Last day in Mendoza (and last post of trip)

Friday March 29, another beautiful, sunny day- high of 31C.  Good Friday, so most of the shops were closed.  Restaurants, wine stores and some bakeries were open.  It was our last full day in Mendoza before we start our trek home. We walked downtown, checking out the crafts fair in Plaza Independencia and then walking to a recommended wine shop.

"Winery" is a beautiful wine store located in part of what used to be the Governor's House and more recently a school.  It has a number of rooms each with different types of wine;  i.e. a Malbec room, a cabernet sauvignon room, etc.

Winery

Ceiling in main room in Winery

Top Ten

One of the rooms in the wine store (with Alano)

There was a museum next door in another part of the former Governor's House that focused on the history of the area (Museum of the Past of Cuyo).  It was closed.  The Italian style building dates to 1873 and Governors Francisco and Emilio Civit lived there during their governorships.

Museum beside wine store

After wandering around the town some more, we went for a late lunch at La Florencia.  It was busy and lots of locals were eating huge meals.  

La Florencia

We ate outside on the patio.  The inside was also busy.

After lunch we headed up to Parque General San Martin, the 350 hectare park not too far from our B&B.  The park was full and we walked to the Lake which we ran around on Wednesday.

Elaborate entrance to Parque General San Martin

View of the Lake that we ran around

Fountain near park entrance

We saw lots of people drinking yerba mate in the park.  It is a real ritual with the gourds, metal straws and thermoses of hot water. 

Yerba mate in the park

Lots of statues in the park

View of the Andes from the park

Fun topiary animal 

We sat in the park for a while and then came back to the B&B for coffee and a rest. 

Dinner was at 10:00 p.m. at a restaurant called 1884.  We took a cab there as it was in a nearby town.  It is run by Argentinian celebrity chef Francis Mallmann (he had a TV show in Argentina called Fires of the South).  The restaurant is located in a beautiful winery (Bodega) called Escorihuela Gascon that dates back to 1884.  The restaurant opened in 1996 and features food grilled outside in huge clay ovens.  We sat in an absolutely gorgeous garden and saw stars for the first time in the trip.  Beautiful trees with pink flowers lined the wall.  I had baby goat (chivito) for the first time ever--- it was grilled and melted in your mouth.  Alano had 7 1/2 hour lamb.  A great meal to end a great trip.

Outside the entrance to 1884

 Where we ate- beautiful pink flowers 

The amuse-bouche of fish and eggplant

Another outdoor view

Ready to eat

The bottle we had our glasses of wine from--- 

a Malbec from grapes in the winery where we were

 Salad with grilled pear and burrata cheese

                                                                                  Goat with fingerling potatoes

                                                                   Alano's lamb and mashed potatoes with arugula

What a night!  It is now Saturday March 30 and we just got back from a run in the park.  Alano ran 8.9 km and I did 6.5 km.  The Andes were in sharp focus this morning and it's going to be a gorgeous day.  We head to the airport at around noon and start our journey home (Mendoza to BA to Newark to Toronto).  We'll be back in Toronto on Sunday morning.

The trip far exceeded our expectations.  We highly recommend both BA and Mendoza to fellow travellers.   This is our last blog of the trip.  Chao!

Visit to the Market and More Wineries

Thursday March 28 started out warm and sunny.  After breakfast, we headed out to visit El Mercado Central (the Central  Market), where the locals go and shop.  The market has been in existence since 1883 in the same location.  Because of the Easter holiday, the place was packed.  There were around 60 people in line at the fish vendor.  The meat vendors wanted to have their pictures taken.

The meat vendors

Great looking fish

Spice shop

Here's looking at you!

After stopping in a wine store and buying a bottle of a wine we had tasted on Tuesday, we headed back to the B&B.  On the way, we saw one of the city channels filled with water.

Channel with water

We had decided that we wanted to visit a few more wineries.  Mariela, the owner of the B&B, set up two appointments and got us a driver to take us there and back.  Pedro picked us up at about 1:30 p.m. and 30 minutes later we were at our first appointment at Belasco de Baquedano, a Spanish owned winery that opened in 2008 on the site of an older winery.  Some of the vines date back to 1910. 

Outside of Belasco de Baquedano

We joined a bilingual tour of the winery. Both concrete and stainless steel tanks are used.  The winery currently produces three high-quality red wines and one white wine.

Our guide in front of newer tanks

Concrete tanks used for higher quality wines

The owner has a number of these posters done by an Argentinian artist (modern gauchos)

We then proceeded to the Sala de Los Aromas (Aroma Room).  Apparently, there are only four of these in the world.  One of the others is run by the owners at their winery in Spain.  The aromas are arranged by type, i.e. fruit, dairy, vegetable etc.

Sign for Aroma Room

Checking out the aromas

Example of one of the signs above an aroma

We learned that there are three types of aromas: primary, which are associated with the soil; secondary, which are associated with the processing of the wine; and tertiary aromas, which are associated with the wine-aging process.  Their are also aromas associated with defects in production.

Sign explaining the aromas

After spending time sampling the 46 aromas, we went to the tasting room for some wine.

 Tasting room

The view of the vineyards, fish pond and mountains was spectacular.  We spoke to two couples who were on holidays from BA.  One couple was going to four wineries each on the three days of their break in Mendoza.

Fish pond and vineyards

A gorgeous pitcher on display

At the wine tasting

Alano just before we left the winery

We then drove on to a small boutique winery called Montequieto and had a private tour.  The winery is family owned and they bottle a number of red blends.  The family home is on the property.

Inspecting the vines

The grapes

Small stainless steel tanks

We then had a taste of a 2013 Sauvignon Blanc that was fermenting in a concrete tank.  It was still cloudy, but the green apple taste was coming through.  It was still a few months away from being bottled.

The tank we got the sauvignon blanc from - note: SB2013

Our guide pouring us the cloudy SB from a concrete tank

Alano with his glass of Sauvignon Blanc

We had never tasted wine at this stage of production -very interesting.  We also tasted a 2011 reserve red blend that was almost ready to be removed from the tank and placed in oak barrels for another year.  It was a lovely blend of cabernet franc, malbec, cabernet sauvignon and syrah.

Sampling the Reserva 2011 from a steel tank

We then had a tasting of two of their wines.  A great "hands on" experience at a small family run winery. 

Quieto label with the indication of the blend

On the drive home we stopped to take some pictures of the Cipolletti Dam, built by Cesare Cipolletti in 1895, which regulates the flow of the Mendoza River and directs its waters into various channels, some going to the vineyards and others to a channel that moves the water to the City of Mendoza.  Cipolletti, the hydraulic engineer who organized this infrastructure also designed aqueducts in Florence and on the Tiber River.  We also drove through an oil refinery on the way back to town. Our driver told us that Mendoza produces 1/3 of Argentina's oil. Oil is the #1 industry in the area, followed by wine and tourism.

The dry side of the dam

The side with water

After resting up, we headed out to dinner at Azafran (saffron), where we had eater earlier in the week.  We shared a lovely starter of salmon tartare, avocado, tomato, cucumber and plantain and a main of a pork chop and lentils.  Alano had a gorgeous flan for dessert.

The salmon/avocado appy

Alano with his dessert flan

It was a lovely evening.  We have both been very impressed with the wine experience in Mendoza.  Our driver said there are 956 tax-paying wineries in the Mendoza area and the number is going to expand in the next few years.  Well worth the visit!