Wine Tour in Mendoza - Day 1

Journal - 081214

Today is wine tasting day in Mendoza!  I woke up on time and ready for a day of wine tasting!

After finding no breakfast in the Sheraton Club room, then I went to the lobby.  They told me that breakfast should be there...but I'm positive it wasn't.  Instead I just went to the lobby restaurant and loaded up a plate of meats, cheeses and a croissant and then proceeded to eat it in a big chair in the lobby, without ever talking with anyone and not paying for anything.  I can now see how everyone hates Americans.

The wine pick-up was about 15 late, so I had the front desk call - they were about 5 min away.

They showed up about 15 min later...ah, Mendoza time...so really about 30 min late.

A diverse group, all English speakers - I was the only one from the USA, but 3 from the UK, 3 from Australia and 1 from Germany.  We all had a great day today, especially after a few glasses of wine.  There were two married couples, but the rest singles.  I spent much of the day with a lovely gal from the UK - Caroline.  She is going back to Buenos Aires on Tuesday like me, so we exchanges cards to meet up there.  She is a teacher in the UK and has spent most of her summer holiday in Buenos Aires, staying in a friend's apartment, who is back in London.  Why don't I have any friends who have vacant apartments in wonderful South American locations?

The drive was about 1.5 hours south to the wineries.  A bit further than I had expected.  The guide was incredible.  Celine - she was born in Buenos Aires, grew up in Mendoza, spent several years in Portland, OR and returned to Mendoza a few years ago to be a "wine hostess".  She was very energetic and personable.

The first stop was at Bodega Atamisque winery.  As soon as we stepped off the van I was mad that I had left my second jacket onboard.  It was so cold!  The first part of the tour was outside and we were all freezing and had little interest in what the guide was saying.  We all took several pictures and finally the tour moved inside.

Much of what he talked about I already knew from Napa and Sonoma wine tours and ended up being the "smarty-pants" that asked several questions and answered many more.

Finally we were given glasses and started our tasting with a Malbec sample from a stainless steel tank.  The wine had already aged in barrels and was just waiting to be bottled.  It was very young and had surprising citrus notes.

After the tank tasting, we moved into the tasting room where the table was already set for all of us.  We started with a Sparkling wine, then a Viognier, then a red blend, followed by a Malbec and finally a Cabernet Sauvignon.  I really enjoyed them all, but the Viognier was probably my least favorite - it had a huge bouquet, but then was very disappointing on the palette.  The Cabernet was probably my favorite, but most likely since that's what I used to drinking.

The winery offered to ship, but it was $175 to ship 12 bottles to the USA, so I skipped.

The second winery was about 20 min away.  I got so tired on the bus...it was all I could do to stay awake.  I get very tired riding in cars, buses, vans, planes etc, so I'll contribute my exhaustion to the bus movement.  

Along the way to the second winery, Celine announced that it was her Mata time - a herbaceous drink that she mixed right on the bus.  There is a special cup and straw specifically made for this drink and seems to be specific just to Argentina.  It is a communal cup, so I surprisingly tried it.  It was very hot and very bitter.  Think very strong green tea with no sweetener.  She filled the cup about half full with the crushed herb leaves, then half with very hot water.  She continued to refill with water as people drank from the straw.  I only had a few sips, others had an entire glass and a few folks passed altogether.  She explained that it was a great honor to have Mata shared with you and few Argentineans would pass...even the bus driver drank an entire cup.

By the time we pulled in at the second winery, I was feeling very energized...I don't think it was the Mata, but more excitement about seeing another winery.  It was a very small, family-owned winery - Bodega Gimenez Riili.  One of the sons gave the tour.  The label portrayed silhouettes of his parents and 5 sons.  He is the only one that works in the winery.  His grandparents started the winery business in Argentina after leaving Italy and his parents ran and now his family runs the business.

Here we started with a sparkling wine while he talked about the history of the winery - they started as a small winery in east Mendoza, making large volume of table wines for domestic consumption.  As various financial crises hit Argentina, then they moved away from domestic-only consumption and started to focus on high-end wines throughout Mendoza.

After the Sparkling, we had a Malbec from the tank, then a Pinot Noir from the barrel.  I was surprised they could grow Pinot Noir in this region - it is a very temperamental grape and these seem like very harsh conditions.  Then we moved into the tasting room that was already set for our group.  As we arrived, they brought in plates of cheese and quince and raisins to pair with the wines.  We had Torrentes, that is a native grape to Argentina, then moved on to a entry-level Malbec, a Reserve Malbec and then a Reserve Syrah.  The Reserve Malbec was quite nice and I considered buying a bottle, but then re-considered given the issues with either shipping or trying to get it to Buenos Aires.  The tasting ended with homemade beef empanadas that they were making outside on the grill...incredible!

