Day 5 - Argentina - Lujan de Cuyo

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May 3rd 2006

Published: May 13th 2006

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Released!

After taking statements and finishing the documentation, the Policia released Bryan and he was free to go taste more wine in Argentina!

The view at Carlos Pulenta in the morning was even more spectacular than the night before. We went to post our blog but the Internet connection was not working.

Breakfast was amazing. On the table was an elaborate spread of freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh fruit medley, toast, jams, café, croissants, yogurt and granola, eggs and bacon. It was beautifully presented and as we sat there overlooking the sun and the gods shining down on our vineyard estate … ah, right, we were guests here … oh well, we can dream, can’t we?

Reflecting on our good fortune, Jo-Anne commented,

Do we really have to leave here?

We decided to go straight to Vina Alicia and skip Dominio del Plata since our entire schedule was based on being at Pulenta Estates, not Carlos Pulenta.

We had our pictures taken with the man himself, Carlos Pulenta, and then left the Posada for Vina Alicia.

The Best Made Plans …

To get to Vina Alicia we had to go through Lujan de Cuyo. The streets are wide and not well marked and the drivers are insistent.

While driving along the main street, Avenida de San Martin, we started to proceed through a light

Carlos Pulenta - View from Room

We had a beautiful view of the Andes from our room. Amazing ...

at Tomas de Santa Cruz and BAM, we were hit by a large white truck.

No one was injured (and no wine bottles broken). Fortunately we were not going very fast and both Bryan and the other driver swerved at the last instant to avoide a collision, thus minimizing the impact and damage. But our car was clearly disabled.

Bryan called Avis and explained the situation and asked them to deliver the replacement car to Vina Alicia.

We gave Avis Gustavo Arizer’s mobile telephone number to call for directions. Gustavo works with his father at Luigi Bosca, a large, established bodega in Argentina and helps to craft the wines at Vina Alicia.

A young man watching our incident spoke English and helped us with the Policia, who had now arrived at the site. We pushed the car clear of the intersection, then hopped in the back of the police car and were taken directly to the police station.

One travel tip for you all is that the back of the police cars in South America are not made for tall people! And, yes, it is true that once you are in the police car, you

Carlos Pulenta - Fermentation Tanks

Carlos Pulenta has limited production facilities to make their fine wines.

can’t open the door to get out unless they let you out. Go figure ...

Everyone at the police station was very polite and kind, although communication was a bit tricky. We were at the police station for a few minutes and then, to our surprise and delight, Gustavo from Vina Alicia arrived!

He was our interpreter, attorney and wine consultant all in one. The police copied the relevant documents, took down statements and filled in forms. While they were doing that, Gustavo was explaining the history and philosophy of Vina Alicia - being in the police station it was quite surreal.

Then, Avis called Gustavo and confirmed that roadside assistance was at the accident site to pick up the car and that a new car would be delivered to the bodega within an hour. Since Bryan couldn´t leave the Policia station, Gustavo and Jo-Anne went to retrieve the luggage (in the trunk of the disabled vehicle). The one true casualty of the day was our GPS, which remained in the rental car.

After the paper work was completed, Gustavo drove us to Vina Alicia.

Vina Alicia

Vina Alicia is a high-end boutique winery, which

Carlos Pulenta - Carlos Pulenta

Here we are with Carlos Pulenta. Carlos was a very gracious and sincere host, offering to help with anything we needed in Argentina. He is a kind person.

it has been said to have the best Malbec in the world. They focus on very low yields and everything is done by hand. The large family bodega is Luiga Bosca and it allows Gustavo’s father (Alberto) to experiment with the boutique bodega of Vina Alicia.

Vina Alicia is Alberto's research project and a means of allowing him to make a ‘true’ and ‘pure’ Malbec. Gustavo’s mother, Alicia (for whom the bodega is named) is integrally involved in the process and tastes every barrel. She is also the primary marketing force and was actually in the U.S. when we visited the bodega. Alicia's objective is to produce top-of-the-line, elegant wines that consumers will love. Vina Alicia's wines are intended to be flagship wines of Argentina.

Gustavo opened two wines for us to taste. He told us he only selected two because he really wanted us to taste and enjoy them. He said to us

I spend a year and a half creating this wine for you and you spend less than 10 minutes on it!

