Mendoza Wineries

If you've had any Argentian wines lately, chances are you've tasted a bit of the region we toured on Monday.  The wine, the company, the food, and the backdrop made for an unforgettable day--all in a very good way.  I can't profess to be any kind of wine expert, but the day's generous offerings made me feel like I knew what I was doing.  At least after the first two glasses.  By the end of the day, I'm embarrassed to say that those same generous offerings left me a dry-mouthed, sleepy, and slightly confused.  Was that a Malbec or a Cabernet-Franc?  It was red, wasn't it?  Yes, the wine was amazing, but the biggest impression of the day wasn't the fabulous lunch feast, the concrete wine vats, the reinvention of the Argentinian wine industry-- from a concoction dispensed in bulk from hoses into galleon jugs--to world-class vintages.  No, it was the magnificent backdrop, the Andes Mountains.  Here are a few photos from our day:

Cavas de Crianza, the first stop on the way, was one of the historic vinyards in the Mendoza area.

We happened to be there when the workers were packaging and labelling the wine, a labour-intensive job.

Rather than imparting subtle notes of cherry, leather, and cloves, the original, now unused, concrete wine vats imparted distinctive tar and sulphur flavours, requiring Argentinians to cut their wine with water and ice.  It didn't deter them though as they used to consume 70 litres per person per year in the old days, twice what they do now.

Jack, Julie and John

Our first tasting.

The Pulenta Wineries, stop 2

Here are the four wines.  They were delicious.  I'm sure that one of them was a Malbec, but the portion sizes were not conducive to recalling just what we drank...

Incredible.  Even in the photo.

Much hilarity among our small group of 8, including an ex-pat Argentinian-Canadian and his wife and a young Brazilian couple.  We made a great party.

Our lunch--er, dinner--stop

view from the balcony

Yes, this was the starter of a very large dinner.  The setting was as superb as the meal.

By the time we reached the last stop of the day, Benagas winery, we had a chance to see an old restored building, purchased by a third-generation Argentian vintner, in the late '90s, whose family had lost it during the troubles of the 1970s.