Mendoza - Wine Country in the Harvest time!
Mendoza in Harvest
Flying from Iguazu to Buenos Aires and from there to Mendoza took only 5 hours in total (and cost a lot!)
We had arrived in the middle of the "Fiesta Nacionale de la Vendimia", or in English, the wine harvest festival. The festival was corresponding to the end of summer and time of the grape harvest. Many music events and farmers markets take place during this time in celebration. Summer did not seem to have ended though! The weather was dry and the temperature was hovering around the mid 30s.
Mendoza province lies in the mid-west of the country flanked by the Andes
A short description from wikipedia to give you some background:
"Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes. As of the 2001 census, Mendoza's population was 110,993. The metropolitan population was 848,660 in 2001, making Greater Mendoza the fourth largest census metropolitan area in the country."
By now my beard was getting longer (just over 2 months without a shave!) and bits of lunch would tend to get stuck there if I wasn't careful! I promised myself and Riverdance I would soldier on though! We checked into Hostal Independencia which was centrally located near the Plaza Independencia.
Hostal Independencia
Inside the hostel
The hostel staff humour at the place was fairly unique. When faced with a request for something, most of them would stare at you for an extended moment and say ".............. No" and then continue to stare at you! After a lengthy amount of awkward silence, they would smile and help you out... bizarre but amusing when watching them do it to others! I will remember Tino (aka Tintin) one of the hostel staff the most for continually referring to Riverdance as "The Lesbian". I cannot recall how he got this nickname for her.
Day 1 we were ferried to the vineyards. We got allocated some dubious looking bicycles through the "Bikes and Wines" tour company and a map that simply had the most ridiculously incorrect scaling ever! (1cm on the map could mean 500m or 6km!).
The choice of vineyards in the area was relatively extensive so we decided to stick to a couple of recommended ones. First stop was at El Cerno Bodega (Bodega means vineyard/winery in Spanish). We tried the Malbec premium and middle range wines which were fairly good. The tasting itself was not something we were used to. Instead of having a small amount of wine in your glass and a spittoon at the ready, you were dolloped out a full glass and shown a table to sit down at.
The bored wine attendant at El Cerno
No food and 2 glasses of wine later we merrily moved onto the next Bodega called Tempus Alba. This place was really great! We were "embraced" very enthusiastically by the son of the family that owned the bodega. We had lengthy conversations about wine in the region and wine in South Africa too which he seemed fascinated about.
We were dished out 3 glasses this time (which we wisely shared) along with nuts and home-grown olives. The premium wine called Pleno was delicious!
Tempus Alba
I had my suspicions that the winery was a front for an established meth lab
We made friends there with a dutch couple (Frank and Kim) who had recently been to South Africa and we had interesting discussions about their experiences there. All together we moved onto a restaurant for lunch where we lounged about for a good while in the sun.
Lunch with Frank, Kim and Riverdance
Our final stop for the day was La Rural Bodega. This is a large Bodega that has been converted into a museum displaying the history of wine in the region. Unfortunately for us the English guide had left for the day so we just wandered around looking at all the exhibits
The museum
165 hectalitres of Mendoza's finest in there! Now if only I could release the cask I could be happily drunk for at least a year!
The Grape Truck - the equivalent of a cash-in-transit vanCompared to my experiences in the Stellenbosch Winelands of South Africa, I was not particularly impressed with the setup of the wine tours. There was a lot to be desired in terms of professionalism at some of the bodegas and cycling along narrow roads with huge trucks and vehicles hurtling by emitting noxious fumes in your face was not particularly pleasant and at times was downright hazardous!
Day 2 was spent relaxing in the sunny Avenidas and enjoying the cafe chicos (espresso). I also took out my Spanish notes to help with my persisting communication issues! Due to a local tradiotion, all about town there were girls campaigning to be the new Harvest Queen. They would walk around town in a ridiculous ball gowns and tiaras trying to garner support. I thought it only appropriate to get a few cheaky snaps with them ;-). I also walked around town a fair deal admiring the architecture and plazas.
Harvest time rules!
Plaza Espana
That evening we heard there was some live music in the main San Martin Park. Equipping ourselves with "supplies" we walked over and enjoyed some local singing and dancing. The sound system was a bit dodgy but the skill of the bands performing was excellent. The music was complemented with traditional dancing on the stage in front. Many stalls were setup in the surrounding area with local wares and food for sale. We were a bit disappointed to hear that Manu Chau was expected to be playing the following weekend and that we would be missing it!
I managed to snag another harvest queen
After the festival we moved onto the Ishkra nightclub where a live band played local Argentine hits. They were excellent! We managed to last until the wee hours of the morning (ie. when they start playing Reggaeton) before cabbing it back to our comfortable beds.
Ishkra - The tables were moved out later to create a dancefloor
More Harvest Queens! I was starting to really enjoy Mendoza!
The next few days were comfortably spent relaxing and moving around through town enjoying the good food and scenery. We also did make an appearance at a large club called Caralito which was about 4 different clubs all rolled into one! Poor Riverdance got taken poorly for 2 days and so was confined to the dorm.
A Frutilla Liquado (Strawberry smoothie)
Traditional Festival Dancing
We visited some excellent restaurants, most notably Francis Mallman's 1884. This was voted the 7th best restaurant in the world a few years ago. Since then I believe it has slipped down to around 45 but we still had a fantastic meal! The restaurant is housed in Bodega Escorihuela, a beautiful building about the size of a small fort, just outside Mendoza. I had a starter of smoked Provolone cheese with peppers and aubergines and a main of Ribe-eye steak with chimichurri sauce on a potato frite base. Riverdance had a fig and mozzarella salad and roasted baby goat with grilled veggies. All of this was accompanied by a bottle of Los Alamos Malbec wine - one which we had come to love over the last month and a half.
Dinner at Francis Mallman's 1884
We also visited Anna's Bistro, a French owned restaurant that is known for it's good value. There is a lovely garden to eat in and it is clearly popular as it is packed by the time we leave. I have an excellent Bife Lomo with Hongos (Beef loin with mushrooms) washed down with a fairly fruity Malbec wine.
A sizzling parilla with about 3 cows, 2 goats and 4 sheep sitting on it!
Dinner at Anna's - starters of ceviche for me and carpaccio for RD
Grilled Lamb
Lomo steak with mushroom sauce and layered potato bake
We also spent a few "quiet" evenings at the hostel chatting to other travellers and drinking lots of beer and wine. We met Roanne, another travelling Saffa, and Josh, a Canadian wildlife biologist who had broken his collarbone whilst out on a wine tour.
Roanne (SA) and Sarah (Ire)
Josh (Canada) and Alex (Sweden)
Riverdance and Nick (Holland)
All too soon it was time to move on. Mendoza had been an thoroughly enjoyable stay. We had been spoiling ourselves on good food and wine for close to a week! (I don't think we cooked once the whole time we were there!)
Next stop Salta - an 18 hour bus drive away!
I will miss those Harvest Queens.....
Comments