Mendoza is known as the land of the Malbec and we certainly had the chance to discover this. I would also call it the land of dogs – there were many of them and a vet or a pet shop on every corner! We left Buenos Aires after some more nice days with lots of walking, nice lunches or dinners and a good browse round the weekend markets, though in 30 degree plus heat we couldn’t muster much interest in the artisanal woollies from the Andes!
It was just a short flight of less than 2 hours which gave us a good view of the mountains as we came in to land and drove to the Finca Adalgisa outside the town. The Finca is set in the middle of its own small vineyard and we were treated to a glass of their own Malbec once we’d settled into our room which had a beautiful terrace with views of the gardens. The owners fixed up for us to visit some of the local wineries so we set off after breakfast on a wine and walking tour. They had 3 large dogs of their own as well as one staying as a guest and there was a continual sound of dogs barking in the background from the neighbourhood, though, thanks to the quantity of wine it didn’t seem to affect our sleep!
The first winery, Alta Vista gave us a tour, showing us the huge concrete vats, treated with epoxy to stability where the wine starts its life before being finished off in barrels of French oak and the bottle. I think the French must only make wine for fun nowadays as we saw many thousands of these huge barrels over the 2 days and each one retails at 1000 Euros each and has a life of just 3 years. We met a new grape ‘Torrontes’ which makes a delicious white wine, exclusive to Argentina and enjoyed the wines from Alta Vista very much. We set off on the next leg of our walk which took us along a defunct railway track to the next winery, Clos de Chacras. This was a much smaller one though utilising similar methods and tanks but they only make red, which we tried and enjoyed. We took a walk round the village and had a snack lunch before visiting the final winery of the day. At Pulmary we were shown round by the son of the family who had clearly realised their life’s dream to open a winery. The rest of the family were all lawyers but he had decided to take on the wine project full time and they were doing up an old winery in the centre of the village, they had planted vineyards out on the hillsides and were determined to produce a high quality wine. Generous in their tasting we tried some very nice pink and several glasses of the Malbecs of different vintages as well as some cabernet sauvignon straight from the vat. We were accompanied on the tasting by a number of local dogs who apparently visit each afternoon to relax in the cool of the cellar. 3 very different wineries and all very interesting. We staggered back to the Finca and refreshed ourselves in their lovely pool surrounded by vines.
The Finca had booked us dinner at a new restaurant in the village where they paired local wine which each delicious course. They were in a small panic as an impressive electrical storm was ranging, actually very little rain, just huge flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder, but enough to make them reset their tables inside rather than on the patio. The food was wonderful though the heath robinson effect continued as the lights kept going out and they gave our main courses to the American couple at the next table, who’d tucked in, obviously thinking it was some surprise extra course – it’s the only way I can explain how you would eat 2 chicken stews when you’d ordered a steak and a pasta! Anyway 2 more stews were rustled up and some time later we meandered back to the Finca.
On the second day they’d arranged a driver to take us to two more wineries. The first was a very slick, brand new operation, owned by the Swiss. It was very impressive but a bit too clinical for a winery and the wine we tasted was equally bland. However, I think it was chosen for its view of the Andes which was absolutely spectacular with massive snowy peaks rising above the vineyards. John was impressed by chemical engineering at work though and how they’d used technology to create fake cellars! We then went on to Norton, which as the name suggests, was created at the end of the 19th century by an English engineer who’d come to build the railways. Funnily enough the winery survives, still as a family business but one of the oldest and largest in Mendoza, whereas the railway is long gone! We had a lovely lunch with a bottle of their special reserve Malbec – octopus, pear salad and cheese with caramelised local fruit followed by a very professional tour, tasting wine at each stage of the process. Unfortunately I was a bit wine toured out by this stage and I’d certainly tasted enough! We came back to the Finca in a state of wine exhaustion, fit for nothing but to chill on our terrace with a book for the rest of the evening. It was a lovely time and each one had been chosen because it was so different but I think it was a few too many for a short visit and I would have liked a bit more time to slob out by the pool or walk in the countryside.
The next day we set off very early for our short flight to Santiago in Chile which took us right over the Andes, at 27,000 feet we seemed to be touching the tops of the mountains which reach 24,000 feet and had a great if slightly unnerving view of the glaciers. The dog theme continued as a spaniel came on the same flight and was last seen going round on the luggage carousel in its travelling cage along with the suitcases! A Chilean customs Labrador was being trained to search for drugs or foreign fruit but seemed unphased by the spaniel who was clearly not illegal!
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