As we leave Argentina there are so many things we are thankful to have been able to experience and that we know we are going to miss.
dulce de leche
yerba mate
new friends
steak
Buenos Aires
cheek kissing
Salta
empanadas
malbec
dog walkers
Mendoza
asados
alfajores
Most of all we’ll miss the Argentinian people who were always friendly, patient with my bad Spanish, helpful, and welcoming. We’ll miss Argentina, but I know we’ll be back.
Next stop is Chicago to visit friends, family and attend our nephew Matt and his fiance Melissa’s wedding. I’ve also challenged Jeff to a White Castle slider eating contest. I’m pretty sure I know who’s going to win.
When we planned a day of wine tasting in Lujan our goal was to taste a lot of wine. We achieved our goal and learned the meaning of the saying, “too much of a good thing.”
Lujan is only thirty minutes from Mendoza, or ninety minutes if you get lost, end up in a traffic jam, get lost again, then end up behind a horse.
It's harder to pass a horse than you might think.
Our appointment (all wineries require appointments) with Kaiken was at 9:30. We didn’t get there until 11:00 which is just as well. 9:30 am is a bit early for wine tasting, even for us. There was already a tour scheduled, but they were super nice to let us tag along.
The first taste was straight from the tank. If I knew how much wine was coming later in the day, I would have skipped this one.
Tasting directly from the tank, sounds better than it is.
The following tastes were really good and plentiful. Kaiken has some really great wines.
I must have already been tipsy at this point because I insisted we buy two Kaiken wine glasses. I’m sure two fragile wine glasses won’t be too hard to pack in our already stuffed suitcases.
Just what we need in Seattle more wine glasses!
By this point it was good we had already agreed that Jeff would be the designated driver all day. Jeff was completely sober before getting in the car, all day long. The same could not be said for me as a passenger.
Next stop was Ruca Malen for a luxurious five course meal. The lunch cost $100 US for both of us. In Argentina that is a lot of money and for us on this trip it’s a lot. We debated for days prior if we should do it or not.
You would think this was a government facility instead of a winery with the amount of security they had. A security guard had to radio someone to confirm our reservations before opening the gate.
checking to make sure we're not....wine robbers?
Once we got there and saw the view, we didn’t have any doubts about lunch.
You know it’s going to be lavish when then menu of what you’ll be eating and drinking for the day is an entire page long.
this was all for lunch
Course #1 – corn soup served with chardonnay. This was pretty good. The wine was better than the soup. I’m never crazy for soup where I need to floss afterward.
Course #2 – sweet potato and meat empanada with some kind of sauce, served on a fancy piece of wood, with a cute little shot glass of sauce. Served with a cabernet. This was my favorite part of the meal. It was super good.
good presentation and delicous
Course #3 – honestly, by this point I had already had too much wine. They were pouring my 3rd glass, a syrah, while I was still on my 2nd. At this point I wish I had remembered you don’t need to drink the entire glass. Tasting is just fine, and chugging to catch up is not recommended. The 3rd course was called a “creamy roasted aubergine croquette” also known as a giant french fry stuffed with eggplant. I loved it, Jeff not so much.
Course #4 – they switched to larger glasses and larger pours at this point. Our food was some kind of steak with a side of blueberries and stuff. There were two glasses of wine with this course, both reds, both good. At this point I had had so much wine that I didn’t even mind when I bit into a blueberry, a bug crawled out and onto my face. Normally that would have caused a freakout on my part, but instead I just brushed it onto the ground and stomped on it.
steak, potato cakes with a bug filled blueberry garnish
Course #5 – OK this was the first course that I thought was stupid. It was a glass of ice. Pretty, but dumb. Wine didn’t come with this course which was good because I needed the glass of ice break to catch up on the wines I was behind on.
could have skipped the glass of ice course
Course #6 – this dessert was awesome. It was some kind of white chocolate thing. It was served with champagne which I did not drink. By this time I realized it was time for me to stop drinking.
white chocolate desertundrunk wine, sad really
Course #7 – finally, just coffee! Some cookies and blobs of sweet stuff came with this course.
I think this dinner was supposed to take three leisurely hours. We were so hungry going into it we somehow ate and drank everything in an hour. This was a mistake since we were not feeling so hot afterward. They had some chairs outside the restaurant which I sat in to take in the view. Later Jeff woke me up to tell me it was time to go.
Now this would have been a very good time to go home. But, when a rental car costs $100 a day, you have appointments at two more wineries, and you are marathon wine tasters, you don’t let a little mid day hang over stop you. As soon as we were rested and 100% sober, we were back to the car.
come on, we've got two more to go to.
Next stop was Lagarde. Our appointment was at 3:00pm, but Jeff called them to tell them we would be late due to his wife being in a food coma. They were nice enough to let us come at 4:00.
There was quite a lot of good wine to be tasted at Lagarde.
Our guide was super nice and happy to pour us as much as we wanted, but we had to cut her off. That’s the first time I’ve actually liked the wine and had to beg NOT to try it.
And then it was off to yet another winery. Clos de Charcas.
