Wine, more wine and chess
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011Day 143 Thu 20/1 Mendoza
Mendoza is much smaller than Cordoba and Buenos Aires. The buildings arent quite so interesting. They had an earthquake sometime in 1861 that did a lot of damage. They , probably because of the threat of earthquakes, have a lot of plazas. My favourite plazas were Plaza Independencia (the main one) and Plaza EspaƱa.
After checking into the hostel and recovering from the effects of a long bus trip and a 30 minute walk from the bus terminal to the hostel, I headed out to wander the city. Visited a couple of plazas and headed out to Parque San Martin. San Martin being an Argentine hero and a son of Mendoza, there are plenty of monuments to him all around the place. The parque had a monument on top of Cerro Gloria.
Headed to the hostel after trekking in the heat for a few hours to prepare dinner and enjoy the free glass of wine that the hostel offers. They also offered a free international call, which meant I could ring my sister and say hello.
Day 144 Fri 21/1 Mendoza
Mendoza is one of Argentina’s important wine regions. The main attraction of the province has to be the wine and the proximity to the Andes. There are plenty of tours that one could take to wineyards, ranging from USD 150 to USD 40.
Being the parsimonious (guess that is as good a term for being cheap and penny-pinching) backpacker that I am ,I opted for taking the public transportation out to the wineyards and walking. One could also rent a bike – I think it is a good option if you plan to visit a few wineyards. I had decided 3 wineyards would be my limit. I also wasnt sure that I would be able to navigate a bicycle after a few glasses of wine: I get tipsy after about 3 glasses. I wasnt going to desist from imbibing as much wine as they offer in these wineyards, either!
After taking the bus to Maipu, I started at the Museo del Vino. It is a family run wineyard that acts as a museum. The guide spoke Spanish on the tour and I only managed to digest about 50 percent of what she said. An enjoyable free tour, which ended in a free glass of red wine. Who could complain?
After that, it is off to La Antigua, a place where they make olive oil, chocolates, liquors etc. A family run business, the tour wasnt very good and wasnt very informative, especially for the 15 pesos they charged. However, they did offer a multitude of thigns to taste: olive oil, jams, salsas, chocolates and one liquor among the many they make. I opted for absinthe since I wasnt sure I would get another chance. Boy, was it strong!
Wine tasting. Museo del vino, A La Antigua, Trapiche. Wine tasting class at hostel
Trapiche is one of the biggest wineyards in Mendoza and probably Argentina, as well. The tour and wine tasing cost 25 pesos, but it was well worth it. The lady who gave thr tour wasnt very good at imparting information, but the guy who was in charge of tasting was really good. Had 4 glasses of wine – a Chardonnay, two reds and a dessert wine. We were also allowed to grab grapes off the vines to taste them. They were going to wait for two more crop cycles before using the grapes for wine. Nice tasting grapes, and a good way to end my journey to Maipu.
Got back to the hostel to find that they were offering a free 1 hour wine tasting class, which also included 3 glasses of wine. How on earth do I say no to something like that? The lady was a good talker and her talk was very informative. I am still not sure that my palate will ever be able to discern the berries or the hint of musk or whatever terms the oenophiles use! Give me a glass of wine I enjoy, and I am happy. But I reckon it is good to know how to tell. I am just not sure if I care about training my palate.
It was a very enjoyable day!
Day 145 Sat 22/1 Mendoza
I had meant to take a bus to Uspallate to see the Puente del Inca, but I didnt wake up in time to catch the 6:00 bus. Decided that I would enjoy an easy, slow day at Mendoza instead.
I wandered around town, read my book, prepared dinner. Headed out for a postprandial walk. The Plazas were well lit and plaza independencia had some live music as well. To my delight, there were quite a few street stalls set up as part of the weekend street markets. The highlight of the evening was a chess game I played with a bookseller, Sergio. We also had a conversation, after he wiped the floor with me, about books, India, travel. He recommended Valparaiso, which is handy, since I am headed there Sunday morning at 09:30.