Mendoza

Wine Country!

This wine

I know I've been down about Argentina, but this little town turned it all around. Imagine you are sitting eating dinner. You've ordered a nice bottle of wine. You had no idea what it was or where it's from. You just know that the sommelier suggested it.

Sitting at the table across from you is the owner of the vineyard that produced that wine. It's the top wine of his vineyard and he invites you for a private tour of his place the following day. That's exactly what happened!

The meal was amazing. It started with an amuse bouche of mushroom and cheese with a tomato puree and a fried parsley on top. 

My appetizer was salmon tartare with guacamole and corn with a lemon aioli and fried plantain chip. 

My main was grilled calamari with shrimp and mussels over a squid ink risotto. That's the black colour!

Finally, dessert was a selection of everything they offered. Molten chocolate cake, passionfruit cheesecake, coconut flan, creme brulee, lemon sorbet and ice cream cake. 

It was an amazing experience to see how the grapes go from vine to bottle. I wasn't too keen on going on a wine tour with the hostel because I hadn't heard great things. But this was personal. With an amazing asado to end it all off. Asado is Argentine barbecue with a lot of different types and cuts of meat. Enjoy. It was great!

The winery is located in this idyllic location. Yes...those are snowcapped mountains in the distance with clear blue skies all day long.

The grapes are peeled and pressed and the juice and skins are put into these giant tanks to sit, settle and ferment.

We got to try the wine straight out of the tanks as well as out of the barrels as they were aging. You can taste and smell the difference between the stainless steel tanks, the barrels and even the one- and two-year aged wines. It's amazing.  

After the barrels, the wine is bottled and further aged in climate controlled cellars. Then it is finally ready to be sold and consumed. Who knew wine...good wine...was so tasty. 

Until next time...drink responsibly!