We shared a tasting here which was a good move since even sharing was more than enough.
The outside patio was really nice and reminded us of some wineries in Washington State. Although, in Woodinville they don’t usually have to top their hedges with barbed wire.
barbed wire hedge
After this winery we went home and took a very very long nap. Wine tasting in Lujan is really fun and I’m glad we did the fancy lunch. But, I wished we had taken our time with it and not visited four wineries in one day. I never thought I’d say it, but it was too much wine.
When I changed the name of my blog to Sounds Good on Paper, I didn’t expect the very next thing we did would fall into this category. But, wine tasting in San Juan became one of those things that sounded so good on paper. Sometimes things sound good on paper, turn out differently and are even better than planned.
And sometimes they just suck. Wine tasting in San Juan turned into one of the sucks days.
On Paper: rent car, drive through beautiful countryside to city of San Juan where we would wine taste lots of amazing wine.
Reality: Spent way too much money on a rental car. Spent 9 hours driving, 8 of which we were lost. Got to one winery, tasted one wine.
First thing that went wrong was the car rental. We had reserved a nice, cheap but safe car online. When we got to the office, all they had was a tiny, very unsafe no airbag cars. There are eight car companies in Mendoza, there was only one rental car in all of Mendoza with air bags, and it was twice the price.
Eight rental agencies, only one car with airbags.
But, we paid and were off. Second problem, we could not find our way out of Mendoza, even with our GPS. Jeff drove through dodgy intersections around and around, while that damn GPS lady kept “recalculating.”
can't imagine why we would get lost
But, then we were on the open road, ready to explore the province of San Juan. I will admit, this was pretty…for the first fifteen minutes. This one continuous mountain got a bit old 2 1/2 hours into the drive.
We finally got to San Juan and after spending another hour lost, we got to the first winery – Graffigna. The winery tour took an hour. Jeff got to stand in a room made out of a wine barrel.
Who knew this would be the highlight of the day.
Then it was finally time for a tasting. The one malbec we tried was good. If we knew it would be the only tasting of the day, we would have asked for a refill.
drink it slow, it's all you're getting
Then it was off to Callia. This was one of the main reasons we went to San Juan. We’ve been drinking and loving their wine since getting to Argentina. We called in advance, they had tours at 9, 10, 11, 12, 2, 3, 4. It was 2:00, more than enough time to get there.
Tell that damn GPS woman to shut up.
We got a bit lost, and then drove in circles, then we found the correct road and it was closed off for repaving, then we drove around in more circles, and then we almost threw our GPS out the window. But, we finally made it there at 3:22. A guard at the winery gate greeted us and we had this exchange in Spanish:
Guard: Sorry last tour was at 3:00pm.
Jeff: But, we called the last tour is supposed to be at 4:00.
Guard: Yes, but not today.
Jeff: But…is today a special day?
Guard: No, every day the tour is at 4:00. But not today.
Jeff: Can we come in and buy a glass of wine.
Guard: No.
Jeff: Can we come in and buy a bottle of wine?
Guard: No.
Jeff: Can we come in and just see the winery?
Guard: No.
Sheryl (yelling from the passenger seat): We just drove here from friggin Mendoza. Can you just let us in for a minute to try your damn wine?
Guard: No
Jeff: Can you tell us how to get to another winery?
Guard: No, it’s complicated.
Jeff: Can you tell us how to get back to town?
Guard: Go to your right, it’s faster but is complicated. Go to your left, it takes longer but is easy.
We took the long way. By the time we got into town all the rest of the wineries were closed. That was OK through. We found a wine bar. We sat down, a waitress came over, told us they didn’t have wine by the glass. In fact, they didn’t even have a bottle of the wine advertised on the tables.
Remember Napa and Walla Walla where you can actually taste wine?
So then we just went to another restaurant sat down ordered a big bottle of wine and drank it.
Then I saw these great mannequins.
Does she have cat ears?Why so sad little mannequin boy?Have you ever seen a mannequin with worry lines on his forehead?
After walking around town for awhile it was time for the 2 1/2 hour drive home. First we spent an hour getting lost on the way out of town. But then we drove the 2 1/2 hours without incident. Back in Mendoza we stopped for gas. The only station open had a 30 minute long wait.
What is this the 1970's?
We left our apartment at 8:30am. We arrived back at 11:30pm. While we didn’t do much wine tasting. We did get in some good wine drinking. Although it wasn’t the day we had hoped for, I’ve decided every day of travel is good, even when it sort of sucks.
Everyone in Mendoza loves Mr. Hugo. I’m sure Mr. Hugo is fabulous. But, we decided to wine taste without him. It was a hard decision, one with many concerns. Could it really be done?
Mr. Hugo rents bicycles in the town of Maipu, which is near the city of Mendoza. He rents bikes, gives out a wine map, bottle of water, and drink at the end of the day. So many people rave about him, I assumed it must be all hype, until several different friends that live here year round also recommended him.
