Today we went to the heart of Mendoza - wine country! We visited a large producer called Alta Vista. Really picturesque setting in the plains beneath the Andes. I really liked this winery, cool 19th century brick building with concrete tanks still in use for fermenting. The details in the roof were amazing too.
We had a really good guide for the day, a local sommelier who travels the world tasting wine. Awesome life.
We did a tasting of several wines then headed for a more smaller boutique winery. This place was interesting too. Very old wineries that still employ a lot of the old processes and techniques. Really interesting to learn.
As a group, we were then split into 3 teams for a blending competition. We were given a bottle of malbec, cab sav and Merlot and had to come up with the best blend. I must say it was a fun and very educational exercise. You actually started to understand what you were looking for in the wine; tannic structure, body, softness, perfume etc. Really cool thing to do - unfortunately we came second, but we were able to drown our sorrows quite easy.
We then sat down to lunch in the vineyards. The food was nothing short of sensational. I had a piece of grilled pork with pumpkin mash and Ginger, whilst sim had a cheese and chicken risotto. One of the best dishes I've ever eaten, suburb. I love Argentina!
We treated our selves to wine, then dessert then more wine, before heading back to the hotel for a siesta.
We slept for several hours, before heading upstairs for ore dinner drinks in the room of others in our group. The whole group was there. Really fun and enjoyable bunch of people. We polished off several bottles of wine before heading out to dinner.
Dinner capped off what will go down as the best gastronomical day of my life. Osso buca for entree then beautifully done rib eye for main. More Malbec accompanied dinner and between me and Oliver, the English bloke who loves wine, we got through 3 bottles.
We finished up at 1ish in the morning, I've really embraced the late dinners - more hours in the day means more food.
The night didn't end there however. Sim, me, Oliver and tour leader Federico went to a bar for a night cap.
I think this place is my favourite place so far. So enjoyable.
- Blog from iMat
Wow Mat sounds like a 24/7 food day. You may need to take up jogging when you return. But hey good good. Good wine etc let's eat as they say. Love Dad
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