Mendoza - Land of good sun and good wine

Blog VIII 

It was a glorious morning when we left Buenos Aires that day...

....lifting off from the beautiful Jorge Newbery, airport, right on the River Plata.

The goal?....To leave early and hit the ground running once we made it to...you know....

....M-e-n-d-o-z-a. But were we surprised!

Surprise #1: Sure... earthquakes...but this?

I thought that we might only have to worry about earthquakes...possibly a fire, but....

Rain????

Mendoza sits the eastern side of the Andes, not far from the Chilean border, in what they call a “rain shadow”, a desert where, supposedly only 200 ml. of rain fall annually.

Question: Did we get it all???

Surprise #2: Send in the Ark!

A break in the weather gave us the courage to head out to eat. That was a mistake!! 

The Argentinians eat late and long and by the time supper was over, it was teeming again....and the streets were like rivers.

Standing on the sidewalk and 8 blocks from home, we had to cross the “Rubicon” ... “ford” the street....so to speak.

An oasis....

With its many parks and fountains...

...and all the trees, that tower up on both sides of every street, keeping everyone cool,.....

....Mendoza looks like an oasis city!  
But, is it only a mirage?

In fact, it is all very real...., but there's a b-u-t:

....but only thanks to the Mendoza and Tunuyán rivers,

...which bring melt waters from the perennial snows of the Andes....

...and an immense complex of irrigation canals and ditches ferries the life-giving water daily to all those beautiful parks, shade trees, and of course, Mendoza's vineyards. 

The Bodega, Alta Vista, with the Andes in the background. 

And the clouds lifted.....

When the clouds disappeared, the blue skies, the mountainous background....

....and the “bodegas” (wineries) were a picture to behold...and a beautiful sight for sore eyes!

What about the Wineries?

More than 1,500 wineries or “bodegas” are concentrated in Mendoza's three main wine regions...

....Maipu, 

....Lujan de Cuyo, and

....Valle de Uco. 

Time now being of the essence,...

.... we decided to focus on Maipu, which is closest to the city and....

.... Lujan, which has the greatest number of wineries in the region (as if we could drink that much....) 

Valle de Uco, a beautiful high range valley,...

.......somewhere up in those mountains, would be for another time.

At the wineries, the big surprise was not the quality of the wines,.....

.......something that had already long been well established....

......but rather the winery architecture...

.....with one bodega seemingly trying to outdo its neighbor. 

And, turning to the wine!

When you think of Mendoza's wine, you might suspect that Spanish and Italian influences would have the upper hand.

After all, both its population and culinary table come from these two countries. 

And that was once true.

However, today the focus is on quality rather than on quantity.  

And to peruse any wine store, it can't escape you. 

 It's definitely the French grape varieties that take the limelight....

....be it Merlot or Chardonnay, 

.....Cabernet Sauvignon, or Argentina’s beloved celebrity, Malbec.....

French wines are the wines of choice.

And that's because it's not only about grapes. 

French know-how and passion for wine have come into play too. 

Thanks to investment and migration, the French were able to bring “savoir-faire” and...

....a real passion for marrying aspects of soil composition, altitude and...

.....the qualities of their grapes, to create world renowned wines from Argentina. 

Being here in this, their first week of "Fall",...

.... and well into the harvest (la cosecha), has been a fantastic experience for us! 

 Mendoza, we want to come back!!

Back in B.A.,  we found an invitation to a music festival in which our condo owner,...

...Pablo Hopenhayn, a music prodigy as it turns out, was playing in a festival.

A great way to drive away the nostalgia that was already setting in.

Well, everyone.  This being our last blog, I'd like to thank you .....and say: 

Adios and Farewell to Argentina.