We enjoyed a full hour in the cellar with Gustavo and tasted the following:

(1) 2003 Vina Alicia Malbec - WOW, whoever said this was the best in the world was right; this was dark and mysterious yet elegant, with blackberries,

Crash!

OK, we did have a problem at the intersection of Avenida de San Martin and Tomas de Santa Cruz. We believe the lights were the problem, not the drivers (or at least not Bryan!).

cloves, black pepper and some licorice; it was big and jammy and had an incredibly long finish that stayed in your mouth long after your taste; $80; we rated this wine a 10/10.

(2) 2002 Vina Alicia Morena - this wine is a blend of 80%!C(MISSING)abernet and 20%!M(MISSING)erlot; it had the signature cassis flavor withplums, cherries, some blueberries; it was a complex wine and had some chocolate and vanilla in the nose with a mild coffee cream finish; $50; we rated this wine a 9.8/10.

Gustavo’s passion for wine and his enthusiasm for Vina Alicia and Argentina were intoxicating. We learned an incredible amount from Gustavo and we are indebted to him for helping us at the police station.

Thank you

just doesn’t seem enough.

After transferring our luggage from Gustavo’s truck to our car, we are back on the road and headed to Bodega Ruca Malen for lunch. Yes, we bought three bottles of wine - both of the bottles that we tasted (Malbec and Morena) and their Petite Verdot.

Bodega Ruca Malen

We were received at the winery and, being slightly late (which should now be apparent as a common theme here), we

Policia - Bryan

Since our car was not driveable, we chose to join the policia on our way to Mendoza Policia 11. (And that´s Bryan´s story.)

skipped the tour of the bodega and went straight to our table for an amazing three course gourmet lunch paired with their signature wines:

(1) We started with the 2004 Bodega Ruca Malen Chardonnay - a golden color with a vanilla and fruity nose, some oak, medium finish; we rated this wine a 7.2/10.

(2) With our starter of sweet corn tortole with roasted onions, eggplants and zucchini we had the 2004 Bodega Ruca Malen Malbec - this wine had a light bouquet of jammy blackberries; a medium Malbec; we rated this wine a 7.4/10.

(3) With our main course of beef tenderloin ‘Al Disco’ served with roasted onions, chard and tea cream sauce, we had the 2002 Bodega Ruca Malen Cabernet Sauvignon - this wine had a nice concentration of depth and color, cassis bouquet with a peppery finish; we rated this wine a 7.5/10.

(4) With our cinnamon and cheese mousse with pears arrope of malbec, we had the 2002 Bodega Ruca Malen Malbec Kinien - this is their top wine; deep purple color, long finish of blackberry liqueur, full bodied and strong tannins; we rated this wine a 8/10.

While we were

Policia - Jo-Anne

Bryan was the driver so Jo-Anne wasn´t really concerned. Even if she was in the back of the Policia car and she couldn´t open the door.

having lunch, a couple was seated at the table next to us. It was the same couple that were at dinner at La Bourgoyne last night!

We continued our conversation from the La Bourgoyne and learned that Carole and Ron live in Mexico and have a passion for good wine. They were staying at Cavas Wine Lodge. Interestingly, Carole went to McGill University in Montreal and both of their children chose to go to McGill as well. We are learning just how small the world is!

Bodega Terrazas De Los Andes

With a lunch like that you don’t actually make up time. We were supposed to be at Terrazas at 3:00 PM. And we had an appointment at Dolium at 4:30 PM. We left Ruca Malen at 3:30 PM determined to stick with the schedule.

We had been introduced to Terrazas a year ago at the KTEH Wines of Argentina fund raiser. It was our 9th wedding anniversary and our trip to Chile and Agentina was just formulating in our mind. At the Terrazas tasting booth we met Sheila Stundon and after outlining our trip plans she surprised us with a bottle of Terrazas Afincado, which is their top

Mendoza Policia Lujan de Cuyo

Yeah, the Policia station. Not a good place to be in South America.

wine. She had also arranged for our tour today and so we knew we could not miss it.

We were met at the bodega by Clarisa Murekian. The bodega is beautiful and hosts a guest house that you can stay in while visiting Mendoza. It is an old Spanish-style winery originally founded in 1898. The renovations to create the new, modern bodega incorporate parts of the old world winery.

After apologizing for our tardiness and explaining that we still had to travel south to our hotel in Valle de Uco, she gave us an abbreviated tour of the facilities (jncluding several photos of us) and then took us to the tasting room to taste Terrazas’ reserva wines.

