Off to Rivera

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1-23-12 Monday

After the weekend in Montevideo, we are all anticipating the time we spend in the country. After an early wake up we are on our way to pick up the others at their hostels. Max was easy to find where as Ben on the other hand was still sleeping so Francisco could not find his hostel and we rode around until we thought we saw it. The morning was very foggy both physically and mentally because of the early wakeup, so there wasn’t much of a view for the first few hours of the trip. We made a quick stop in Los Violettas before we made our way to the north. The vineyard here is rested in a small hill with miles of grapes, a lot of the land is new bright red clay waiting to be irrigated and planted. With the rain from the night before the soil is the same terracotta red as the natural clay pot that I have my basil planted in back home. The color contrasts against the green leaves and grass that surrounds the rows. There are a small amount of workers in the field sampling the grapes so early in the morning. At the time I didn’t even think about it, but we too will be doing this for the next few weeks. The rest of the ride to Rivera was composed of sporadic conversations of where we are from and our family we have left back home followed by bouts of silence. Although we are just getting to know each other it’s a fun game of how much do we want to give up in this 5 hour drive, and what will that leave us to learn about each other for the next few months.



Soon enough Rivera was in site, you can tell that you are in the area because of the increased number of cerros that stretch across the land. Rivera is known for these jetting rock formations, and although they are not large they litter the normally flat landscape. We turn in the street that Bodegas Carrau is located on. It is a 3-mile stretch of dirt road that also serves as the border of Brazil. There are huge stone landmarks that are etched with Uruguay on one side and Brazil on the other. The road is long and winding through and around the different cerros of the region. Small farmhouses rest on the side of the street and seem minute compared to the land that stretches around them. Cows, horses and sheep wander freely by the road as children and dogs watch them to be sure they don’t drift too far. Finally we reach the vineyard, a large gate greets us with a sign reading Bodegas Carrau, and this will be home for the next month. I think to myself, am I ready for this? As we roll up to the house there is an army of dogs to greet us, all of them barking and running around the car, I wasn’t sure if it was ok to get out quite yet. Francisco assured us that they were fine in which it turned out that they were just that. All of the dogs were jumping and so excited to see visitors they could hardly contain themselves.



We were shown to our house, a small pink concrete building with a sign that read reception. Ori and I will stay on one side of the house and Ben and Max in the other. At least I will have my own room. The house is bare, a kitchen with a sink, refrigerator and table, two chairs in the living room with a t.v. and in the bed rooms a small bed and even smaller dresser. I didn’t have anything to unpack because my suitcase was left in Montevideo because there wasn’t enough room in the car for all of our bags. After dropping our things we made our way to the main house that is a little ways away from the main buildings of the bodega. This house is beautiful, a bright pink brick building built to look like a Spanish Mediterranean style house. The roof is tile and as you walk into the main door it opens up into a courtyard with a fountain and swimming pool over looking the vineyard. Each room has French doors that open into the courtyard, and every room in the house is connected to each other with big glass doors on either side. The house is breathtaking and the view is more so. Lunch was a quick torta of leeks and jamon stuffed with cheese inside of a flaky crust, served with a quick red wine of merlot. Once we were all finished we walked to see the winery. All of us were very excited, I only imagined it as I saw it in the online presentation. The virtual tour doesn’t do it justice. In some travel books it is described as a strikingly modern winery in which it is. The lab is floating in the center of the winery as a control station to the giant stainless steel tanks surrounding it. The structure itself is four stories that are built into the hillside so all you can see is the roof jetting up to the clouds. The first day will be simple, Francisco introduces us to Danny the winemaker, who doesn’t speak a word of English; and Giale, the groundskeeper who speaks neither English or Spanish but Portuguese, already off to an interesting start. Francisco explains to us what they have started in production, and how to test the wines each day. In the tanks there is a Pinot Noir and E. Muscot. Max and Ben are familiar with the process of fermentation and winemaking so they try to explain what they can to catch me up to speed but I am definitely going to have to do my homework. After a quick tour we are told that there isn’t too much to do today so it is off to the pool for the remainder of the evening.



By 9 my luggage was dropped off, perfect timing for a shower and a new change of cloths. It is very hot this week and I was begging for something cooler to wear. Margarita and Jaxier brought the luggage and went off the main house to prepare dinner. Our first night in Rivera consisted of Morcilla, and Chorizo on the parisha with a huge cut of meat with onions in the fire.. almost like home. They don’t believe in adding too much spice to the meat, in which they hardly season it at all. Just a drizzle of EVOO is added to the meat when it is finished. Their olive oil isn’t even really very olive tasting. Being American I had to spice it up a little, they offered a condiment verde, which was describe as a green condiment… even with my lack of Spanish vocabulary I could have deciphered that one. But no one really had an answer to what was exactly in the mixture other than green. Oh well, it went on the meat anyway. This was all accompanied by a 1997 Chardonnay, which was rich and full bodied while still maintaining some crisp tendencies, it held up wonderfully to the meat, and was cool enough for the hot day. Before we knew it, the clock struck midnight and we decided that it was time for bed. Work will start at 8 am tomorrow, an easy start so they say.

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