in a chest freezer. The sentiment sinks to the neck and freezes, the wine does not. So then one of the staff who is expert in this takes each bottle and upcaps it with the sparkling wine literally blasting the sediment out. Quickly a cork is pushed on to the bottle, the wire trap tighten, and then the bottle is, as they said, 'put to sleep' for a year. They offered to take one out of the freezer and open it for us, but we could not see wasting all their work just for a look and a taste.
Next we headed to Vinas de Segisa. However, the route to the bodega was all torn up with a new water system being installed. We decided to try and make it anyway but soon ran out of road. Ahead of
Friendly guides
The family that helped us find our way to the vineyards us was a young couple that seemed to know where they were going....they did, to the home of an older woman that was baking bread. One of them spoke good English and with the help of the woman we figured out how to detour, using Calle 14, to get to the vineyard. Despite its name, 14th Street, it turned out that Calle 14 was a one track dirt road, expanding to two tracks on occasion. About 1Km down the road there was a car stalled. The driver waived us down and asked if we could give him a push--as we were pushing his car to allow him to pop the clutch and get started we could not help but notice the "This auto protected by Difunta Correa" sticker in the back window. Perhaps she sent us to him...you think?
Vinas de Segisa is in a very old building and the real treat here, aside from the tasting, was the visit to the cellars. Dark, dusty, everything you want to imagine about a vineyard's cellars. Each alcove was stacked with bottles and the doorway held markers that told you what was there and when it had been bottled.
Just laying around
A stack of Malbec Reserve from 2002 waiting for the right moment......I wanted to write my name in the dust on the bottles. My favorite was a small pile of Malbec dated 2002 and covered in dust....I can only imagine what this will taste like. To know when the wine is ready, each year the vintner takes one bottle from each pile and tastes it...my next career.
Final stop was at Las Marianas. This 98 year old vineyard only produces one wine, but does it really well. After the earthquake in 1944 this bodega was redesigned with all of its fermentation tanks underground...enjoying a steady 54 degree geothermal rest while it makes the magic happen.
We toasted the day with a bottle of Syrah from yesterday's visit to Azul Sierras and tomorrow will say adios to San Juan and head to the south of Mendoza for our final stop.
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