The Vineyards of Mendoza by Bicycle (Day 41)

Today was my wine day. I'm in Mendoza, arguably the wine heartbeat of all of Argentina, so I'm due. I had been hoping to find a bike tour company or something like that, just for something different, and it just so happens that the hostel I'm staying at in Mendoza has connections to just the bike company for me. I get a bike, a bottle of water and a map/route down vineyard alley and off I go. Yippeee!

The first place I hit was closed due to a work stoppage (read: worker's strike) so I carried on to the next stop en route which was actually a chocolate and liquors factory. Yum! The "tour" was a bit of a let-down: the biligual part ended after "hello" (thank goodness I've pretty much got a handle on enough Castella to muddle through) and the tour started and ended with our host pointing out each clearly-labelled bottle on display. Hmm. The upside is that we did get to try a shot of any liquor I wanted. I indulged in a chocolate/banana liquor that made my toes curl! It was very tasty, but a few shots of it and I'm sure a person would go blind.

The next stop was to the Bodega (Vineyard) Viña el Cerno. This time, I was in store for a full tour. I was with a completely Castellana-speaking group, so I toured in C astellana/Spanish and was pleasantly surprised how much I actually followed along! We started off in the vineyards looking at the different grapes:

then moved on to where the magic happens in the winery. The winery is all automated, so big machines do the bulk of the work now to extract the grape juice from the pulp and skins and then the juice is carried along pipes into the gigantic fermentation vats. All the vats are encased in the walls and the vine cycles through a few times before sugar is added to convert it to alcohol.

Then it was down to the cellars. It smells really sweet down here from the sugar and humidity in the air. The bottles are stacked really tights to try to keep the light out (we couldn't even use a flash to take photos)


and then the wine goes into big wooden barrels to age, with the type of wood depending on the desired flavour and type of wine.


The labelling is pretty standard- a machine sticks the labels on each side of the bottle. The corks are mechanically inserted after the bottle is vacuum-sealed and then a decorative/identification seal goes over the neck of the whole bottle. Then, voila- a bottle ready for, you guessed it...tasting!

My favourite part of the tour- the tasting room.


The sommelier took us through how to be all snooty and serious about tasting wine (my giggles were not so well received). He showed how to swirl and smell the wine, with something about the way the wine makes you tear when you snort it tells you something (I may have been giggling a little and not totally paying enough attention to understand). But, I now know what it means for wine to "have legs" and what the consistency and colour (bright red for younger wines, darker for aged wines) tells you about its flavour. Then the good part- sipping! We got to taste a Malbec (classic Argentine wine) and a Cabernet. I could actually tell the difference, to my surprise and both were very, very smooth.


Then it was on to the purchasing store part of the tasting gallery, which I craftily side-stepped (how am I to tote around bottles on a bike?) .

Instead, I took some photos, including a really cool display that gives examples of some of the different ingredients that distinguish the different flavors in the wine varieties. Now I have some idea what to look for...


I hopped back on my bike and decided that since I had enjoyed that tour so much, I wouldn't try to top it at another vineyard and instead try something completely different- an olive oil farm. Now you're probably thinking the same thing I did- olives and olive oil in Argentia? But, yes indeed and it was pretty interested. In fact, olive oil is made in a fashion pretty similar to wine. We started off at the olive trees (I've never seen an olive tree before) and heard about how the different varieties and age of the trees ultimately affect the taste of the oil.


Then we went into the factory of which part is also a museum of the old processing machinery used. This one was to separate out the olives from the pulp and pits circa 1900s


which today has been replaced by this shiny one....a striking ressemblance to the juice extractors at the wineries :)


Then the olive liquid goes on to a sorting machine where the pits are extracted and the pulp is centrifuged to separate out the oil. Then the oil gets combined with water and is centrifuged out again to purify the oil. Kinda cool.

We also then were treated to a tasting, on bread and sun-dried tomatoes which we all devoured as the guide explained the differences between the types of oil. That may be why I didn't quite catch what makes a virgin olive oil from an extra virgin variety from a ... oh well. The snacks were tasty and best of all, the whole tour was free!


Afterwards, the day was so beautifully sunny and warm that I decided to take a detour back to the bike shop through the surrounding town of Maipu. I had read in Lonely Planet (I will soon learn to cringe when I hear those two words) that Maipu was a quaint little town worth making time for. For what, I dunno. I didn't see much other than a lot of car accessory and parts stores and the odd convenience store. So, I eventually found my way back to vineyard alley and enjoyed the tree-lined route back to drop off my bike.

Back in Mendoza, I picked up my pack from the hostel (they were sweet enough to let me store it there the whole day) and headed to the bus station to catch my bus for the long trip to Iguazu Falls. I was actually pretty beat by now and not so worried about the 35hr bus trip ahead of me. I had thoroughly enjoyed my time in Mendoza (although I would highly recommend its surrounding Alta Montagna area over the city itself) and with a bottle of wine for the road, I was ready to look ahead to Iguazu!