Journal - 081314
Today is day 2 of wine tasting in Mendoza. After my interaction with the wine tour company last night, I was skeptical on what the day would include.
I got ready and headed to the lobby by 9 AM. Shortly after 9 AM a guy entered the lobby and ultimately came over to me saying my name. His name was Ruben and would be my driver for the day. No dedicated tour guide, but since each winery has a guide/host, then a separate host with the tour company is not needed.
He had a small, compact car and I sat in the front seat with him. The conversation was strained at first, but then we ended up having an easy repartee the rest of the day. Ruben grew up in Mendoza, but lived in Ft. Lauderdale for about 17 years, building kitchens. He moved back to Mendoza about two years ago when he parents were ill. The both died within a few months of his return to Mendoza and he's now working within the tourism industry in Mendoza. There seems to be a very strong sense of family in South America - you can hear it in stories of the locals and see it on the streets and elsewhere as families are together.
Ruben told me of the three wineries that we would visit, but I didn't recognize any of them. No where in the list did I hear the one I was most interested in visiting. As we drove along, we talked more and I mentioned how I had drank several Malbecs from a specific winery and had hoped to visit there. I wasn't sure how to pronounce it, so I spelled it. Achaval Ferrer. He said...that's where we are going first...yeah!
We arrived at the first winery and were promptly greeted by Felipe. He said that we would start soon. As I took several pictures and enjoyed the atmosphere of the location, several more folks joined. We were split by language, so I joined an older couple from New Jersey - Andy and Nancy. They were quiet stereotypical New Jersey.
The wine guide - Felipe - was quite good and gave us a full history of the winery and property. There were about 7 bottles of different wines on the table, but only 2 were open. Sure enough, we only tasted the two open wines, with Felipe saying that the other wines had such a low production that they are not opened for tastings. The four wines that he showed and tempted us with had all received 97 points or higher from Robert Parker, with one receiving 99 points.
We went into the barrel room and tried one of the high-end Malbecs directly from the barrel. When we returned to the tasting room, Felipe said that a major distributor from Texas had visited yesterday, so they had one of the high-end Malbecs open, so we did get to taste it. He then also brought out a Dolce wine. It had a very interesting production - the grapes are picked at the same time as all other grapes, but then are left on rocks in the sun to "dry out" for about 15 days. The majority of the water evaporates from the grape and it is left looking much like a raisin, but with very concentrated juice. The resulting wine is rather sweet like a dessert wine, but the alcohol content is about the same as a typical wine and it is not fortified like ports. It was quite good and Felipe gave me a second pour.
While we could not taste the high-end Malbecs, they were available for purchase. The shipping rates were quite good - only 500 pesos to ship to the US, about $61. I ordered 6 bottles - the four high-end Malbecs, a wonderful red blend that we tasted and one Dolce.
After placing my order, Ruben was waiting for me and we headed out after he took a picture for me.
Outside at Achaval Ferrer:
The next winery was within 5 minutes of the first - Casarena. Here we were greeted at the main door by the wine hostess, handing me a glass of their reserve Chardonnay. The tour was rather typical with lots of information about the winery and history of the property. She offered me numerous tastings directly from the tanks - an unfinished Sauvignon Blanc (it was very cloudy and had a very tart, citrus taste); a finished Sauvignon Blanc that was waiting to be bottled (very nice with balanced citrus notes) and finally a Malbec that was about to be put in barrels for aging (very fruity and bright). At the end of the tour, there were two additional wines to taste from their Reserve line - a Malbec and a Cabernet Sauvignon. At the end of the tour she explained that the name and label used in the US is different than what is used in Argentina due to connotations of the name in English. Luckily she had 2 examples of bottles with the US labels so I would know what to look for in the wine shops. She also solved for me the mystery of the various lines or tiers of wines at each winery - there are specific regulations from the government that define if a wine can be labeled as Reserve, etc. The primary distinctions are how long the wine is aged in barrels.
The last winery was also the lunch location. The drive was about 15 minutes and included about 2 miles on a very rough, dirt and gravel road. As we pulled up to the winery - Finca Decero - it was very impressive. It was quite large and seemed like new construction. We were again greeted by a waiting wine host and hostess. I received quite the attention - two guides just for me. Luckily they were rather brief in explaining the wine making process and stuck to the history of the winery. It was a very new winery, built in 2006. All of the vines were planted new in 2001 and the first released vintage was 2006. The owner had built the winery assuming much larger, future production capacity so the winery "rented" out barrel room space and wine production capacity to smaller wineries or individual wine makers. There was no tasting during the tour.
When the tour concluded, I was taken to the winery restaurant. It was an incredible space with amazing views over the vineyards and looking towards the Andes Mountains. I was the only person in the restaurant, so I had my choice of tables and seats.
My view during lunch:
While the lunch was amazing, it was a very odd experience to have such a decadent lunch alone in such a fantastic room. The server was very friendly and very attentive. She started by pouring three of the Estate wines - Syrah, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. She also presented me a menu - the lunch was three-courses and I had a choice of three items for each course. I started with a mixed green salad with roasted beets and goat cheese. The main course was a filet with grilled pumpkin, onions and potatoes. My dessert selection was a pear crumble with vanilla bean ice cream. The three courses were proceeded by an amuse of pork empanada with sweet and sour sauce - it was incredible! Each of the three wines were very good, with the Cabernet being my favorite. The server refilled each of the wines several times...I ultimately lost count on the number of Cabernet refills.
The music during lunch was quite odd - for the first 40 minutes or so that I was eating, the same song played over and over - "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. I was just about to ask if they would switch to a different song, when suddenly the music changed in the middle of the song. Next up on several repeats was "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse. The irony of hearing that song as I'd been drinking wine since 10 AM was quite humorous to me. Finally there was a more regular blend of single play songs, several of which I wrote down to find on iTunes - a sultry, female version of "Tainted Love" and a Spanish version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head".
After lunch, the wine hostess showed me out and Ruben was waiting for me in the circular drive. We started the trip back into Mendoza City which was a quite 15 minutes. We had several more conversations about wine, traveling and restaurant suggestions. He dropped me off around 3:30 PM.
I was excited to be back in the room so early and thought that I would walk around the town. But first, I wanted to relax for a few minutes. I sat down on the sofa and the next thing I knew it was 6 PM. I had napped for over 2 hours. I rarely take naps and I hate the way I feel afterwards. Sure enough I was in a nap haze for the rest of the night. I did force myself to go out and explore the downtown area for about 2 hours and then headed back to the hotel with intentions of going out to dinner at one of Ruben's suggestions.
Independence Square is quite large and only about 5 blocks from my hotel:
Throughout all of downtown, there are trenches that used to bring water from the mountains into the city:
As the minutes and hours passed, I didn't go out. I wasn't hungry after such a big, late lunch and was enjoying the quiet solitude of the room. There will be many more evenings of local meals around the world, so I enjoyed a quiet evening in and writing in my journal.
Leaving Mendoza early on Thursday morning and heading to Buenos Aires for several days. Numerous folks who I met during wine tastings had just left Buenos Aires and raved about the city, so I am quite excited for the next few days - my last in South America.
No comments:
Post a Comment