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Published: March 7th 2017
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Today we rented bicycles and toured some wineries. The weather was overcast and cooler and very comfortable in the mid 70's. It was perfect for biking and there was no wind.
The first winery was a small family owned winery. The owner gave us a tour. He was very passionate about wine making. He spoke only Spanish, but was still able to convey his information to us. He instructed in the wine making process and the aging process. He discussed the importance of proper storage of the wine and the care of the cork to maintain the seal. He also gave instruction on the removal of the cork as well as the proper temperature for serving the wines. He explained his wines including the blended wines to obtain the proper balance in the wine. Again, this was all in Spanish, and despite a good understanding of the language he was able to convey his information. We tasted several wines including his blended wine. The wines were wonderful!
Next we rode our bikes to one of the larger wineries. This winery was one of the oldest wineries in the area. The tour was in English. After the tour of the
winery that included instruction in the wine process and aging and bottling we were allowed to go into the vineyard and sample the grapes. The grapes will be harvested in the next seven to ten days, so they were absolutely perfect! They were very small, but had exceptional sweetness and flavor. They were the Malbec variety. Next we had a three course lunch with a wine pairing. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed the company of a couple from Australia. We had a different wine with each course. Our glasses were then refilled, and then refilled again. We had great conversation and a wonderful meal. The couple from Australia was also on bicycles, so we decided to head to the next winery together.
The next winery was another small family owned winery. The owner explained the wine process and the aging process. The owner's son was also making beer and was bottling the beer, so we were able to see the hand bottled and capped beer in process. We had another wine tasting and then also beer tasting in a vine covered garden. We spent more time in conversation with our new Australian friends and then parted ways.
We dropped our bikes back at the bike shop and walked the 3 blocks back to our hotel.
I did also manage to take some photos of birds today. I spent some time in the courtyard at our hotel by the pool this morning and got a couple of birds. I missed one at the winery when we were in the vineyard. It was a very bright green, but I never got a good look at it and did not get a good shot with the camera. The tour was moving on to have lunch, and despite the fact that I wanted to get the picture, I could not risk missing out on lunch! Priorities!
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Mary Guell
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Birds ID's getting Harder
Your brown bird in the awesome mud nest looks like a Rufous Hornero also called a Red Ovenbird (National Bird of Argentina). The Robin- like bird appears to be a Rufous Bellied Thrush. The last bird is some type of Columbiformes (dove, pigeon) but can't tell what. The winery tours and tastings look like so much fun, esp by bike, if you can keep them in the upright position. When you get back you can tour the local wineries on your new Motorcycle. Did you see that Pete is in the drawing for the Webster's Sweepstakes?