And then There Was Wine

Mendoza, Argentina
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

The Water Sure is Pretty....But It's a Tad Cold

Dubrovnik, Croatia
Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

Saturday was a water day. After 2 days of hiking around the lakes and 2 days in Split and my drive yesterday I got to stop looking at the water and get in it. Can’t lie…..it’s a little bit colder than the Red Sea….about 10 degrees colder……which is a lot. It meant wet suit diving and this time with a full hood. 

My plan for today was to do some scuba diving. The hotel I chose had a dive shop there so it was easy to get all set up with everything. I had 2 dives planned for the day and I was excited to finally get to use my new underwater housing for my camera.

From the shore looking across at the same island I can see from my hotel room. It turns out that would be the same island we would be heading for my first dive of the day.

The little boat we took to the dive site.

Just a small dive group but here are 2 of the 4 of us.

A little of the underwater wildlife. You won't find all the colour fish and plant life in the Adriatic that you will find in the Red Sea. That's due to the way the sea was formed. Water levels rose and filled the area and then dropped back down trapping water there. So when diving here I had to be content with the interesting underwater geography (lots of little caves and tunnels) and some really good wrecks to check out.

My buoyancy not quite good enough to pull something like this off just yet but I'll work my way up to it.

In my full hooded wet suit. Super happy I had it.....the water was cold.

The wreck we checked out on our second dive. This wreck is almost 40 metres (130 feet) deep, which is the deepest I have ever been to before. I can't lie, I had a bit of a panic attack during the decent....partially due to the new depth and partially due to the 16 C (61 F) water temp. I tried very hard to remember my dive teachings (Don't Panic, Breath slow and constant) and once I calmed down a bit I just enjoyed the underwater sights.

A little video that I made. The visibility wasn't great but you get the idea. I look forward to getting my camera back in the clear blue waters of the Red Sea.

A picture of me taking a picture.

Once my diving was over, I relaxed poolside for a bit and then took a nap before heading into the Old City to check things out and have some food.

A little shot of the Dubrovnik walls at night. Inside the walls the city really is alive all night long.

The main street in the Old City.

One of the clock towers you will find in the Old City.

An example of the small streets you will find in Dubrovnik (very similar to Split). And once again they are filled with restaurants and wine bars and ice cream shops and everything you could want to find.

On this night I found a really nice little wine bar called Malvasija. I had heard about Croatian wines but never really had a chance to taste any. This little place certainly changed that and let me tell you Croatia makes some really good wines. The manager of the night, Mike, really knows his stuff and it wasn't long before I had found more than one that I really enjoyed. I spent the evening sipping some great wine and chatting with a couple fellow Canadians (who had found Malvasija the night before and had to return for a second night). We closed the place down (even helping to put away tables) and I must say was a great way to spent a night in Croatia. Eventually I made my way back to the hotel for a good night's sleep (relatively speaking).

Sunday would be for touring and history.

Julie

The Weather is Cold.....I Guess I'll Switch to Red Wine

Around Busselton, WA, Australia
Sunday, June 26th to Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

My time in Australia is quickly winding down but I still have one area of the country left to visit. That would be Western Australia (not just a region but also the name of the state). WA (how I will refer to it from here on out) is also where Scott grew up and where his family still lives. So I have booked a couple weeks off work and am off to visit WA.

I flew into Perth on Sunday and then quickly hopped in a rental car and made the 2.5 hour drive South to Busselton, which is the current home of Scott's brother Matt, his wife Arwen and their 2 little ones Sasha (almost 3 years old) and Conner (6 months old). They were kind enough to let me crash with them for a few days and point me in the right direction of a few things to see.

I arrived Sunday night after the little ones had gone to bed (well actually Conner did wake up to meet me for a few minutes) so I was able to have some dinner and some wine with Matt and Arwen and we all got to know each other......just a little bit.

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Monday morning I managed to not wake or move very early (even with the noise that getting 2 children ready for the day causes, didn't cause me to do much more than roll over) and missed Sasha before she went to day care for the morning. But once I was up I made my way over to the Visitor Information Centre (where Matt works) and formulated a bit of a plan for my 2 short days here.

I met Sasha that afternoon and then headed off to check out a few things in the area. Busselton is really close to the Margaret River Wine Region and all I can say is it is very, very pretty. And yes, it is winter here but winter is a relative term so it is still quite nice. A very, very pretty area to drive.

That's little Conner. He has the cutest hair ever. We're all pretty sure he'll grow into it.

The ever active and moving Sasha. She's eating so I managed to get a picture.

From Busselton I made my way south past, Dunsborough, (where I would have lived had Debi and Scott decided to stay in WA........it's super small. I'm glad they moved.) and made my way over to the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, where I learnt all kinds of new things about lighthouses.

A look at the Lighthouse.

The Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse and the 3 lighthouse keeper cottages were built in 1903 (February to December.....pretty good if you ask me) and was fully operational by the start of 1904. The lighthouse itself sits on a hill that is 110 metres (361 feet) above sea level. Before 1900 (and I mean the year, not the time) there were 12 shipwrecks in the area so it was decided that it was probably a good idea to put a lighthouse up.

Walking up to the lighthouse.

In the beginning, the light had to be turned by hand throughout the night (every 30 minutes) so the lighthouse keepers took 4 hour shifts making sure this happened. It was a very labour intensive process which required the keeper to either be running up and down the stairs or cranking the pulley for that entire 4 hours. If for some reason the keeper couldn't take his shift (maybe he was sick or injured or something like that) it was up to his wife to work his shift.

A little look at a section of the stairs the keepers had to run up and down. Had to be pretty fit and not at all scared of heights.

The light from this lighthouse can be seen 46 kilometres (28.5 miles) out to sea. It runs on a 10 second rotation flashing every 2.5 and 7.5 seconds. Every lighthouse in the world flashes on a unique pattern. By knowing the patterns, passing ships know what navigational charts they need to use.

A look at the lens. Replacement cost for this lens.....about $10 million. Today the lens rotates continuously 24 hours a day. This is so the lens cannot magnify the sun and start bush fires. When the lighthouse keeper was still around, they simply closed the curtains on the windows.

One of the light bulbs that provide 1.2 million candle power for the lighthouse. The light bulb is pretty much the only piece of this lighthouse that is not original. These light bulbs cost about $600 to replace.

The view from the top. Pretty spot but awfully windy.

In 1978 electricity arrived and the lighthouse keeper became all but retired (and extinct). Today it is still a Category One lighthouse but there is no keeper on site. It is now completely automated. It is actually connected to Canberra. If something goes wrong (like the light not turing on), a message is sent to an office in Canberra and then someone there contacts passing ships to see if they require assistance.

Once I left the lighthouse I decided to just take a drive around to see what I could find. The weather wasn't the best but it was still really pretty.

Some very committed fisherman looking for dinner.

I say those fishermen were committed because these were the waves that sat just off shore (and slightly around the corner) from where they were sitting. Some crazy surf.

I made my way in land just a little and found some very beautiful back country roads. The fields were all full of baby lambs and kangaroos. Not sure I will ever get over seeing fields of kangaroos.

This is the Busselton Jetty. It is 145 years old (don't worry it has been restored) and at 1841 metres (1.8 kilometres or 1.1 miles) it is said to the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

Pretty sky at the end of a pretty nice day.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tuesday morning I had to get up a little bit earlier than Monday as I was booked on a Bush Tucker Tour. No, that isn't a tour that takes you to the bush but a wine tour that takes you throughout the Margaret River Wine Region. The region itself is about 100 kilometres (62 miles) long and about 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) wide. Not that large but obviously a little difficult to see the whole thing in one day. Our tour stayed in the northern half and found some great spots.

A little background on the region. The first free settlers found the area in around 1900. They actually followed their cattle here who were unhappy with the grazing lands they were originally on so wandered to a more favourable location. The first grape vines were planted about 44 years ago. Today there are about 25 different varieties of grapes in the area. The last couple of years, some of the world's best Cabernet and Chardonnays have come from here. Premium wine is what the region is famous for. It's all about quality......not quantity.

Some of the barrels at our first stop, Driftwood Winery.

A few of the vines you will find in the Margaret River Region. This area of the country tends to have around a 6 month ripening season.

At Evans and Tate. They are owned by McWilliam's Wines Group who own a whole lot more other wine brands as well. The winery sits on a beautiful spot and their cellar door can host all kinds of events.

This is at Knotting Hill Winery. A very pretty spot and the winery where we had lunch. After lunch we made a few non-winery stops at the Cowarnup Brewing Company to check out some local beer, the Margaret River Dairy Company to sample some cheese and The Margaret River Chocolate Factory to sample some chocolate. All very nice. And yes, I did buy some chocolate.

Found him at our last stop of the day. One of the 3 crocs you will find in the pond at the Margaret River Distillery. Apparently 2 of them are fake.....and one of them is real. Not sure I believe that though. I think the winter would get a little cold for a croc down here.

At the Margaret River Distillery.....the owner has a bit of a sense of humour.....as long as you're not overly sensitive. Here we didn't taste wine but liqueurs. Also very good.

Yes, that is a bottle shaped like a gun which happens to be filled with liqueur.

Should have kept track of the how many rainbows I saw while on tours throughout Australia. It seems like they've made an appearance on many of them. Funny story, over night there was a huge storm in the area that knocked out power and blew around debris and that kind of thing. Apparently it was so bad that the house was shaking and the windows were rattling and it woke everyone up.....but me. I never heard a thing.

Anyway, that was my couple days touring around the Busselton/Margaret River area. Like I've said before, such a beautiful area. I wish I could have spent more time there. Wednesday morning however, it would be time for me to head back north to Perth to meet some more of the Norton Family.

Julie