Maipu (Mendoza) vineyard tours

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We took a vanbus around Maipu (vineyard area just south of Mendoza) in the morning to tour two (very different) vineyards.

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Photos

Wine barrel tomb
Cool, dry storage for many French Oak barrels of wine.

Vineyard - Oil drill
Oil drilling is also an important industry (though considerably smaller than wine) in the Mendoza region -- the second highest-producing region in Argentina.

Irene sneaking a grape off the vine
Are you allowed to do this?

Bob too
does this guy even like fruit?:

Grape smusher
Grapes get dropped down, ground around, and the liquid drains out.. (or something like that)

Glacial melt cooling
The small, family-run vineyard (Cavas de Don Arturo) that we visited used a system that ran water diverted from Rio Mendoza (which is fed by melting mountain snows) thru pipes surrounding the fermentation tanks, to keep the temperature down. One of their tanks uses this natural cooling system, while a second uses a more modern, technical cooling system.

High-tech wine production
The large, industrial vineyard we visited second ("La Rural"), was a contrast in wine producing methods and machinery. Here are some big, shiny, complicated-looking machines used in the process.

Big barrel, small barrels
The large French Oak barrels were used in the past, but now the smaller versions are preferred for reasons of diversification - i.e., if a barrel goes bad, only a small amount of wine is affected.

Bob takes a sip
thought I saw a drip leak out...

Irene scaling barrels
Looking pretty ecstatic...

Wine-making museum artifacts
The large, industrial vineyard that we visited second ("La Rural") housed the "most comprehensive wine-making museum in the Americas". A large shed-like building was covered from end-to-end, floor-to-ceiling with old wine-making artifacts.