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Ah Mendoza! Beautiful mountains, great restaurants & soooo much wine. On the first night we did our usual potter about town to explore. This include blood red fountains in the town square which were very cool (if a bit Twighlight) & some amazing views. We had a small (pint of) wine in the first place & continued wandering. Despite deciding not to do a restaurant on the first night we were suckered in by a place offering Tiramisu with coffee ice cream (with a wine obviously.) Now you know you're at a good restaurant when they bring you a full bread basket with garlic & herb accompaniement when you only order a cake! So far we were enjoying Mendoza.... the wine was good, Tiramisu great, (Alice's top 2) and free bread makes awesome! Like true backpackers we were well made up with our free stuff so we checked out a few more places then headed home for an early night. Unfortunately the bar was still open at the hostel so we popped on for a quick drink. Several hours later we crashed after bonding with hostel staff over wine & bizarrely Dire Straits!
We had promised to treat ourselves to a posh meal in Mendoza to properly enjoy the local delicacies (aka lots of steak....sorry Alice) so conforming to the Argentinian style we fasted all day before heading out at around 9pm, still too early for the locals. All the restaurants were empty so we decided to go for a cocktail at a recommended bar! We had some spectacular cocktails & a good chat with Christian the resident mixologist before they bizarrely bought us free desserts! Confused but never ones to turn down free stuff we gratefully devoured a pre dinner sweet treat of dulce de leche (caramel) mousse! Very tasty & the eating equivalent of stretching before a run right? Onwards to a posh restaurant called Ocho Sepas. Having become strangely addicted to free bread we were delighted to be presented with a whole basket of mixed & you know your restaurant is good when your free bread comes with free pate! Score! We had amazing starters & a great bottle of red (Malbec of course- Argentina's major export!) before the main event. Alice's posh pasta dish came with a malbec sauce and my slab of cow was truly amazing! A huge chunk of the finest fillet steak pretty much as big as your head! So after 4 courses & a couple of drinks we retired suddenly slightly concerned about potential Mendozan weight gain!
The following day our attempts at the biking wine tour were not quite as successful as we would have hoped. Long story short we went on a Saturday so it was only a half day of opening so by the time we got the bus out to the Maipu region we decided it wasn't worth the full days rental, also we couldn't find the bike store! D'oh! Still the views of the snow capped mountains were stunning & we were glad we went as it meant we could justify doing the much more expensive wine tour in the mountains which we both secretly wanted to do!
The tour the following day was amazing, truly a trip highlight. We were picked up very early in a mini van by our guide for the day, Alex, a local winemaker. Alex was a fascinating guy, he worked with his Dad in the family wine business whilst studying winemaking at Uni. He was full of information about local wines, foods areas etc & he really made the day perfect. The whole day took place in the mountains so the views were mind blowing as was drinking wine at 9.30am! We stopped at 3 wineries, the first was very large and the most corporate of the day. We had a tour and explanation of the manufacturing and processes before sitting down with 2 whites, 2 reds & a Cava. Not a bad breakfast for 10am! All the wines were awesome, the best compliment I can give them is that both Alice & I picked the whites as our favourites & we don't ever drink white.....it was that good! Back in the van, with a few a little pickled, we headed to our second stop. A real contrast, this was a tiny family place with a much smaller production but possibly even better wines. We were also treated to cheeses & jams & home made empanadas, (Argentinian pasties) while sat outside in the brisk sunshine in the view of the snowy Andes, not too shabby so far! Our final stop was a different scale again, a huge architecural masterpiece producing wine on a massive scale, with it's own restaurant overlooking a trout lake, again not too shabby. Yet more wine, but more importantly this was our dinner stop. The restaurant is very exclusive, the chef is the winery owner's wife & designs all the menus herself. There were 7 courses in all, not counting coffee or the unbelievable home made olive bread which accompanied the whole meal, with each course paired with a specific wine. Best course......another massive slab of Fillet steak (as big as 2 Guinea Pigs) cooked to perfection. After the meal & a quick bask in the sun on the waterside decking they showed us around rest of the winery & then it was back in the van & delivered full & sleepy back to our door. Pretty much a perfect day.
For those who are interested, the below are our favourite standout wines of the day:
Atamisque Winery (ships to the UK! hint hint! :P )
- Catalpa Chardonnay
- Catalpa Pinot Noir
Gimenez Rilii (Family owned and run)
- Malbec Gran Reserva
Bodega O'Fournier
- B Crux Sauvignon Blanc
- A Crux Blend
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