Today was a planning day. We called Carolina at 9 am. She came over and we discussed moving downstairs, parking the car in the garage space at the apartment rather than down the street and finding a dentist to glue Jonathan’s broken crown back (no more caramels). Fortunately, Carolina arranged a dentist appointment for 5 pm. She dropped us off at Vines of Mendoza.
We decided to make reservations (required) to visit vineyards (Kaiken, Vistalba, Decero (for lunch), and Pulento). We also visited a local tasting room Vines of Mendoza at 3 pm, where we had a Lorca Poetica 2013 Viognier, and then decided to return at 6:30 pm for a tasting (WC whites, JH reds).
At 8-8:30 pm we walked a block or two down the street and had dinner at Vinos y Fuegos. There was a cooking event going on inside, so we ate on the patio, chatting with our fellow diner, a young man from Brazil. He went to Chile to carry out some medical research (pediatric) and ended up traveling around both the Chilean and Argentine wine country. Apparently, his experiment didn’t work out in Chile, so he had some time to spare. We also chatted with a couple we’d seen while tasting at Vines of Mendoza, and now we’re planning to have dinner with them on Wednesday. Aren’t we the social butterflies? By the time this was over, our first real late night Argentine dinner, we were done in.
Wine info:
My tasting was: Especial de Blancos and included:
Gimenez Rilli Extra Brut (Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir)
Recuerdo Torrontes 2013
Las Perdices Albarino 2013 (funkiness?, food flavors)
Serval Viognier Atamisque Valley (cheese, hay?)
Catalpa Chardonnay 2011, (honey, vanilla)
What I noticed about all these wines was the fact that they tasted smoother, with more vanilla-like notes and less of the citrusy flavor that I associate with whites. Overall, they seemed less acidic than what I am used to. At some point our server (very knowledgeable, excellent English) indicated that might be related to alcohol content. I’m not sure there’s that much variety in the alcohol content of whites.
Jonathan’s tasting was: Las Reservas del Valley (El primer acercamiento del valle)
Marcelo Pelleriti Reserva Malbec 2010
Padres Dedicados Malbec 2012
Cuvelier Grand Vin 2008
Atamisque Assamblage 2009
Gran Lorca Petit Verdot 2008
The reds ranged in price from 150-355 AR pesos. (US$1=8.5 AR pesos)
Details: Feb. 2, 2015. Heavy rain overnight, tapering off in the morning, and lowering the temperature. Rather than being over 30 C, it is around 26-28 C (83 F), and overcast. This is much better weather for…..everything. Overcast weather is nicer for visiting vineyards.
Dr. Santini, the dentist, was great. She has an office at home because she loves to travel and doesn’t want to have the cost of a separate office. There is Egyptian art hanging on her wall, and she’s been everywhere. While she and Jonathan were gluing down his tooth and discussing everywhere they’ve been and want to visit, Carolina and I discussed Argentina’s heavy dependence on taxing the middle class, the good roads, teaching and a lot of other things—we have a lot in common. She manages her three apartments and also teaches, English, Spanish and Math.
Llywindatravels 2022 