The first of the wineries we visited on our day in the vineyards. A small family run operation specializing in good wines and only producing about 3000 cases a year. We had a great tour exploring the vineyard with our guide, Carolina, followed by a tasting of 4 of their wines. they were truly excellent and unfortunately unavailable inn Canada as their wine is only sold in Argentina to some restaurants and exclusive wine stores!
Our next stop was a slightly larger winery that evolved from two friends who worked together who met an Italian winemaker and decided to buy a winery and experiment together. In a very short time they had developed some wonderful high-end wines. Sorry no pictures!
The highlight of our day was to be taken to Bodega Roca Malen for lunch. A five course meal matched to their wines. It was an incredible meal and probably the first for us where the chef had truly matched the wines to the food. The pictures show the results - a beetroot cappuccino, followed by a smoked pumpkin terrine, then tenderloin steak, a mint and lemon sorbet, and lastly a dessert of quince, pear, spaghetti squash and fig all marinated in a sugar type syrup. Oh, it was soooo good!
The last winery was again a fairly small one that had been in the family for many years but was sold in the 60's and then rebought by the granddaughter in the 80's. Below is a picture of one of the storage areas - never seen so many bottle piled up, aging quietly waiting for the labels and caps!
We still have another couple of days here, but have spent today walking in and out of the plazas and streets of Mendoza. A small busy city full of trees.
Wow, that was lunch? I sure hope you are doing lots of walking to keep your youthful figures!
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