Thursday, November 20, 2008

I Don't Want To Leave


We've had a wonderful stay in Mendoza. And no, I don't want to leave.

Today we ventured to the Valle de Uco, which is south of Mendoza city and is considered to be the up and coming wine region. It's a higher elevation with warmer days, colder nights and rocky soil so the grapes get very thick skins and intense flavor. Two of the three bodegas we visited were absolutely gorgeous – one was owned by a Dutch company, the other a Spanish couple. There are a lot of foreign winemakers in Mendoza, but as our guide pointed out, they employ Argentines so they do help the local economy.

The wines at these bodegas didn't blow me away like a couple from our first tour, though I did really enjoy the wines from the Spanish-owned Fournier, which uses Tempranillo in their blends. But we'll have to look for this region back at home and track what they're producing.

The tours themselves were diverse – Salentein was a beautiful building with a formal tasting in a lovely cellar room; Mil Piedras was in the owner's backyard with the Spanish-speaking agronomist - very informal and fun, and the last, Fournier, was a fantastic setting with a delicious lunch. All in all, a great day. We used Ampora Tours, and I would happily use them again or recommend them. We also had a lively group that made the hour plus drive to and from the Valley enjoyable.

We ended up staying all four nights at Casa Glebinius, and I'm so glad we did. It's lovely and relaxing here. I could stay another four days. We took a day trip to Mendoza city, and unless we missed something, I wouldn't put it on a tourist must-see list – though we did have an excellent tasting at Vines of Mendoza where we signed up for their wine club. (Friends at home will benefit from this stop.)

It's off to Buenos Aires tomorrow for one last city fling. I'm looking forward to experiencing some of what we missed, though I know we won't cover it all. We definitely need to do: more cow parts (sweetbreads, sausage), dulce de leche ice cream, another pizza, Fernet. Oh, and probably some more sightseeing.

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