As most of you know, Argentina is famous for its Malbecs, and Mendoza is "the" place...so on Sunday, June 5 (day 93), we headed out of Buenos Aires for wine country. When we arrived, Katherine hit the spa, while I relaxed, caught up on some sleep, and read my book. I finished Stones for Schools..it was very similar to his original one, Three Cups of Tea. I know he got some grief for inaccuracies in his book(s), but his concept of educating the girls and women, who can then support themselves, and then make sure that their boys and girls are educated, is the original premise behind the formation of the CREW Foundation...systemic change for women and girls...an issue that is therefore close to my heart, as the founding Chair of the CREW Foundation. I am now reading a mindless book by Baldacci. As mindless books go, he's one of my favorites.
We woke up Tuesday, rested and ready to hit some of the best wineries (bodegas) in the valley with our guide, Kendra. Our first question to her was, how do they grow grapes in a desert? Mendoza has a natural ditch irrigation system which is fed by the snow run-off from the mountains. This system was instituted for the valley after the earthquake in 1861, when many people perished due to the lack of drinking water. It actually allows the wine growers to set up their own systems where they can determine exactly how much water they want to release to their crop...right to the amount of drips of water.
We first stopped at Archaval Ferrer, at their Finca Bella Vista (estate with a beautiful view)...
...the view being of the Andes. It was unfortunately cloudy, so you can't see it in the above photo, but behind the mountains that you can see is a second level of the mountain range, that, when we could see it briefly throughout the day, appeared to be twice as tall, and was snow-capped! Must be spectacular when the fog lifts!
Our host took us through the winery, explaining their process and business philosophy...
For one thing, many of the local estates use netting on their vines to protect the vines from hail, which occasionally is so huge here that it can destroy an entire crop of vines....but Ferrer believes that this does not allow the proper amount of sunlight to reach the vines and so would rather take the risk in order to produce the best wine...and this is reflected in their ratings. They produce wine on four estates, three of which, Finca Mirador, Finca Altamica, and Finca Bella Vista, have their top brand that is named after them which have been ranked 96, 97 and 98, respectively, by Robert Parker (although we can't remember which vintage year(s) they obtained those rankings-- might have all been in 2008). They produce a total of about 200,000 bottles per year (including only 10,000 bottles of each "Finca" brand) and about 80% of it is exported, 30% to the US.
Then it was time for our tasting...
Yum. We tasted a new Malbec 2010 from their Bella Vista estate, which was a little young (I say that like I know what I'm talking about :-)...
....a Quimera (impossible dream), which was a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot from different regions of the province, which was Katherine's favorite...
...and the Finca Mirador (ranked "96") -- my favorite...
They had also just finished bottling a new Dolce wine, which is a red dessert wine, so they gave us a taste...not bad...similar to port.
Because of the high percentage of their wines that go to the US, they have a US distributorship, so they made it very easy to buy some of their wines, as they ship it to you from that distributorship in the US.....considerably less expensive shipping. so if I invite you to a dinner party, you might want to come :-).
Next we were off to Belasco De Baquedano, where we tried their Malbec Roble, Guentota Malbec and Swinto Malbec. (there are bodegas that produce Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet, but we were on a Malbec mission :-). Their wines were good, but they had the disadvantage of coming after Ferrer....what can I say?
Time for lunch to soak up some of the redness in our systems....so off to Cavo de Cano (cavo meaning cave)....and there was quite a surprise spread out for us in the "cave"......
....all of this food was for the three of us....and these were just the "starters"!!--there were salamis and cheeses and vegetables and rice and potatoes and olives and beans and wine soaked apples and homemade breads, etc., etc. And THEN they brought out the hot dishes!--empanadas, beef stew and pasta with bolognese sauce. And, of course, Malbec! They call their wines "garage" wines, or table wines. So much for my H3 rules!! They went out the window! We were feeling pretty happy afterwards...
....no, we're not holding each other up...yet...because we're not done...one more bodega to visit.
Jason (wine guide in australia), the next place reminded me of one of the places you took us to in Hunter Valley with the sole entrepreneur out of the garage (look familiar?)...
It was a small bodega....makes about 50,000 bottles per year. And is a sole proprietorship, run by a passionate Italian gentleman, Carmelo Patti, which is the name of his vineyard...
(Brenda, guess who this sweet, gracious man reminded us of)! He was adorable....lots of personality. He has no staff, but does it all himself. At this point, I don't remember what we drank, but I bought a bottle, so can try it when I get home!
Yes, the Argentine Malbecs are pretty special....not sure how we will get it all home :-)
What a great day! No dinner for us tonight, unless it's maybe a cup of soup or salad!
Location:25 de Mayo,Mendoza,Argentina
so did you walk back to burn off all that food?
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Wine & Dine...............Whoopie!!!!
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