Probar Vino en Argentina
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010As a native Californian, I consider myself a wine tasting connoisseur (note: not a wine connoisseur but a wine TASTING connoisseur) from my many visits to wineries. Yet, wine tasting in Argentina threw me for a loop! We set out on Sunday, eager to visit several wineries (bodegas) and enjoy a leisurely lunch in the “wine country” near Mendoza. After driving past about five closed bodegas, we realize that the bodegas are not open on weekends. What???? This makes no sense to me, but I accept the Argentinean culture that everything is closed on weekends except for restaurants, bars and grocery stores. Instead of wine tasting, we spend a lovely afternoon at the Mendoza Zoo. We meet a friendly family from the States and Quinn has a little buddy to run around with.
We set out again on Monday after warnings that we should make a reservation. Reservation to taste wine? How busy can the bodegas be on a Monday during low season? Plus, we are ready to taste now, so how can I make an advance reservation?
We first go to Chandon (must start with champagne…), but are stopped at the gate by a guard. I inquire about tasting and he says, “un momento”, then retreats to the guard station to make a phone call. A few minutes later, he returns to inform us that we have a tour and tasting at 2pm. Hmmm. Ok, it is only 12pm, so we venture to another winery, Norton. Again, we are stopped by a guard at the gate, who makes a phone call and finally allows us to enter. We are greeted by a woman who explains the process. $15 pesos (~$4 USD) and two tastings. Fair enough. She then introduces us to the pourer. We are the only ones seated at the wine bar, each with 2 glasses, a glass of water, crackers and a spit bucket. Our host goes through the motions of pouring from glass to glass and explaining the decanting process. Yeah, OK, wine please! We finally get our glasses of decanted wine – Malbec – delicious and only $4 USD per bottle! After much discussion about swirling, sniffing, cleansing the palate, blah, blah, blah, we get our second taste: Barbera for Paul and Bonarda for me. Wonderful wines at $4 USD per bottle, but we prefer the Malbec.
We return to Chandon for our tour and tasting. We are the only guests and receive a private tour in English of the champagne cellars. After the tour, we are seated in a stunning room – lots of huge windows looking out to a garden, fancy modern furniture, all-white motif – it is like wine tasting for the rich and famous. Our hostess sits at the table with us and proceeds to pour three tastes of champagne: Extra Brut, Rose and Cuvee Chardonnay. All are wonderful and I reminisce about the many bottles of champagne that I have shared with my girlfriends at home.
At both places, the host/hostess pours a glass of wine for himself and drinks along with us. I wonder how many “reservations” and glasses of wine that they drink while working…
After two wineries, we are done since we don’t want to deal with the hassle of guards and reservations. Plus, wine tasting here is so serious, private and formal. Where is the party atmosphere like the tasting rooms in Napa? In any case, we have a fun, highly memorable day.
hwy1alltheway