Easter in Mendoza – Drinking wine and making friends

Mendoza was one of the first places we added to our list of travel destinations when we found out we would be living in Santiago.  The mid-sized Argentine city is driving distance from Santiago, and is well known as one of the world´s most important and interesting wine regions.  In addition to a seemingly endless supply of incredible wineries, the region is also home to great food as well as an abundance of outdoor activities, from rafting to rappelling.  As soon as we realized that the Easter holidays meant 2 days off of work, we quickly booked a room in a boutique hotel just outside of Mendoza, and began planning our getaway.

Our decision to make the trip was somewhat last minute, which meant that many of the hotels in the area were already full.  Easter fell early this year, and we weren’t the only ones who thought to take advantage of the time off of work to make the trip across the border.  After doing some research, we settled on the small Posada El Encuentro located in the small town of Chacras de Coria, about 20 minutes south of Mendoza.  The hotel was small, and without many frills, but the staff was incredibly helpful and made our stay there enjoyable.

Chacras de Coria is both closer to the wine trail and a bit quieter than Mendoza itself, making it a good alternative for those seeking a quieter getaway.  If we go back again, I think we’ll probably try to stay within the city proper, as 3 days in Chacras de Coria was plenty of time to explore its shops and restaurants, but it was a nice place to start getting to know the region.

After a beautiful drive across the Andes (more info on the drive and border crossing, click here), we got a good night’s rest in preparation for a full day of wine tasting.  Generally, when we travel we don’t do a lot of organized tours, but occasionally, I think it’s worth the extra money to have someone else take care of the details, and to allow you to learn more about a specific region or topic.  Our knowledge of wine is limited to say the least, and with hundreds of wineries in 3 different valleys in the Mendoza region, this seemed like a prime opportunity to let the experts do the work for us.

 

After doing some research, we settled on a tour of the Luján de Cuyo valley, an area known for its rich history and its superior red wines, Malbec in particular.  The tour was run by a company called Trout and Wine, who we would highly recommend to anyone considering doing an organized tour.  They took care of everything, from transportation, to tastings and a 5 course lunch and our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and hospitable.  Its also worth noting that they offer a discount if you prepay via Paypal or pay in cash using US dollars on the day of.

One of the wild cards with doing an organized tour is who else will be in your tour group. Though we were optimistic that we would have a good experience regardless, we were both secretly fearing that we would be stepping into a van full of wine snobs, who would spend the day talking about tannins and spitting out their wine samples.  Much to our delight, when we stepped into the van we were greeted by 3 smiling couples, all about our age.  Better still, when we announced that we were from the states, but living in Santiago, we found out that 2 of the other couples (one American, one European) were also expats in Santiago, and the 3rd were backpackers who would be stopping off in Santiago the following week.  We came for the wine, but we left with our first English speaking friends here in Santiago.

The tour took us to 4 vineyards:  Alta Vista, Kaiken, Finca Agostino and Don Manuel Villafañe.  Each had its own unique flair.  Kaiken, which we visited second, is know as a biodynamic and organic winery.  There, we saw animals that are left to roam free, and a wine cellar that is filled with the sounds of music and gregorian chants that are thought to affect the wine as it ages in barrels.  Here, they also let us pick and sample grapes straight from the vine.  I don’t know nearly enough about wine to declare a favorite so I won’t even attempt to.

At each winery we sampled 4 different wines, and at our 3rd stop at Finca Agostino, we were treated to a 5 course lunch, each course with its own wine pairing.

By the last stop of the day, we had become fast friends with our tour-mates.  Over lunch we had a heated discussion about the differences between jam, jelly, jello and marmalade and by the time we arrived at our last winery, we were having a hard time holding in laughter as we were led through another wine cellar and allowed to taste wine directly from large metal vats.

Let me just say, wine tasting can be exhausting.  I suppose I understand now why “serious” wine tasters sometimes choose to spit out some samples along the way (though I don’t imaging I will be joining them anytime soon).  The tour bus dropped us back at our hotel, and we said farewell to our new friends, exchanging numbers and making plans to have dinner the following weekend back in Santiago.

The next day we ventured into Mendoza.  Only about 15 minutes from our hotel, Mendoza is a nice small sized city, which has beautiful mountain views, wonderful restaurants and a huge city park.   We spent the morning wandering around, and stumbled upon a restaurant that was serving brunch, a meal that we have been missing dearly since moving south.  Not only was the food in Mendoza delicious, it was also very inexpensive.  Argentina is known both for its Malbec and for it’s red meat, and we ate more steak in Mendoza than we have probably eaten during our entire 4 year relationship.   I am certain that there are some wonderful restaurants in Santiago, but we have had more misses than hits so far, and we found the abundance of fresh, delicious food in Mendoza to be a huge plus.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park, people watching and enjoying the beautiful early autumn weather.  It was a nice change of pace to be in a smaller city for awhile, and to take in the slower pace of life in Mendoza.  The park itself is beautiful, huge and extremely popular.  It was full of families and friends having picnics, playing sports and just enjoying the afternoon.

 

All in all, we enjoyed our weekend in Mendoza, and we will likely be back.  Next time, we’ll probably stay in the city, and plan to take advantage of all the outdoor activities the region has to offer, but it was a great first trip into Argentina.  Next up on our list of travel destinations is Buenos Aires.  Stay tuned for more details about that trip and more!