After a few days in hectic Córdoba it was nice to arrive in Mendoza which is smaller and quieter. The town of Mendoza is situated at the eastern foothills of the Andes and is probably best known for its surrounding wineries.
The climate in Mendoza is excellent for winemaking with warm days encouraging sugar production in the grapes and cold nights ensuring good acidity levels. As a result, approximately 70% of Argentina’s wine production takes place in this region. Several grape varieties are produced here including syrah, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. However, Mendoza’s most famous grape is the malbec, making it the definitive Argentine wine.
Visiting wineries (and drinking wine…) is indeed the main reason for going to Mendoza. There are other things to see and do in the area, but I’ll save that for the next post.
As a lot of the wineries are within a relatively short distance of each other a favorite way to visit these wineries is to rent bikes. Because everyone knows that biking while intoxicated, without a helmet AND on a busy street with big trucks is an AWESOME and not at all dangerous thing to do!!!
I went on a tour of the wineries with Fiona and Lisa, whom I had first met on the hike in Córdoba. We rented our bikes from Mr. Hugo’s, as his bike rental is one of the most popular and has a good reputation. As an added bonus he also offers you all you can drink free wine when you return the bikes!!! Just what you need after a day of drinking… More wine!
After a quick adjustment of the bikes and an explanation of the “wine”-map we were off. We decided to be a bit tactical and visit the winery furthest away first as we would (hopefully) then be close to Mr. Hugo’s and the end of the tour, when the wine began to have its effect. The bike ride itself wasn’t actually that great. Most of it was along a pretty busy road with lots of heavy traffic. There were, however, pretty views of vineyards and olive groves on both sides.
The first winery we visited was Carinae, which is a small French-owned winery producing a nice rosé and some reds. After a tour of the production it was time to taste a few of their wines. The lady at the winery told us a little about each and then we got to taste. I especially liked the rosé.
After refilling our waterbottles – it’s important to try and stay hydrated when biking in 40 degrees and drinking wine – we were off to the next winery, which was Di Tomasso. This winery dates back to the 1830s and as a result is one of the oldest in the area. After another tour of the production it was time to taste three of their wines. I thought all of them were a bit too heavy, but they would probably have been good with a steak.
Our third winery was the bigger and more industrial Trapiche. After watching a movie about the history of the winery we had yet another tour detailing the production of wine. I should definitely have the basic idea about winemaking now! I don’t know if it was from drinking wine all morning or if it was the 40 degrees, but by our third winery, the only thing I actually felt like drinking was a cold glass of water! The tasting at this winery was, however, really good as we were actually taught how to smell and taste the wine. I still can’t pick out all the different aromas though!
After the third winery we had originally planned to take a break from the wine tasting and have lunch at the Beergarden, but we couldn’t find the place. As the gears on my bike had also broken down at that point we ended up going back to Mr. Hugo’s for some free wine before heading back to the hostel to relax.
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