See- red, white and pink
What do I know about wine? I know it’s made from grapes. You can get it in white, red or pink. I know white wine is best for lighter meals and fish. Red is for steak. Rose is for summer. I also know I like to drink it. I like to drink it very much.
Despite the fact I’ve worked in hospitality practically my whole life, and I come from one of the world’s finest wine-producing countries (Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc anybody?), I have never stepped foot on a vineyard aside from a handful of restaurants. So I was epically excited to visit Mendoza and set to work rectifying the situation.
Argentina is considered a ‘new world’ wine producer. Meaning they are relatively new to the wine-making scene, but they are doing pretty damn well at it. Mendoza in particular is famous for its prized Malbec (a highly fortuitous pairing as Argentina is famous for their steak), a typically medium-bodied red with earthy tones and a dark plum colour.
A perfect day… for drinking
So one fine Friday morning Mark and I set off to Maipu where the majority of Mendoza’s vineyards are clustered. We opted not to do a tour as it seemed relatively easy to take the public bus out to Maipu and hire bikes from there. Take the number ten bus across from the hospital, with the route number 173. The buses only accept Mendoza’s rechargable bus cards. Pick one up from the kiosk by the bus-stop (you will see the number 173 on the parada).
We had asked the driver to drop us off at Maipu’s plaza where apparantely we would see a variety of different bike rentals. Instead he dropped us off at Mr.Hugo’s Bikes. Mr Hugo did right by us. For 50 Argentinian pesos we had the bikes for the afternoon and were given a map. The fast talking brunette showed us the closest wineries and kindly advised an itinerary according to which wineries were closing first and which had the most expensive cover charges. To be fair, we had arrived a little late in the afternoon (about 2pm). Her breathless exchange left little doubt in my mind that we had to hurry, pedal as quickly as we could and order the biggest glass of wine possible, lest all the wine run out before we got there.
And so we did pedal. The first winery was a good seven kilometres from Mr. Hugos. By the time we reached Tempus Alba I’m fairly certain my first words were, “Screw the wine, bring me your largest bottle of water.” Word to the wise- remember a bottle of water. The heat isn’t kind to drinkers and pedalers.
At Tempus Alba we lounged on the sun-worshiper’s terrace where Mark and I each tried a Sauvignon Blanc, a Malbec and a Rose. I promptly fell in love with the Malbec while Mark, bless his heart, choked back all three and no doubt wondered why I hadn’t brought him to a brewery instead.
Tempus Alba… where I fell in love with the Malbec
Next up was Vina el Cerno where we narrowly missed the English-speaking tour of the winery. We decided to skip the Spanish version and drink more wine instead. Four more extremely decent sized tasting glasses, all reds, and I’ll admit, I forgot what we ordered.
Okay, that’s a lie. I was drunk.
By this time the afternoon’s end was in sight (yes already, we spent a lot of time at Tempus Alba and the bike ride was pretty brutal), but to be fair, after seven tasting glasses of wine between 30 and 50 pesos per person, per visit, we were fairly happy to make Mevi our last stop.
At Mevi we opted for some pasta dishes for lunch and perched out on the terrace overlooking the vineyard. We polished the meal off with yet another red, a grape variety whose name escapes me but was one I had never heard of. Although we only had the one, Mevi had a much better tasting system, placing the tasting glass on cleverly designed place-mats labelled with tasting notes.
The view at Mevi
Full of food and wine we slowly pedaled back to Hugo’s- at least a 20 minute trek from Mevi. I’m not going to lie, the roads out there are not intended to be cycled, a few hairy moments arose during some confusion with the give-way rules. We even had a cop cycling along with us at one point. Mark suggested he was keeping an eye on us. Possibly rightly so, the traffic that passed us were whipping along at 100 km an hour.
Hugo welcomed us back with some juice and snacks. From there we caught the 173 back into town.
All in all a lovely day. We definitely saved more money by doing it ourselves. The tour prices do not include tasting and entrance fees so save yourself some dosh and just take the public bus. Be wary of the heat, bring a bottle of water and take it slow. If you’re hoping for an education in wine I would think again. We weren’t given many tasting notes or information about the wineries themselves unless provoked, nor were we on-time or encouraged to do any of the winery tours. Accept the fact that you are probably just going to eat and drink all afternoon.
Cheers.
