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12/4 Mendoza
We arrive in Mendoza after changing buses in San Juan. It was sad to say goodbye to Andres and Miguel. Andres has been so great for my confidence with my Spanish and both of us have really enjoyed his company. The hostel we booked, hostel Empendrado, is really relaxed and clean. The free glass of wine per day was a surprise that we are happy to accept. We decide on cooking at home and produce Sarah's carbonara pasta lunch. Later on Sarah heads off for siesta and I open a bottle of Alma Mora and watch Spanish Bourne Identity with the locals.
We are both excited about the next bus trip, 8 hours through the Andes. The buses are two story and there is no difference in price, so we headed to find a Monday bus with front panorama seating free. For some unknown reason we were unable to buy a ticket from the actual bus company office, we had to use a smaller agency in town to buy their ticket... So stupid.
We head for a Free Malbec night that is sponsored by the Mendoza council and enjoy a few tastings. Tonight is an early night, we finally have a room together.
13/4 Wine tour
I have to get it out straight away, the wine region we went to near Mendoza is called Maipú. It is so funny hearing people asking about my poo. Way too many funny references.
Now to the blog, It's wine tour day in Mendoza and we chose to hire bikes from Mr Hugo's bike rental company and get to as many as we can. We told an American couple, Nate and Kelsey about the tour and they are there when we arrive. We met them again on the way to the first winery and decide to go as a group.
The wineries we visited in order were, Mevi, Viña El Cerno, Familia Di Tomaso, Vistandes and finally Historias y Sabores.
They are all great wineries with a character of their own. Mevi is a modern design winery with tasting from your table overlooking the vineyards and the Andes. Very nice whites, especially the Torrontes. Viña El Cerno was a boutique winery which allowed tasting of a few aged wines. The amazing aged wines showed the full depth of the region. At the next winery, Familia Di Tomaso we stopped for lunch. Mr Hugo had given us a voucher for 20% off the tasting and plate of the day. The furthest away winery was
Vistandes which gave an informative tour through the cellars. They produced an award winning Carmenere, we'd never heard of the variety, but neither had we heard of Torrontés either.
Finally we hit Historias y Sabores, a chocolate and liqueur producer. The owner was very energetic and fun. We all tested the home made absinthe, served with burning sugar.
We return the bikes and I wheel and deal which ended in two bottles of Mr Hugo's homemade wine for free.
An asado for dinner, not as big as the others but a night of chatting to other travelers.
14/4 Closed up shop
No wineries open in the area, only in the Valle de Uco which was over $700ARG each, it would have been amazing as it included some great wineries, but it was simply too expensive. The famous carbonara for lunch again and a day mostly filled with catching up on blog entries, reading, booking Santiago and relaxing. Dinner with Nate and Kesley and an interesting man from Israel. We all wanted a cheap meal and we got something really nice. The stairs in this place sent your heart racing, every time the waiters went up or down it sounded like they fell down a whole flight of stairs. A great end to Mendoza and the people we met there would be great people to travel with any other time.
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