Who wouldn't want to rent from Mr Hugo? (photo from Mr. Hugo website)
We would have rented from Mr Hugo except for two things. I am terrible on a regular bike and Jeff is too smart to go wine tasting with me on a tandem. He knew that after my first sip of wine I would have refused to pedal and he would have had to drag me all around town. But, could we do it without Mr. Hugo? We didn’t know.
In Mendoza we called a taxi to take us to the first winery. Even he was dubious of doing this without Mr. Hugo. He pointed out Mr. Hugo’s storefront as we drove by just in case we changed our mind. For the equivalent of $15US we arrived at the first winery.
This is easy.
Our first stop was the winery Trapiche. We’ve seen this label in the US, so we were excited to try their wine.
Two of Mr. Hugo’s rental bikes were parked in front, taunting us.
You should have rented us.
There were four Mr. Hugo riders on our tour. They ignored us older taxi-riding wine tasters.
Hey cool kids...wait for us.
In the tasting room, Jeff was able to engage the youngsters in conversation while I became fixated with the world’s fanciest tasting room bathroom sink.
fancy!
After the quick tour and tastings the Mr. Hugo riders rode away while we waited for a taxi. The winery called us the cab, but we had to amuse ourselves while we waited for it to arrive 30 minutes later.
practicing my fancy arm movementspracticing fancy dance movesharvesting some snacks
When the taxi showed up I was dubious since it didn’t look like a taxi. But, for the equivalent of $6 US he took us to the next winery.
Tempus Alba had even more Mr. Hugo bike renters.
The winery was beautiful with a self guided tour, vineyards overlooking the Andes and a fabulous patio with a wine bar and restaurant.
If you really look hard you can see the Andes behind me.
We were the only non Mr. Hugo renters and also the only people over the age of 22. I haven’t seen this many college kids trading travel stories since 1989 when I was one of them. Although lacking the youthful exuberance and travel bravado of the youngsters, we did have something they may not have, money to spend on wine and good food. We went wine tasting crazy.
7 glasses between the 2 of us? No prob we don't have to ride a bike back.this baked brie went really well with wine.this carmelized onion quiche also went will with wine.pork, sweet potatoes and onions in malbac sauce doesn't look like much, but was one of our best meals of the entire trip.
After a very long and lavish lunch, we decided to walk to the next winery. The walk itself was really nice along a shaded street with views of the vineyards and mountains.
Unfortunately, a city information guide had told us earlier we might get mugged in this town. So, although there were bikes, police cars, trucks and cars whizzing by, I was sure we were lost and about to be attacked. We weren’t.
This third winery was just OK. The wine was good, but there was a strange vibe inside (not to mention about 30 Mr. Hugo bike renters). Unfortunately, instead of doing the tasting outside it was in a weird smelling basement like room.
We skipped the tour and went back outside and waited for a bus home. The bus cost the equivalent of 30 US cents. And, best of all it dropped us off at a bakery.
Would I recommend Mr. Hugo? Sure, everyone looked like they were having fun, the bikes looked good and I’ve heard nothing but good things. Would I suggest still going by taxi, walking and bus if you don’t want to bike? Absolutely!
Everyone knows the saying wine before liquor never sicker. We set out to answer the question, does wine tasting before liquor tasting make you sick? I’m happy to report that the answer is no. It just makes you very sleepy on the bus home.
Our first question was actually how to even go wine tasting. The normal way of taking a tour was too expensive and the budget way of renting a bike was too dangerous for me. There is a reason the only cycling I do is from the back of a tandem.
Our new friends Jeff and Romi helped us by giving us exact instructions on how to take a bus to a winery and distillery. Jeff is an amazing photographer. Check out his photos. www.photojbartlett.com.
They told us to take bus 182 and exactly where to pick it up. It was lucky because without their help we never would have figured out which bus to take.
Looking slightly drunk before even getting there.
The bus took a long time, I think we stopped at every person’s house between Mendoza and the winery.
But once we got there. We had a fabulous tour through the vineyards and olive groves.
grapesolives
It was a hot day, so by the time we got to the tasting room I was already light headed from dehydration. After a few tastings I was even more light headed and slightly giddy. I figured I better really test out our wine before liquor question by drinking enough wine. Our guide helped us out by refilling our glasses several times.
We stumbled out of the winery and headed directly across the street to the distillery. Our guide at the winery told us to ring the bell at the distillery “really really hard and loud.” I’m not sure if this is really a giant door bell, or a warning to the people in the distillery that drunk gringos are on their way over.
We probably should have asked for a tour first in order to sober up. But, we felt it was important to get straight to the tasting in order to put the wine before liquor saying to the test.
We got to taste quite a few different liquors. My favorite of course being the dulce de leche liqueur.
dulce de leche liqueur - heaven in a shot glassthis gin was also a favorite
Urs, our Swiss distillery guide was very helpful in our testing of wine tasting before liquor tasting.
We caught the bus back. I couldn’t tell you how long it took on the way back because I feel alseep the second we got on the bus. It wasn’t the little head nod nap. It was the full on sprawled on the seat, drooling type of sleep. Not pretty, but at least we did not find “wine tasting before liquor tasting never sicker” to be true.