I got on another night bus today, going to Cordoba at 10 pm. I therefore had an entire day to do a tour of some of the wineries near Mendoza.
What many people do is take a bus to Maipu, rent a bike, and then go from winery to winery until they can't drive straight anymore. For this reason, I guess, they built cycleways along the route ;-)
This picture shows my bike (and some others). Also, pay attention to how they spell "Bienvenidos." The region abounds with wine-drinking related puns like this.
The first winery I visited was La Rural. They offer a free tour, museum, and wine tasting, so just about everyone goes there. Unfortunately, the tour was in Spanish and the guide spoke super fast, so I only understood maybe half of it.
The wine at the end of the tour was pretty good, in my opinion. Malbec is the most-grown grape in this region.
Almost next door to La Rural is a place that produces olive oil. They offer a tasting including various olive oils, olive pastes, mustard, jams, chocolates and liqueurs. Very, very tasty!
Next was Trapiche, another winery offering a tour and tasting (but not for free). The tasting included a white wine (not my favorite), and two rather expensive cabernet sauvignons (also not my favorites; maybe I'm not the cabernet sauvignon type?)
As I got back on my bike and rode down the next street, I was stopped by the tourist police. The owner of the bike rental had explained that they were there for our safety, not to make us pay fines for drinking & driving. So I was somewhat surprised at being stopped; as it turns out, however, they only wanted to warn me from going down that street because there had been thefts in that area.
So I chose the main street to continue instead, and arrived at Tempus Alba a short while later. They had a short self-guided tour which was good - more than two long wine tours a day are not really necessary ;-) I tasted three of their wines: Malbec, Shiraz and Tempranillo. All three were very good, and the vineyard views from their terrace were excellent as well.
The wineries close around 6 pm; so the last one I was able to squeeze in was Viña el Cerno. Probably the smallest and friendliest of the ones I visited. And also the one with the best wine (or maybe I was already too drunk to know better?) Anyway, this is the winner:
Its smell reminded me of whiskey - which is always a good sign. Unfortunately, they only produce 9000 bottles annually, and only sell it locally... Seems like I'll have to come back some day ;-)
What many people do is take a bus to Maipu, rent a bike, and then go from winery to winery until they can't drive straight anymore. For this reason, I guess, they built cycleways along the route ;-)
This picture shows my bike (and some others). Also, pay attention to how they spell "Bienvenidos." The region abounds with wine-drinking related puns like this.
The first winery I visited was La Rural. They offer a free tour, museum, and wine tasting, so just about everyone goes there. Unfortunately, the tour was in Spanish and the guide spoke super fast, so I only understood maybe half of it.
The wine at the end of the tour was pretty good, in my opinion. Malbec is the most-grown grape in this region.
Almost next door to La Rural is a place that produces olive oil. They offer a tasting including various olive oils, olive pastes, mustard, jams, chocolates and liqueurs. Very, very tasty!
Next was Trapiche, another winery offering a tour and tasting (but not for free). The tasting included a white wine (not my favorite), and two rather expensive cabernet sauvignons (also not my favorites; maybe I'm not the cabernet sauvignon type?)
As I got back on my bike and rode down the next street, I was stopped by the tourist police. The owner of the bike rental had explained that they were there for our safety, not to make us pay fines for drinking & driving. So I was somewhat surprised at being stopped; as it turns out, however, they only wanted to warn me from going down that street because there had been thefts in that area.
So I chose the main street to continue instead, and arrived at Tempus Alba a short while later. They had a short self-guided tour which was good - more than two long wine tours a day are not really necessary ;-) I tasted three of their wines: Malbec, Shiraz and Tempranillo. All three were very good, and the vineyard views from their terrace were excellent as well.
The wineries close around 6 pm; so the last one I was able to squeeze in was Viña el Cerno. Probably the smallest and friendliest of the ones I visited. And also the one with the best wine (or maybe I was already too drunk to know better?) Anyway, this is the winner:
Its smell reminded me of whiskey - which is always a good sign. Unfortunately, they only produce 9000 bottles annually, and only sell it locally... Seems like I'll have to come back some day ;-)