My attempt at a very "artisty" photograph while wine tasting...

The whole group tasting at Gimenez Riili:

The wine hostess was very helpful and very knowledgeable, but she was also a time keeper.  I felt she cut our first two stops short, but I understand that she needed to move us all along.

The third stop was also our lunch stop - Bodega Andeluna.  It was after 1:30 by this point, so we were all quite hungry.  There was no tour or initial tasting...we were seated for a 6-course lunch with a wine pairing for each course.  I sat next to Caroline and we chatted through most of the lunch.

The wine pairings with lunch were heavy on Chardonnays and Malbecs with also a Merlot and a red blend thrown in along with a Torrontes.  Certainly more whites than I was expecting.

Lunch was a beet carpaccio, then a rabbit confit, then a goat cheese quiche.  The main course was beef fliet crusted with wild boar.  The last two courses were desserts - Pink grapefruit ganita, then a chocolate cheesecake with tangerine ice cream and a jamaica pepper citric soup.

The final dessert:

I really enjoyed the red blend and tried to buy a bottle at the end, but it was not available.

Something that was surprising at each winery was the clear distinction between entry-level brand, a mid-tier brand and a high-end brand.  California wineries are not so distinctive between the various tiers of wines.  In Mendoza, they led with that information, introducing each wine as to which tier it belonged.  There was clearly a distinction between each tier in terms of taste and quality, but I've rarely seen that level of transparency in the marketing and presentation of wines in California.

For the ride back, I slept most of the way.  Actually most of the van slept!

Once back at the hotel, I called my wine tour for tomorrow.  I had already called this morning and everything was good, but the conversation was difficult due to the language barrier.

I was told that there was not enough people for the wine tour tomorrow so they could not honor my pre-paid reservation.  She offered another tour on Wed as well as she offered a tour on Thursday.  I explained that I was leaving on Thursday morning and was not interested in the alternative tour.  I had selected the specific, pre-paid tour for a specific winery that I wanted to visit.  She apologized numerous times, but I was not backing down.  The alternative tour was more than $100 cheaper than what I had already paid and she said I could contact the internet app to get a refund...yeah, that seemed likely.  Finally she said that she would call me back in 5-10 min after talking with her manager.  Surprisingly she did call back and said that my original tour would be conducted, but with just me.  I have my doubts on what this tour will be like, but was assured it includes the winery I'm interested in visiting...so stay tuned.  Quite honestly, as long as it includes the winery I'm interested in visiting - Achaval Ferrer - then I don't care where else we go.  I had this wine several times "practicing" for a visit to Mendoza.  They have amazing Malbecs and Cabernets, so I might just start jumping up and down when we pull into that winery tomorrow.

It took 7 days of travel, but my aggressive, stern, angry, demanding voice came out.  I'm sure Chris would be surprised that it took that long as I have little patience for incompetence or mistakes.  I hope that I can double that amount of time before it has to reappear.  Patience is a virtue and I need to learn to better exhibit it.

After the stressful phone call, I returned to the Sheraton Club for relaxation, snacks and yes, wine....along with a magnificent view of Mendoza City....and to contemplate my evening plans.

I ended up heading towards the Park Hyatt, near Independence Square.  Mendoza is a lovely town, it reminds me of St. Helena or Sonoma in California, but much bigger.  The downtown, Centro area is easily 15-20 blocks in each direction.  There was a vitality to the town that I loved - people were bundled up, but enjoying the evening.  They were walking hand-in-hand; huddled in outdoor cafes and strolling along the wide sidewalks.  This was their Mendoza and I was merely getting a glimpse of their daily lives.

I covered about 10 blocks to get to the Park Hyatt.  I walked in, found the bar/restaurant and sat down.  After about 5 min I realized that there were so many other local options, that I got up and walked out before any one helped me.

I ended up at Bute Wine Bar - I had a lovely ravioli and a glass of Malbec.  After dinner I had a leisurely walk back to the hotel, including traversing Independence Square, which covered about 4 blocks of my walk.  The walk was quite cool - the temperatures felt like October in Napa or late November in Minneapolis.  My mindset is still summer-ish August, so it is difficult to get into a late fall-ish state of mind.

After a long day, I headed to my room for an "early-ish" evening.