George and Deborah's Great Adventures: Mendoza

Mendoza proved to be a delight. We weren’t sure what to expect but we think Mendoza over delivered. Our hotel was easily one of the best we have stayed in and was located in the city’s central core, within easy walking distance of great parks and restaurants.

Mendoza is like Canada’s Calgary. It sits on the major east-west main highway route on the interior plateau within sight of the continent’s major mountain range, the Andes. It is both a center for adventure-echo tourism and the largest wine producing region in Latin America.

Mendoza’s urban core is home to over 100,000 folks but the metropolitan regional numbers reach over a million. The streets are lined with mature deciduous trees that offer shade in the city that claims to be the sunshine capital of Argentina. The streets are also lined with open water-filled ditches. They act both as drainage during storms and irrigation sources in the dry times.

We arrived by air in the evening from Buenos Aires and our first night was spent settling in and having dinner in the hotel’s Casino. We did manage to gamble in the casino a bit and I thought I had won big when my cashout slip numbered 300 pesos. That is until I remembered a peso is only worth four cents. We did manage to break even between the two of us over a few visits.

Day two was spent walking the city, arranging a wine tour for the following day and the next day’s bus transportation over the Andes, visiting a local art gallery and enjoying the many parks. Our hotel reserved a dinner for us at Josephina’s featuring authentic Argentine fare. We couldn’t quite bring ourselves to accept the post 9 pm dining and the restaurant was mostly empty when we arrived at 7:30. It was full when we left. The ribeye steak, paired bottle of wine, and salad proved delicious.

$37 Each for the Bus Ride Over the Andes

Art Gallery

Entrance to Our Hotel at Night

Josephina's Restaurant

Argentinean Beef

City Neon Sign in Park Across from Hotel

Day three involved a wine tour. Our group was comprised of five couples and two singles. Home countries were Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, U.S., Malta, our new young friend Maria from Victoria and ourselves. Romerio was our guide and managed to make himself understood in everyone’s chosen language but essentially everyone understood English, making us the only uni-language folks on the bus feeling pretty inept.

Romerio’s first words on the minivan were, “We are all strangers now, very quiet and timid. By the end of the tour, you will all be drunk and good friends.” Suffice to say he was close to being spot on. The young guy from Malta was a bit of a toff, asking questions you had a feeling he already knew the answers to. but all in all, a good group to spend the day with.

Our first winery was the ReNacer. Our host spoke perfect English and told us he wouldn’t waste our time telling us how they were the best winery in the region. He told us he and his competitors all grew their grapes in the same soil, under that same climatic conditions and essentially from the same Malbec variety. Instead he spoke about how wineries needed to find something to distinguish themselves. He spoke about the timing of the process and the blending of the grapes. ReNacer’s niche idea is to dry the grapes for a specific short amount of time before processing. We had four different tastings and easily identified those we really liked. Our host did tell us his industry has a long way to go in Argentina in terms of development. Argentina exports 63% of all the wine they produce. Wine is not the drink of choice for most Argentineans. He said he can walk the restaurant open air streets of Mendoza and point out every tourist in town. Tourists drink wine – Argentineans drink beer. I think I must be part Argentinean.

Vines, grapes, and Snow-Capped Andes

The second winery was the Caelum. It is a small family operation that produces about 70,000 bottles a year from their 90 hectares. The wine was so-so but the pistachio nuts grown on the site were great.

Wine Was So-So but Selfie Worked

We only stopped at three wineries but that proved to be enough. The Ruca was the final stop and we were treated to a seven-course lunch with different wine pairings for each course and finished off with a heavy alcohol regional cocktail. The food was great but the conversation was even greater. As the courses progressed and the wine flowed we achieved what Romerio had suggested. The conversation grew louder and soon we were thanking the Swedes for sending us the Twins and the new kid Petersson.