We tasted the following wines:

(1) 2005 Terrazas Reserva Chardonnay - this was a light medium bodied Chardonnay, apple, pear fruit; we rated this wine a 7.1/10.

(2) 2004 Terrazas Reserva Syrah - you cannot buy this wine in the U.S.; it was a big tasty syrah; ripe red fruit, full bodied, oak, tannins, black cherry; we liked this wine the best; we rated it a 7.8/10.

(3) 2004 Terrazas Reserva Malbec - this was a moderate

Gustavo and Bryan

Gustova was Bryan´s counsel, translator and wine consultant, all in the Mendoza Policia station!

Malbec; big and easy to drink with a good finish, jammy; we rated this wine a 7.0/10.

(4) 2004 Terrazas Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon - strong tannins, needed some air, jammy; we rated this wine a 7.4/10.

After our tasting we were once again surprised by the generosity of our hosts when Clarisa presented us with a bottle of their newest late harvet release for our anniversary. It is impossible to describe the kindness and sincerity of the Argentine people but our experiences are certainly a good example.

Bodega Dolium

After our abbreviated tour at Terrazas, we are now 30 minutes late for our appointment at Bodega Dolium. Bodega Dolium is characterized by its lineal architecture in an underground setting. It was designed by Mario Giadorou who put all of the production facilities underground to use nature to the greatest extent possible.

The story of Bodega Dolium is a sad story. This was the dream and passion of Mario Giadorou who immigrated to Argentina from Spain in 1961. When Mario retired in 1997 he immediately set out to build his dream bodega. The construction was started in October of 1997 and completed in February of 1998. He

Vina Alicia - Gustavo and Jo-Anne

Gustavo explains the vineyard around Vina Alicia to Jo-Anne. Notice the beautiful sky in the photo.

built his dream and has made some excellent wine. He was featured in the November 2004 edition of Wine Spectator and his Malbec has been highly rated. Unfortunately, in 2005 he passed away and in some way, a piece of his bodega has gone with him.

We were escorted around the property by Mario’s gracious wife, Ema. We went on the tour with another family and Ema switched effortlessly from Spanish to English. After the tour, she asked us to wait while she tended to the other family so she could taste with us alone. We tasted the following wine:

(1) 2004 Dolium Malbec - this was described to us by Emma as a ‘young wine - not very important’ but a good drinking wine for everyday; it was fruity, plumy, and pleasant; $8; we rated this wine a 7.5/10.

(2) 2004 Dolium Syrah - this was a big, spicy, jammy wine; 14.5%!a(MISSING)lcohol; we rated this wine a 8/10.

We purchased a 2002 Dolium Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon ($33) and will raise our glass to Mario when we open it with our friends.

Valle de Uco

Now we are back on the road. It’s almost

Vina Alicia - Dense Planting

Here you can see the dense planting of the vines where Vina Alicia stresses the fruit, concentrating the flavors and intensifying the production.

dust, we are without our GPS and once again, have only a wine map to guide our way.

We easily make it to Tunuyan and eventually found the turn off to Corlina Las Rosas. But now we are a little bit lost. We are pretty much in a small Argentine town and our first stop for directions is not particularly fruitful. There was a lot of Spanish talk and English talk but no real communication. Next, we stopped at a small shop and although they spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish we were able to get accurate directions and we found our way to Valle de Uco Lodge.

Valle De Uco Lodge

The lodge is nestled away into the countryside. It is a quaint lodge recently built that has 6 rooms. Our room is nice and looks out over vineyards. We settle in and then go in search of an Internet connection. The only place we can hook up is in the office. It is already late and we have had a pretty full day (to say the least!). So instead of blogging, we opted for a bottle of wine next to the fireplace.

At

Vina Alicia - Bodega

We were amazing at the modest and small facility that produces the best Malbec in Argentina - wow!

the fireplace we meet Pete and Jane from Florida. Pete is a university professor (American and European literature) and Jane operates a travel website. We ended up having dinner with them and had interesting discussions about wine, travels and family. They were on a travel tour with their good friends and unfortunately one of their friends got sick in Mendoza and had to go to the hospital. They were clearly worried about him and we wish them safe travels back to Florida.

By the end of the day we are thankful for the silence of the Argentine countryside. Our day tomorrow is not scheduled to start until 11:00 AM so we can blog in the morning. Sleep comes easily.