Monday, March 17th, 2014
Today I would finally get to go on my Mendoza wine tour....and I was really looking forward to it. I got picked up pretty early along with the other people on the tour and then it was off to wine country. Along the way I learnt a few things about Mendoza.
Mendoza is the 4th largest city in Argentina with a population of close to a million people. As you saw in the pictures from previous days, the whole area is very dry, only getting about 200mm of rain a year. Most of the streets have canals used to catch the water that is later used for irrigation. The original city was founded in the 16th century. The area gets a lot of earthquakes and tremors. In fact in 1861, the entire city was destroyed and nearly 60% of the population killed by a major earthquake. The city was rebuilt at a different location (because it was cheaper to do so than to try to repair the damaged city). You can get to the city by plane and road but also by train (since 1865).
Enough history, onto the wine. Mendoza produces nearly two-thirds of Argentina's wines. The area gets a lot of sun, which increases the amount of natural sugar in the wine. Another interesting thing about grapes here is that due to the colder weather, the area's grapes have thicker skin leading to more complex wines. I have mentioned that wines here are very affordable and very good. Malbecs are probably the most famous but they do a lot of other wines as well. One of my favourite parts is that you do not normally see the price mark-ups in restaurants for local wines that you see in other areas (so frustrating in Canada).
Today we had the pleasure of visiting 4 different wineries. All really good wine. I did get to taste my share of good Malbecs but I also discovered another wine, Torrontes. This is a hybrid grape that only grows in Argentina and a small region in Spain. Really nice wine (which I have happily found in Canada).
Anyway, here are some pictures from my day.
The artwork outside the first winery. Very lovely little places here.
You can really see how dry it is. Not water for much of anything except the grapes themselves.
A few of those grape vines.
Making some red wine. Mixing those skins back in. I learnt at this winery that in Argentina, sparkling wines need to be made in a completely separate building. That means they will make the wine in one place, like this and then move the stuff they are turning into a sparkling wine to the other building when it's ready.
Just a few barrels. Reserve wines in Argentina must be aged at least 12 months. If it is less then 12 months the winery will use words such as 'Estate". Wine in general is very affordable, and that includes premium, reserve and estate wines.
The wine maker at the second winery checking the barrels. A few of my favourite wines of the day were here. A small family winery. For years they had just been growing grapes and selling to other wineries but in 2010, the brother and sister decided to try their hand at making. They were certainly doing a good job.
Getting ready for the next tasting. A really nice little place. I think they will do well.
This guy appears to want some wine too.
A beautifully lined up bunch of wine glasses
But this is a much nicer place to do a wine tasting.
The group of us tasting some wine in the great outdoors.
Not a bad view at all.
My last wine tasting of the day. Another amazing view.
A few little salad appetizers.
Nothing like food served on a hot stone. The wine was great....but so was the food.
The lady pouring felt bad because she did this a couple times. Apparently this is good luck. But I'm not sure why it's good luck.
Happy after more than a few glasses of wine.
Well it was a fantastic day and I have an even greater appreciation of Argentinian wine. Not that I didn't before. You can in fact get many of the wines I tasted in other places in the world including Canada.
It was an early night for me because tomorrow would be an early morning. Hard to believe my 5 weeks is quickly coming to an end.
Julie
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