Camacho Watcho

It’s been a wonderful holiday season seeing family and friends and getting caught up after being gone for three months. That being said, it’s great to be back on CamachoWatcho…so here I am, ready to finish out the rest of my South American adventure.

After my final weekend in Uruguay, my friends and I were ready to tackle Argentina. Our first stop? Wine country…Mendoza, Argentina. Mendoza is a wonderful, small city nestled between the Andes mountains to the west and vineyards and fields in all other directions. Culturally, Mendoza is rich with Latin flavor…favoring a late start to the day, siestas mid-afternoon and, my personal favorite, the long late dinners at night. The city centers around two attractions, the Plaza Independencia and the Parque San Martin. Branching off of the Plaza Independencia are streets full of restaurants, shops and wine stores. The Parque San Martin is large (about 7.5 acres and 17 km of trails) and well-kept, making it a must-visit for a long walk around the lake to work off the food and wine that you will inevitably eat in Mendoza.

Our first night in Mendoza we went to a wonderful restaurant – Azafran. I have to say thank you to all the foodies out there in the blogosphere, because without you, we would not have found this restaurant on our first night. The experience at Azafran – atmosphere, food, wine, service – was outstanding! Even when the power went out right before our dessert not a beat was missed; service continued beautifully, with the restaurant romantically lit by candles. But before that, the food and wine must be mentioned. You know you’re at a good restaurant when…you ask for the wine menu and they tell you they don’t have one; they have a wine room. Yes, a wine room, complete with a personal wine connoisseur to assist you in determining which wine will most please your palate that evening. We chose a wonderful bottle of Mendel Malbec based off his suggestions…and it was perfect! Then there was the food. The first course was an antipasti platter – cured meats, several types of cheese, olives, nuts, and golden raisins. This was followed by our main courses – mine was shared with my husband and was beef tenderloin with goat cheese and beet ravioli, drizzled with a beet reduction. Dessert was something dulce de leche; I can’t remember exactly, but was fantastic! I highly recommend Azafran as a “must-eat” in Mendoza.

The next day, we were up bright and early to go on a wine tour through the Lujan de Cuyo Valley with Ampora Wine Tours. Again, I highly recommend Ampora, as it is more of a boutique wine tour company and Maria (our tour guide) was fantastic! Our first stop was to a small winery – Familia Cassone – which deals only with Ampora Wine Tours. We were greeted by the owner and wine maker himself, Federico, and we went on a short tour of the facility and the vineyards. We then strolled across a large lawn to a house, which we later found out was Federico’s mother’s house, for our wine tasting. The setting was personal and perfect; every detail precise but in a casual, unpretencious way. Our tasting was complemented with casual conversation, sometimes dealing with wine and other times delving into topics such as Latin American traditions. The easiness and humor of the conversation spurred this wine experience much deeper than we would have imagined for 10:00am on a Wednesday morning. We bought bottles of malbec, cabernet sauvignon and a rose and were on our way.

The next stop was to a winery that is larger and more commercial than Familia Cassione, but still beautiful, humble and delicious in its own right. This winery was called Pulenta Estates. We were greeted by the second wine maker, who presented us each with a wonderfully cool and delicious glass of sauvignon blanc. It was perfect for the hot, dry weather that we were experiencing that morning. This welcome set the tone for the wine visit, which could only be described as simple and honest. This might not sound like the most appealing tour to you, but for us, it was perfect. We are not “into” large, commercial over-sold tours that you might see in other wineries. Instead we are interested in hearing the minor details – the act of tasting the grapes, the standards they use for selecting amongst the barrels of partially finished wines – to truly experience the winery and its production. At Pulenta, we bought a bottle each of La Flor Merlot and the Grand Corte Malbec.

At this point, I need to be brutally honest. I had had a bit too much to drink. Yes, at wine tastings they have the spit buckets available and yes, most people do spit out most of the wines that are poured for them. But I am not one of those people. I have such a hard time pouring out a wonderful glass of wine. I had poured out some wine, but apparently, not as much as I should have, therefore when we reached the third winery I was definitely in need for food….and food is what I got! The third winery was Ruca Malen. Truly, the food was amazing – I cannot recall the full menu but I do recall eating several courses of which I experienced an amazing sweet corn tart, beef tenderloin and a dulce de leche dessert.

Our last stop was a winery called…well, I actually can’t remember the name. Again, if my memory is fuzzy about the third winery, it’s even fuzzier about the last winery. I do recall, both from memory and my pictures, that the winery itself was truly beautiful – set against the Andes mountains and designed down to the most beautiful detail. I wish I could comment about the wines, but again to be honest, I didn’t taste any at this winery. My husband also can attest that, although he did try the wines, his tongue was so pickled by this point that he is not in a position to give an educated opinion on their flavors. I would highly recommend this winery, if for nothing else, the views and the design…if you can figure out the name.

After a much needed nap, we headed out that night to La Sal. This restaurant was found both online and recommended to us by Maria, our wine tour guide. La Sal is a small, artistic restaurant serving interesting dishes such as trout risotto and chicken served on a bed of baked pumpkin. They also have live music, which started mid-way through our meal and was an interesting choice – a one man accordion player. I do have to say, however, that after my experience in Argentina and the tango, I have a newfound respect for the accordion and the beautiful music that comes from this soulful instrument.

To sum up our wine touring experience on our first full day in Mendoza, I would say this…if you have the opportunity to visit Mendoza – DO. If presented a spit bucket at a wine tasting and you ask yourself “should I?” – DO. If you have an opportunity to pick up an Argentinian Malbec – DO. This wine region, which produces high-quality, interesting wines, is a true gem. In my amateur opinion, it is pure in its taste and emerging in its true potential to be a global wine force to be reckoned with.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Argentina, Entertainment, Food, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.