Best day EVER!!

After yet another less than appetising, and decidedly yellow breakfast at Hotel Zamora, we set out to discover the vineyards of Mendoza, on two wheels. It was another gorgeous, fresh, sunny morning and we were hangover-free and ready to go.

Reaching the unlikely sounding "triangular roundabout", we made a beeline for the first bike hire place in sight and were welcomed by a lovely friendly lady who kitted us out with bikes, map and strange blue plastic helmets that made us look like some sort of insect! Safety first...

Arriving at the first vineyard of the day, Timi's dream of one day owning a winery of her own came that little bit closer. Carinae was beautiful, small, and family owned. It was bought by a French couple just a few years ago who arrived in Argentina knowing nothing at all about wine. So it's definitely do-able! We sampled a few delicious wines, photographed the vines against their dramatic Andean backdrop and jumped back on our bikes. Onwards and wine-wards!

Next up was Di Tommaso winery, originally owned by an Italian family. Too polite to refuse the guided tour, we patiently listened and waited for what we were really after, the vino! We were not disappointed. A Sauvignon blanc followed by a Cabernet Sauvignon, then a Malbec. Just when we thought it was over, out came the shotglasses...and we forced down a punchy 17% desert wine! It's a hard life for some.

Heading back towards Maipu, we happened upon the most wonderful place EVER. No fussing around, xxx offered self guided tours only, bloody perfect. We obviously skipped this and made straight for the sunny tasting terrace where we paid the princely sum of £4 for three glasses each which we polished off overlooking grape vines, olive trees and snow covered peaks. Absolute heaven on earth.

By this stage, feeling tipsy to say the least, we hopped back on our bikes and headed for Trapiche where it turned out we had been followed by a wine policeman. All good. Timi had by this stage become so fond of her blue bug helmet she had to be persuaded to remove it before entering this grand establishment, where we were greeted by a very posh French child of about 12. The lovely smell we observed when entering the winery turned out not to be the romantic odeur of yeast and fermentation, but in fact a cleaning product. Lovely. Sadly we had to cut short this visit to return our bikes and catch the bus back to Mendoza - possibly not a bad thing given the two rather irritating Aussies in our group...

What a day! Que bueno.