I hope to make this the final piece in recapping the trip that Elaine Benes and I took to Argentina. Remember where we were when I last wrote? It was New Year’s Eve in Buenos Aires. Now, onward…
Monday, January 1st:
Elaine and I woke up fairly early on New Year’s Day as we had to fly out to Mendoza, on the other side of Argentina. It was a fairly short flight - uneventful - nice, even. We were excited to get to Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina!!
Landed in Mendoza and we were picked up by a driver from the establishment where we were staying. We’d decided not to stay in the heart of Mendoza. This was actually purely by chance because I use Tripadvisor a lot and one of the best-rated “hotels” was actually not really a hotel, but more a group of little casitas in a town south of the city. I’m really, really glad we chose this place because it was a very charming place in a quiet neighborhood and it was run like a bed and breakfast, where we had breakfasts cooked to order in the mornings.
We walked for a while, going the wrong direction, to try to find a little cafe in the town. Our host had given us some directions, but clearly we went the wrong way! That was one of the ONLY frustrating part of the trip because Elaine and I were both STARVING (can you say hangry?) at that point. Alas, we ended up having to go back to our little house, eat some fruit and nut bars that I’d packed and shower up from our sweaty fruitless walk. Luckily, by that time it was time for our COOKING CLASS! Thank goodness! Food.
So we headed back to the main house where we checked in and had the absolute best time creating an amazing feast, complete with wine pairings as we cooked!
Our chef was an adorable guy who barely spoke any English at all. Luckily, one more person joined us in the class (a youngish woman who was traveling with her fiance), and she was somewhat proficient in Spanish. Let’s just say we got by okay…
But it was so, so, SO hilariously fun! We chopped veggies, we baked bread! We learned how to make these pancake desserts and FLIP them in the skillet! And we drank wine wile we did it like it was going out of style!
At one point, I cracked an egg that was going into some creation, and the egg went off in a completely different direction - down into the crevices of the stove! OMG! I thought that the chef would give me all kinds of grief about it, but he just laughed and laughed..
When dinner was ready, our new friend’s fiance joined us out on he patio deck, and we had a glorious dinner: grilled steaks (duh), over a bed of charred peppers, our fresh-from-the-oven bread, topped with this amazing tomato…stuff…I can’t remember exactly what that stuff was, do you, Elaine? And our pancake dessert. And wine…OH THE WINE.
Not too long after our feast was bedtime because we needed a fresh start for the WINE TOURS the next day!!
Tuesday, January 2nd:
Up bright and early to have breakfast in the gorgeous sunroom of the main house and then to get the pickup from the wine tour company we’d scheduled.
We were second to last to get picked up, and we thought it really weird that nobody on the van (there were about 10 of us) seemed as psyched as we were. Like, we were practically ecstatic and yet our fellow tour folks seemed like stick-in-the-muds. Maybe a little disappointing, but Elaine and I were going to have fun, dammit! Look out, assholes! We are raring to taste!
It was a fairly long drive down to the Uco Valley, and by long I mean like a little over an hour - not bad. But the views from the van were totally worth it! While driving, we could see that we were in the glorious shadows of the Andes mountains. The snowcaps and soaring mountaintops were simply stunning! I kept trying to take photos out the window, but the tour guide told us not to worry, there will be plenty of opportunity for photos.
First stop was a VERY rustic, tiny winery. As soon as we got out of the van, there was like a photo frenzy because we were all trying to soak in this insane view! Plus, we had to wait a little bit as the sommelier and the other folks weren’t quite ready for us for whatever reason. No matter, it was very nice to just wander and roam around the place.
…and pretty much didn’t stop for the next two days! Can you see the stunning mountains in that tasting photo?
What about THIS??!! This was the next winery and vineyard where we also ate our six course lunch with wine pairings.
You guys. INCREDIBLE. Like, it was so wonderful that we didn’t mind at all that the jerks who were with us on the tour were jerks - you should have heard the couple who were on their honeymoon speak to each other (well, okay, it was mostly the bitchy new wife who had perma-resting bitch face who was absolutely appalling - Elaine and I had bets on how long that marriage might last!). We didn’t care because we were soaking it alllllll in. It was glorious. The food was delicious. The wine was incredible. We enjoyed the hell out of the whole day!
At last, it was the end of the tour for the day and time to make the drive back to the casita. I’ll be honest. We all fell asleep on the drive back! It was pretty awesome that we were loaded with food and wine and it was the absolute cherry on top of the glutton-fest.
As we were almost to our place, I woke up and looked around the small village where our casita was. Turns out, we’d walked the wrong way the day before and there were all kinds of cute little shops and restaurants mere steps (okay, maybe a half mile) from where we were staying!
So back to freshen up and then out to the village to…what else? Eat dinner!! We’d actually found a place on Yelp that got great reviews, so we took off for the village and in search of this place. I’d guess it was about a mile down the road and it was such a nice evening and a pleasant walk. And the restaurant was absolutely adorable. We sat outside on a deck and it was lovely, but I was kind of attacked by mosquitos.
As it turns out, neither of us were really that hungry and we were still full of wine and about to be hung over, so we actually split a SPLIT of champagne and that was perfect for us! We did encounter a super strange dude who heard us speaking English, so he asked us to wish his buddy a happy birthday. I can’t even explain how weird this guy was, but in the end, he actually PAID FOR our dinner and drinks and wanted to talk to us for a bit. Odd conversation, but super nice of him to pay for dinner. Thanked him, and then we walked back to the casita.
Bed.
Wednesday, January 3rd:
Breakfast, van, more wineries. This time, to an area very close to where we were staying called Lujan de Cuyo. I must say that one of the best things about this trip was our TOUR GUIDE, Andres (Elaine, that was his name, right??! This is why I shouldn’t wait so long to write my recaps!)
The tour was wonderful - a lot more of the same. Gorgeous wineries, lucious vineyards, tons of delicious wine (Torrontes- the only grape native to Argentina, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay)…oh, and more food…another six-course lunch!! UGHHH!
I’m glad we only did two days of this because, as much as I LOVE doing wine tastings, I was saturated with wine and food! No wonder I gained about 10 pounds on this trip! Seriously.
Uh oh. Battery low and I’m about to land in Las Vegas.
I’m going to post this for now and come back and add the part about our tour guide wanting to “party” with us.
Until then,
xox,
GS
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