Apr 26 |
The above was the confirming email I got for our bike wine tour. The tour was great and I definitely recommend Mendoza Wine Bike Tours. But I am getting ahead of myself. We didn't do this tour till our second day there.
Upon arriving in Mendoza we grabbed a cab and headed to a suburb called Chacras de Coria. I am so glad we didn't decide to stay in town because here, only 15 minutes of of Mendoza City, we found peace and serenity. We arrived out our lodge style hotel and found out that we had the entire premises to ourselves that day. We were actually glad of this because this mean that the hotel staff would only have our many needs to focus on...and we had a lot.
After a late breakfast we set off to visit a small winery about a mile away called Clos de Chacras. The walk was easy and relaxing. It wasn't hard to find the winery...all we had to do was follow the smell of ripe grapes (not to mention the building was a bold pink so we couldn't miss it). We wandered up the dirt road to the on-site restaurant. And I can not neglect to say that it was at this little winery that I had the best steak of my life. It was tender, juicy and seasoned o so well!! OMG.
That evening we just relaxed...since our cooking classes (that were to be offered by the hotel) had been canceled...ugh!! (sidenote, if you are interested in learning how to cook asado and other traditional dishes, just know that many wineries offer cooking classes. Most classes start at 11am and take a few hours to prepare and afterwards you get to eat it all...of course. A cooking class at a winery is a great way to kill two birds with one stone.)
Anywayz, the next day we went on our bike tour. Our tourguide Sergio was muy amable. You drove us to our starting point and followed us 20km to our first winery. The weather was great and the ride was quite tranquil...
Despite one really bumpy road and a highway we had to cross...LOL.
No but seriously, it was so nice to ride among the vineyards, smelling the grapes and feeling the breeze. I can't begin to describe it but trust me wine bike tours are a great idea.
We got to our first winery called Ruce Malen, which is literally translated "the house of a young girl, borrows its name from a local indigenous legend about an Araucan woman who fell in love with a god. We began our time here with a wine tasting. As I sat and listened to the other wine tasters talk about the "spiciness" or the "oak undertones" of certain wines, I realized that my tongue needed a lot more training. They all seemed the same to me. I did learn that I don't like Cabernet Sauvignon very much because it is too "spicy " for me and I liked the Ruca Malen Merlot. After our tour we had a 5 course lunch with wine pairings (a must do). My mom and I agreed that we were able to appreciate the wine much more with the food...I even enjoyed the cabernet sauvignon with the spicy sweet and sour pork empanada (so I have not totally wiped this wine off my list).
I have included this picture just for mom's amusement. I will not speak of what is going on. You will have to ask mom...she made me reenact the incident for a pic.
After all the food...and the wine...we did not feel like riding any where else...which worked out since we were running late to our next winery tour and needed to drive there...darn ;-p. Our next winery was Cantena Zapata. The tour was nothing really different than the others we had been on but it was nice to see one of the bigger wineries and compare it to Ruca (mid size) and Clos (small). The tour started in the Inca style building that housed tasting rooms and wine cellars. It was hear that I saw one of the best views I had seen of Mendoza thus far.
When we got back to the hotel we were quite sleepy...from the riding of course :-p. We relaxed and prepared to leave the next day. (Sidenote: we came to Mendoza at the perfect time. it was the end of April which means it is fall so it is not too hot but also it was right at the end of the harvest season so you still have the opportunity to see the winery staff harvesting the grapes and preparing the wine.)
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