We have had a great time in Mendoza. This is the reason for our trip, to celebrate the 35th wedding anniversary of Doug and Becky Hill. So of course Mendoza has been the highlight.
First, we planned to use the bus system in Argentina as that and flying are the only true methods of travelling these great distances. So we bought our ticket on the bus going to Mendoza over night. This way we could get some sleep and arrive ready to party in Mendoza. The seats were all pretty reasonable but the ride is 14 hours so I wanted a Cama Executive (sleeper seat) but the company we used CATA International also had a “Royal Suite” seat for $10.00 more. Bring it on!! This is one of the best decisions we have made thus far. We had appetizers, dinner with wine, movies, a blanket and pillow and yes the separating curtain that made this the all exclusive “Suite” – loved it! And we got a good nights sleep to boot.
We planned some fun events here. First we all (4 couples) stayed in one house together in the Lujan Cuyo region (about 20 minutes from downtown). Next some of us went on an Estancia ride and saw the most extraordinary vistas. The next day was the anniversary party at the swanky O. Fournier winery – we took the full tour and then had a wonderful pairing lunch in the dining room.
The next day we had another tasting tour that began with a tour of the exotic Catena Zapata winery in all it’s Mayan Temple glory then off to Kaiken Winery we had the most extraordinary wine blending game. We are all given different Malbec wines from different Kaiken vineyards, we all chose the colors and aromas we liked best. Then we teamed up and we were supposed to blend any percentage of these 3 wines to come up with our own blend. We blended for aroma, color and taste. WHAT FUN we had with this. Tracy and Becky were the winners by a nose (tee hee). We bottled this new blend and have it now for a special occasion.
The Mendoza region is beautiful, hot, flat and dry. It reminded me a lot of California. We will certainly want to come back as 4 days here is definitely not enough.
There are a damn lot of photos here but I just found it hard to just cull out my favorites.
Click the image to enlarge. To close the enlarged image click the X or just click on the image.
 Mendoza has a very busy bus station. On Friday night it seemed like the whole city was going somewhere.
|
 But even in all this chaos the gates were clearly marked and the buses were on time and easy to find.
|
 Completely laid down seat.
|
 With a foot rest for a completely flat nap. And TV!
|
 A picada appetizer. A "picada" is the typical Argentinian snacks tray with meat and cheese and olives and nuts and bread.
|
 Would you like wine with your bus meal?
|
 Everyone finally arrives at the Villa.
|
 Dinner at a recommended Italian place in Mendoza. What a great meal.
|
 The drive was 1.5 hours straight into the Andes. Very dry and desolate and we were getting concerned that our ride would be very ugly.
|
 The mountains were getting so close.
|
 We popped over one of the hills and realized the climate and landscaped had changed in an instant. We were now in a fertile valley with thousands of hectares of green grass.
|
 The Estancia campo was fantastic, right out of an old west movie.
|
 |
 After the 1.5 bus ride we just gaped in awe at the beauty around us.
|
 |
 Our steeds await us.
|
 This looks like a promising lunch ahead.
|
 |
 |
 Two up, two more to go.
|
 |
 |
 We head out for a 3 hour tour of some of the Estancia’s 600 hectare.
|
 |
 The horses are not wild but not all of them are broken. There is one stallion that keeps adding to the herd.
|
 |
 Wait for me!!!
|
 |
 |
 The "wild" horses watched us carefully. Probably feeling greatly sorry for their friends beneath us.
|
 |
 |
 |
 We scared up many a bird.
|
 |
 |
 |
 We all had great horses, well maintained and well trained. Some had lovely names like TuYo (Yours and Mine) and Nosy.
|
 BUT Marilyn’s horse was named "Cara de Verga," yes that is DICKFACE in English. He was named this because he does not play well with others. We all that that was terribly appropriate for Marilyn, as she does not play well with others either. It was the best Pairing we made in Mendoza.
|
 |
 Becky on her fantastic horse.
|
 Becky and our guide Jannika.
|
 These purple thistles were everywhere, just popping up out of the yellowing mustard.
|
 Marilyn really wanted a great picture of a Thistle so she carefully lined up the shot and…
|
 Dickface ate the thistle before she could hit the shutter. It was a tragedy on the Estancia.
