Mendoza

Mendoza.  I finally made it.  I had been thinking about this far-off place for a long time, ever since I heard it even existed.  At first it wasn't because of the wine - I didn't even know about that - it was because of the name.  I felt a connection.  I was drawn to it as if it held a secret about my past.  Well, apparently, my past included some winemakers!

This past weekend I went with one of my good friends to Mendoza.  Steve stayed home with the kids, which meant it was the first time I was flying solo on an adult adventure in quite a long time.  While I missed my family quite a lot, it was so nice to have a break, and even nicer to have amazing food and wine with great company.

It started with turbulence.  Some of the worst I have ever felt in my life.  The normally 30 minute flight from Santiago over the Andes to Mendoza turned into 50 because of "crazy winds".  The entire time the plane was thrown around in the sky, and by the end I felt quite nauseous and very thankful to be on the ground.  I only bring that up because of the wind phenomenon: the zonda winds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zonda_wind). I had never heard of these until visiting Mendoza.  Basically it's just really fast dry wind coming from Chile over the Andes.  These winds caused fires, tons of dust in the air, and very bad turbulence.  I digress. Luckily on Friday was affected by weird weather, and the rest of the weekend was warm, sunny, and beautiful.

We really only had time for dinner on Friday since we arrived late afternoon.  We had dinner at a "puertas cerradas" or closed door restaurant, which means it is a private chef in a private location.  Ours was in this old house that had been converted into a restaurant in the front, and a private space in the back.  There were only 4 of us at the table, so we got to know the others.  We had a 5 course meal all with wine pairings.  The food here was very unique - sopaipillas with goat pate and carmelized pears; pumpkin soap, gizzards and fennel, braised goat and sweet potatoes, and carmelized fruit with a cream sauce.  Below are pictures from the restaurant of Julie and I then the two we met at dinner took us out dancing!  We went to Maipu until the very wee hours of the morning.  I am still recovering.

Saturday (after not getting nearly enough sleep) we walked around the city of Mendoza, enjoying the main Plaza de Independencia as well as a half-day wine tour in the afternoon.  We visited two wineries on the tour in Lujan de Cuyo, a wine region about 30 minutes from Mendoza city and one of the oldest wine regions in Mendoza. 

The first winery we went to, Melipal, was my favorite of the whole weekend.  The food was wonderful, but the wine.  The wine. YUM.  We had a leisurely 5 course lunch with wine pairings.  It ended up being a private tour as well as a private lunch (we lucked out since it was the off-season).  It was the most relaxed I have been in a long time! And, the food was absolutely fantastic.

Tomatoes, 3 ways with goat cheese.

Hummus with brie (it was actually amazing - my favorite dish)

Braised oxtail with sweet potatoes

Steak. Obviously.

Creamy banana pudding with caramel (and a malbec dessert wine that I LOVED!)

Coffee on the terrace

The second winery of the day was Clos de Chacras, one of the oldest wineries in all Mendoza (founded in the 1920s).  This was very interesting to see because it was unlike any winery I had ever seen since the building and the cellar are all original.  They even have some of the old equipment on site for visitors to see.

That night we went to an amazing dinner with a local.  Julie's husband works with someone from Mendoza, and he took us out to a really great place - a family-owned establishment for 60 years.  The food was Argentinian-Italian.  Sounds strange, right? Actually many of the families in Mendoza have Italian heritage.  Who would have thought? I had a fantastic bowl of freshly made spinach gnocci with a tomato eggplant sauce.  I would like to go back.  If you are ever in Mendoza, this is a place that you have to go! It's called La Marchigiana.

On Sunday we ventured off to the Uco Valley on a all day tour.  This region is fairly modern because it wasn't developed until more recently.  In fact, I learned that there is a ton of land available in Mendoza.  What's stopping developers is water rights.  It is very dry there, and apparently there is about a 10 year waiting list to dig a well.  We used Ampora Wine Tours (I highly recommend).  This time we had a group of 8 people, which turned out to be really great.  Everyone was extremely fun, friendly, and there were even 3 people from the US and a couple Chileans.  Pretty funny.  We visited three wineries (two before lunch, then a long wonderful 5 course lunch at a third winery.  Literally 3 hours).

We first visited Domaine Bousquet.  This was a really nice more modern bodega (Spanish word for winery).  The view of the mountains says it all.

Next was Corazon del Sol.  This winery is a very small very new boutique winery owned by an Indian heart surgeon from Houston who also owns wineries in Oregon and in Napa.  Here we had our first tank and barrel tastings.

Finally, Andeluna.  AMAZING 6 course meal and pairings.  It was a larger winery than the others, and I loved the open kitchen.  The food was fantastic.  Highly recommended!

Above is the kitchen right in the middle of the restaurant.  It really felt like a kitchen in someone's own home.

Below are some of the courses: squash and meatballs; ravioli de cacao with beef; lavender infused pear compote with cream and cardamom; plum pudding with chocolate tart.  YUM.

Finally, if you stayed with me this long, here is your reward.  The final four wines that I brought home with me.  The best of the best (in my opinion!). You will notice one is from a winery I didn't visit, but I tried one night at dinner and was amazing!  Happy drinking!