After a week of indulgence with the Jamie and Craig in Buenos Aires we did not turn over a new leaf when we arrived in Mendoza. As we had been eating and drinking very well in BA and the main reason to come to Mendoza is the food and wine, we felt obliged to further extend our gluttony.
We arrived very early in the morning and had to wait to check in to our hotel – the hotel Gran Mendoza – we shared a family room (the four of us) which worked out to be GBP15 per person per night – about the same as we have been paying for private rooms in youth hostels, but with a much fancier name.
So the gluttony first – this is where we ate 1) The Hyatt`s Grill – red wine and delicious steak (budget, what budget!) 2) Anna´s Bistro – we had all been running and were tired, so just pasta or a stir fry, but home cooked quality and very tasty. 3) Francesco´s – Italian – more pasta - slightly ruined by the first thing the wiatress said was ´no room on the terrace´, before we had even said anything and then the waiter not returning the change (about 17% - chancer) 4) The Hyatt – but just a snack – we quite liked the Hyatt! 5) One lunch in the park – which was inedible 6) Another lunch: The winery – delicious simple food – steaks, chicken, salads etc and a very fine selection of cold white wine.
Now the wine – there are 2 areas close to Mendoza where vineyards are on a commercial scale 1) Maipu and 2) Lujan de Cuyo. We did both, on bikes, but on seperate days. Maipu first, this is the closest area to Mendoza – we were driven to Maipu town at 09:00 in the morning and we picked up our bikes – you do have to be careful, as the bikes are very rarely any good – we all had to change our bikes a couple of times and pump up tyres, check the brakes and gears etc. The furthest vineyard was 12km away, so we decided it would be best if we cycled straight there and then worked our way back. It was a little cloudy first thing, still well in to the 20s, but cooler than the 33 degrees it has been for the last couple of days – so the ride was quite relaxing – Andes mountains in the distance, surrounded by vineyards, tree lined country lanes, friends sweaty bums - pictures attached (of the first 3).
We visited 5 vineyards in all – we did the full tour in the first couple (pick by hand, de-stemming, put in concrete vat (sometimes lined), move around every now and again to keep below 34 degrees which is the point that yeast dies, put young wines straight in to the bottle, put the better stuff in to barrels and leave for 6 or 12 months or longer) and then 3 tastings – maybe even four! But we had to be careful as they were more than your usual tasting measures and it wasnt long before the joie de vino kicked in. We did Carinae first – a small boutique vineyard, run be retired french couple – only using there own grapes – mostly Malbec and Cab Sav, a little Syrah and then some very nice blends. I don´t think they export to the UK, but if you ever see it on a wine list the 2004 Malbec and the Mal, Cab, Syrah blend were probably my favourite wines over the 2 days (in fact everyone liked these wines – even Craig who is more of a white man). Next was di Tommasi – smaller acreage and younger vineyard – as its history was as a collective winemaker rather than as a vineyard. Mixed reports on the wines – I did not like them at all, but the rest thought the more mature Malbec was pretty nice. Our palates were starting to develop nicely - slowly we were able to pick out certain aromas - Craig was managing to get cherries, tobacco, toast and he was definitely getting hmmmmm..... pissed. Bodega Al Cerno next – pretty average – the highlight was bumping in to a couple of other guys that were doing the bike-wine tour too and we had a bit of a chat with them. On the way down the drive, my bike gave up, the gears managed to bend in to the spikes and I had to carry the bike to the next vineyard (Tempus Alba) – fortunately just a couple hundred yards. Craig and Jam had already rode ahead and told our next host what had happened and he phoned our bike guys, who in the time it took us to have 3 glasses of wine each, some olives, nuts and cheese had replaced my kaputt bike with a more rideable one. As we entered this vineyard, which looked like a modern millionaires mansion an American girl came out and described the place as having the best ´patio situation` she had ever seen. She was not wrong – huge elevated platform, beautiful views of the vines and the Andes (still in the distance – which was a good thing considering how much wine we had `tasted´), chill out tunes in the background and and very friendly host. I could have stayed all afternoon.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8-L9AiNUDI We could´nt though – we had a schedule to keep – next was lunch 30 minutes ride away. Ah, well no it was`nt – we had spent too long at the previous vinyards that lunch had finished, something about the kitchen closing at 15:00 – who needs food anyway – we had just had cheese and nuts - that should see us through. We just had one more stop to go – a chocolate factory – but not really, they seemed to focus more on alcoholic chocolately drinks and non-grape alcoholic drinks – I had orange moonshine, Nicola had chocolate banana moonshine, Craig – straight chocolate moonshine and Jamie – straight 80% absythne (which we all had to help him with – ruddy awful). We now had 12 minutes to make it back to the bike rental place and our drive back to Mendoza – heads downs and hard pedalling and we made it with minutes to spare. What a lovely day.
