The two
days in Mendoza were due to the buffer days on the mountain so we basically had
two days to just kill time. The 10th nothing had been planned so the
day was simply spent on wandering around in the city and enjoying(?) the
soreness from the long and fast walk the day before.
Dinner
was had at a fancy place and since Preben had just been informed that he had
received top marks on an assignment back home he decided he would pay for all
of us. Well, if he insisted… We followed up on the dinner by going to a bar
where some of us left early (early as at around 0200) while others were only
just warning up.
The 11th
we were picked up at 1030 at the hotel for a full day 3-vineyard wine tour.
After the late night last night only four of us showed up; no big surprise that
it was the three that stayed behind at the bar who had difficulties getting up
(or even remembering much from coming home a couple of hours earlier).
As the
tour was set up we visited 3 vineyards and got to taste the goods at each
place. The first stop was at Bodega Benegas where we were welcomed with a glass
of rosé wine, and after the very nice tour we had ended up in a nice cool
basement where we got to taste 4 very good wines; 1 white and 3 red. The
tasting room was actually the vineyards old large wine tanks for storage. The
second place the tour felt rushed and as just another group of tourists (as
opposed to the first place that felt personal) but we had an absolutely amazing
3-course lunch, which included plenty of wine and a very, very tender steak.
Looking back it didn’t matter much that the tour felt rushed, as their
equipment was almost identical to the first place’s but newer, so it just felt
like more of the same, really. From there we went to the last place, Bodega
Cruzat, where they made champagne, or rather the local equivalent, and because
they were in the middle of harvesting (which they do a couple of weeks earlier
than for wines) we got to try to bottle and label a couple of bottles. And keep
them. Bonus!
Coming
back to the hotel we had a couple of hours before going out for the final
dinner on the trip. Despite it not being possible to order the last simple,
massive, Argentinian steak there were absolutely no complaints about the food
in any way.
Our three guides on Aconcagua; Pablo, Gustavo and Juan Carlos.
The cellar at Benegas.
The room where we did the tasting.
What a lovely sight.
Warning: visiting a vineyard may cause excessive thirst and the urge to spend money.
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