Sarah and I took a wine tour yesterday for our final day in Mendoza. Since many of the vineyards are near one another, a popular way to visit several over the course of a day is on a bike tour: we were picked up from our B&B in a van, driven to the first vineyard, then rode bikes to the second, third and fourth stops. The weather was gorgeous again so we were happy to spend most of the day outside; plus, the health benefit of riding 15 kilometers helps offset all the day drinking along the way, right?
Our first stop was Cecchin Winery, a smaller, family-owned, organic winery that only produces a few thousand liters of wine each year (as opposed to the bigger, more industrialized wineries which produce millions of liters annually). It was a good start to the tour - we had a very informative guide who explained the organic wine making process and we were able to taste four wines. That said, I'm glad this was only the first stop because the wines weren't that good! Guess I'm not an organic wine fan...
Fun fact: winery is "bodega" in Spanish. Not exactly the same as the bodegas we're used to in NYC!
Another cloudless day. It's a dry winter in Mendoza so the vineyards looked a little barren - but still a great view!
The house sommelier? Based on how the wines tasted, he might be!
Our next stop was the much bigger Vistandes winery. Our guide here gave us a tour of their facilities then let us taste five wines...and he had a heavy hand when it came to pouring each glass. Our bike guide was a little concerned by the end - he asked several of the other people on the trip if they thought they were still able to ride their bikes! "Are you sure? The van is very comfortable." Ha!
We liked the wine so much that we bought a case of one of their "Grand Reserve" series - so keep an eye out for a FedEx package from Argentina, Mom & Dad!
Much different feel than the first winery - lots of big, new wine-making equipment.
The owner's wine cellar.
We tasted wine #3 outside so we could savor the view.
Vistandes turned out to be the highlight of the tour: the third winery was a "boutique" that only let us taste one wine and the last stop was a beer brewery that had run out of their famous Red Lager. Their Blonde brew was good, but our bike tour guide had been getting us excited for the Roja Cerveza all day so we felt a little let down.
Posing for a picture on our bikes.
From the brewery we were taken directly to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Buenos Aires. I was a little less excited about the trip this time. Even though we both slept pretty well, I think we'll take it easy for the rest of the day today. We both want to be fresh for our trip to Iguazu Falls tomorrow!