The following day we threw in a curve ball for the food and wine tour and went white water rafting – up in the foothills of the Andes – category 3 rapids mostly and generally good fun. It was Craigs first time and he somehow (Jamie taking one step back when they were looking for volunteers) managed to be at the front of the boat (the most likely to go in) with me – all went well until the final rapid and the guide tossed Craig out, well he tossed me out a little too – unfortunately Craig got tossed out in to me and we both took a tumble in to the water. Sharp in take of breath, but we were both fine. Craig rescued by the following boat and Jam hauled me back in to ours. The white water rafting started and ended in an adventure centre – where most people did a couple of activities in the day – biking, horse riding, abseiling etc – we however had spotted a small swimming pool and spent the rest of the day sunning ourselves, playing cards, reading and having the odd beer.
2) Lujan de Cuyo – another day, another bike and wine tour. This one looked like it was to be a lot more challenging – firstly it did not look like we would be able to get someone to drive us there, or back and as it was 25kms away from Mendoza - we envisaged a day of sore bums and sobriety. Craig and Nicola managed to find us a compromise – the owner of the bike and wine tour would drive us there and assured us that is was all down hill on the way back. With a carafe of scepticism we jumped in to his car. There were fewer vineyards to do on this day and they look closer together, so we set off at a free-wheeling plus pace – after 5 minutes of not getting to the destination we concluded the map might not be to any specific scale and was more artistic impressions of how far we had to go than anything else. After 15 minutes we did arrive at our destination - The Bodega Weinert – a much larger vineyard than the ones we saw in Maipu. This one was German owned, who lived in Brasil, but whose 26 year old son lived in the mansion next door. We have lots of pictures of us in their cellar as it was huge, barn sized, but under ground and naturally kept at 17 degrees and 70% humidity. The barrels themselves were also huge – some containing 163 hecta-litres or 170k bottles! Pictures attached. Decent wine – again the 2004 Malbec was pretty nice and these guys do export to the UK, so you may be able to pick up a bottle.
Back on the bike after 45 minutes or so and approaching lunchtime we started to pedal towards our lunch destination – due to our average Spanish we were not too sure whether this was just a recommendation or a booking had been made. We arrived at a large blue gate and rang the bell, some Spanish came back over the intercom and we looked at each other, thinking it does not look open and the tone of the reply not too friendly – should we find some where else? It was a good job we did not – we did have a booking – a private room for the four of us with pelts, boar´s heads and old pictures on the walls and a huge selection of tapas – meats, cheeses, oilves, apples in malbec, onions in malbec, carrots in butter, nuts, raisins, pulses – you get the picture....... a feast. Followed by small portions of spag bog, lamb stew, beef and lemon empanadas and then out in to the sunshine for our dulce de leche and ice-cream dessert. Oh and did I mention all the Syrah (that they made on the premises) you could drink. Cost? GBP12 per head!...and all delicious.
Back on the bike – two more vineyards, one full tour (much bigger than previous bodegas) and tasting at Alta Vista, we all thought the wine was very average indeed and then one tasting and some chat in Spanish at Carmelo Patti – tasty Malbec and the blend was pretty good too.
Now the big test of the day – was it really ‘all downhill’ from Lujan to Mendoza? The whole 25 km? In a word – Yes. We all loved it . Full with food, a couple of drinks inside of us but still on the Team Sensible bus – we had to turn the pedals over every 30 seconds or so to maintain momentum and with in an hour or so we were back in Mendoza town, dropping off the bikes and working out where to go for dinner. What did I tell you about gluttony?
What a lovely day.
