sabor

¨If I squeeze my grape,

then I´ll drink my wine¨

Thursday evening I took the 10 hour bus ride to the country of wine, the province and city of Mendoza.  Located on the edge of the Ande mountains I knew there would be some beautiful sights to see, so as soon as I got there I turned around to head into them on horseback.

 

After working up quite a hunger, I think I selected correctly with the best rated ¨restaurant¨ in Mendoza- Los Chocos.  I use quotations as its technically an underground restaurant, that is above ground- into chef Martin´s apartment.  Sharing his table with a couple from Atlanta, and New York it was a refreshing experience with different atmosphere, company and tastes.  The detail of presentation and eating all local ingredients made this one of the best meals I have had.

The five courses with wine pairings included (copied directly from his menu):



Mendocininan tortita (local flat bread), pork chorizo, burnt tomatoes and smoked "pepato" cheese

Mendocinian Empanada with Milcayac sauce

Goat cheese duo, beat root carpaccio and figs with a grapefruit and toasted walnuts vinaigrette

"Ten hours" beef shank, potatoes and garlic cream, greens and "malabar melon" chutney

“Algarroba” and olive oil moist cake, burnt fruit and creamy Cedron sauce .



What better way to cure a wine headache than to drink more wine.  My new Londoner friend Rohan and I booked a wine tour with a company called Trout and Wine (I believe they do fishing trips as well, Dad) so we were picked up Saturday morning at 8:30, drove for about 45 minutes to the Lujan de Cuyo valley to our first Bodega- Pulenta Estate.  What was amazing was not only touring the vineyards and tasting, but seeing the actual process of wine production- picking grapes, sorting, and transferring to tanks for fermentation.
The Pulenta family also owns a Porsche dealership so you could see by the art in the winery how they try to combine their two passions- drinking and driving.

 

In contrast, the second bodega was a small boutique winery- La Azul in the Uco Valley.  The entire process happens within a smaller sized building, and they produce only about 40,000 bottles every year.

La Gran Reserva- straight from the Oak barrel!




The next and last stop- Salentein, was breathtaking.  It included a modern art gallery, lodge, and restaurant in the Andean valley.  We had a tour of the winery and then the tasting over lunch.



What a delicious day!

Later that evening a bunch went out, and I also had a complete tasting of Argentinean cervezas.  But we dont need to go too into detail about that (as the details are a bit foggy). 

Mendoza- Te amo.