Mendoza

The city of wining and dining. Really.

It was another night bus here. And a really simple few days.

The city was very easily walkable. The main square was very nice, with a fun Mendoza sign on it to take pictures. The fountains were very lovely, and all were wither operating, or completely dismantled for service. It does somewhat blend in with the other mid-sized Argentine cities that we have already been to (Salta, Cordoba). It took us a bit of time to find the restaurant area, but we did. The plains of Argentina, where Salta and Cordoba are also located, are full of delicious red meats. So we spent almost every night at some sort of steakhouse, sans the first where we went Indian.

We went for a wine tour on our first full day. The tour gang took us to three different wineries and an olive oil factory. The wines were all not very good according to Cam. They were all super sweet, like they were dessert wines. There was one fun green apple tasting white though. Our tour was a mix of Spanish and English. There were five English speaking tourists including us, all from North America.

The first winery was clearly some rich Italian dude’s hobby project. They even stated it as such. We saw the massive epoxied concrete vats that they housed wine in, along with the cellar with the casks. This winery only made 60 bottles of wine a year, including one with four different grape varietals. This was the worst offender for overly sweet wines. They served us a 2023 wine that had no body to it. It was not ready. We tried a few, the most notable being a black peppery tasting red.

Another girl, Miranda, joined us. She was the only English speaker on her tour. Canadian as well. We chatted with her, and toured the vineyard together while we waited for the Spanish speaking people to finish up. She was so happy to have friends on the tour. So were we. She got on her bus with a “we will see you at the next one!” We never saw her again.

It was the olive oil factory next. They showed us all of their machines, form the crushers to the strainers and the pressers and the everything else. We then got to try 10 or so different types of oil. Some with infusions, some with different olives. Whatever the differences were, they were all good. The citrus one was our favorite. Again, like the last one, we toured the gardens while waiting for the Spanish half of the tour to fill up. This time we hung with Stephen, a San Francisco lawyer living his best short vacation life. He was routinely ignoring work calls, which were coming every 10 minutes or so. Eventually he turned off his phone to enjoy the afternoon.

Winery two was a much larger production than the first. In general, the wineries in Mendoza lack the pretentiousness that wineries from the Okanogan or Napa back home have. That didn’t stop this place from trying. The foyer was a large white minimalist white room with paintings on easels for sale. Nowhere to sit down, and nobody to greet you. The second floor, where we tried the wines, had some couches with low coffee tables that were too far away to be useful. The Spanish crowd was all crowded on small stools on the other sides of the room.

They had concrete and stainless steel vats to store the wine, and then a massive cellar to let it age. Their a small scale winery according to them, only doing 500,000L of wine a year. The wines had the same thought put into them that the décor did. Almost there, but not quite. The wines were all very sweet again. The standout here, and Graham’s favourites of the journey, was a white with strong green apple notes .

This property was very lovely though. They grew the grapes right outside in their gardens, and there was a balcony with a lovely view to see it all.

The final stop was another larger production house. Here they had brick storage, which was the only on-site location we got a tour of. We tried three wines here, with the final one being Cam and Stephen’s favorite. This location had the only wines that “tasted like wines,” according to Cam. Their first wine was the only one that Cam couldn’t finish. They also served us alfajores, a dulce de leche dessert with them. We finished the bowl. They were fantastic.

The property had a cute rustic charm to it. The brick vats were housed in what appeared to be a repurposed barn, without the smell. The attached shop was clearly a modern addition, though a little cluttered with all their varieties. The grounds had an old truck for photo ops right beside their vines, which proved popular with the Spanish group.

Overall, when you pay for a cheap tour, you get a cheap tour. Each spot had it’s own charm to it, and it was still a lovely afternoon with our little North American group. The vineyards everywhere are a lovely sight to see.

The wine we had at the restaurants with our dinners are much more indicative of the Malbec’s of the region. They were all delicious, and paired really well with the steak and lamb that we were having. Very well rounded. You can tell a Malbec apart, as they have a lot less fruit notes compared to other reds.

We had dinner at a steakhouse that Stephen had reccomended. They had a good wine, and a large tomahawk steak for us to enjoy.

We were originally planning to do some whitewater rafting the next day, but a Zonda wind was coming over the mountains. This is the local term for a bunch of dusty fast wind coming in the afternoon to ruin everyone’s day. Schools were going to be closed. So we decided to not raft, and instead head to San Martin Park. This massive park has a little lake, a lookout, and all sorts of wonderful paths to explore. Just no shade. It got really hot, so we decided to call it early and head to the restaurants to hang out inside. The wind never came.

Our dinner was had at an Asado place. Asado is an Argentine style of cooking meat over an open flame. The place was super great. We had some sort of Pategonian lamb rib thing. Whatever it was, it was great. Nice flavourful tender meat. The glass of wine here was also Cam’s favorite of the region. Not sweet like a lot of the others.

That’s Mendoza in a nutshell. Steak, wine, and a pretty standard Argentine city otherwise. A lot of tourists that come hear head to the nearby mountains. The tallest mountain in South America, Aconcagua, is nearby. But there’s too much snow there, so no hiking at the moment. Oh well. Off to the final stop of our Argentina city tour! See you there!