|
 Fene captured this picture of a thistle as Marilyn was too distraught to contineue.
|
 Richard on TuYo. this was a great horse!
|
 |
 |
 We made a "Hay Stop" and checked our saddles. The horses just pigged out.
|
 Just look at TuYo’s feet! I swear he is part Clydesdale.
|
 Fene and Nosy.
|
 |
 Becky saying Goodbye and thanks.
|
 The saddles were fascinating. There was the saddle blanket and a chunk of foam under neath and a saddle blanket and a hunk of sheepskin on top.
|
 But underneath it was pure rawhide and pretty small at that. We were sure were were going to be saddle soar for the rest of the trip.
|
 |
 This little mascot was waiting for us when we came back. Perhaps he knew we were going to have an Asada (Argentinian BBQ).
|
 |
 Goodbye Nosy.
|
 This is a great picture of Becky threatening me not to take a picture of her dismount. And as you can see I have not included any on this blog. (Psssst – check us out later on YouTube for a dismount scoop!)
|
 The typical Asada includes Empanadas (meat filled pastries), grilled costillos (beef ribs), Beef sausage, and Chorizo (grilled sirloin strip) plus grilled vegetables including squash and eggplant and green salad. You will definitely not starve here.
|
 Dig in! Nothing like a ride out on the range to make a cowgirl and cowboy hungry.
|
 One last little ear snuggle before we left.
|
 Our mounts were galloped back to the coral by Jannika.
|
 Some of next year’s range horses still being broke and trained.
|
 It was a long ride home but what an adventure we had.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Our first dinner together!
|
 |
 |
 The anniversary dinner!
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 The winery theme and labels were the constellations and the Southern Cross.
|
 Art was exhibited in the cellar.
|
 To Doug and Becky! Where are we celebrating number 40?
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Beautiful food.
|
 |
 |
 Cold almond soup.
|
 |
 B and D forever!
|
 |
 |
 |
 As usual Tracy had way too much to drink!
|
 |
 Wait, she was stone sober, she always acts like this!
|
 |
 |
 Our next winery was Catena Zapata
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 We could just never get enough of the Andes.
|
 |
 |
 |
 Myan Temple theme.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Marilyn! Wait for your glass!
|
 The cellar.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Doug wanted to stay the night.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Next winery, Kaiken
|
 |
 We tasted the harvest ready grapes.
|
 |
 Love this shot. The hazy film on the grapes is the natural yeast that is developing from the internal sugar. This yeast is what gets the fermentation started in the tanks.
|
 |
 |
 |
 A rose by any other name…. is still a rose.
|
 |
 |
 Okay, take your shoes off and let’s get to stomping!
|
 |
 |
 At Kaiken were were allowed to blend our own wine. This was serious competition.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Tracy was making damn sure the formula was correct.
|
 |
 |
 Great teamwork girls!
|
 |
 |
 Now for the tasting of our wines, wow was this hard.
|
 |
 |
 The judges, Tiffany and Tracy, our guides.
|
 Next was Ruca Malen.
|
 What a shot, right!
|
 |
 A wine pairing lunch to stop the senses.
|
 Doug could not stop counting the glasses.
|
 |
 |
 |
 And again, beautiful food.
|
 And lots of tasting. A Malbec, a chardonnay, another malbec, then a cabernet sauvingnon, then the reserve top end Malbec and then a finish with Champaign. Whew!!
|
 Okay I just had to show it again.
|
 |
 Toes in the grass kind of lunch!
|
 And again, those Andes dominated every view.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Andys’ 60th birthday that night was celebrated with homemade Pizzas and… you guessed it MORE WINE!
|
 |
 |
 Happy Birthday Andy. Now if you would only look and act your age!
|
 |
 |
 |
 We had a great villa.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 More shots of downtown Mendoza
|
 What a great city with lots of parks and plazas.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Now us Americans in South America are starved for a little Gringo culture so we went nuts for the Mendoza WalMart!
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Every street was tree lined and shady. Good thing because it can get in the 90s on a regular basis.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Careful not to sit on the bench after the sprinklers have run!
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 To Good Friends, Good Wine and More of Both!!!
|
