A Day In the Vineyards

We'd hoped to play golf at the course in San Martin Park on Tuesday in Mendoza, but the day was overcast with a light drizzle, and we decided to take an all day tour of some of the vineyards on Wednesday.  We visited the Agrelo area, about an hour and a half south of Mendoza.  We visited four vineyards, enjoying one of the best meals we've eaten at lunch at one of them.

We started the tour at Chandon, owned by the French company Hennessey.  Chandon produceds sparkling wine from a mix of Chardonnay and Pinoit Noir grapes.  They don't export to the U.S., with Chandon producing its own product in California.

In the Wine Cellars

Nick Wrote Our Initials on the Bottles

Sampling the Product

Our next stop was the Tapiz vineyard.  Tapiz produces all of their wines at this site, but brings in additional grapes from four other vineyards.  They also produce olive oil and wool products from the llamas they raise on the grounds.

Llamas Grazing on the Grounds

Grape Crushing Machine.  The Sign (in English, Says Squeeze Me, Stomp Me, Make Me Wine)

    The Tasting Room.  The Rocks Help to Replicate the Humidity and Temperature of a Cave





Our next visit was to the Dominio del Plata Winery.  The vineyard was started by Argentina's first female winemaster and is still operated by her family.  Both red and white wines are produced here, but it is perhaps most famous for its award-winning restaurant, Osadia del Crear.  We enjoyed a long and delicious lunch here, followed by a short tour.T

The Grounds at Dominio

Hungrily Awaiting the First Course

                                       

We Both Started With Warm Camembert with Blueberries

Nick had What he Termed Some of the Best Beef He'd Ever Had (I had the Pork-Also Super)

Nick's Dessert Selection

 From Dominio we toddled off to our last stop, the Septima winery.  Septima is owned by a Spanish family with a long history of wine production in Spain.  This was the most mechanized of the vineyards we visited, and the only one where some of the grapes are machine-picked, rather than by hand as was the case for the other three.  The very knowlegible guide, a young woman who had studied to be a sommelier, explained the difference between the American and French oak used to make the storeage barrels.  American oak is coarser, and allows the wine to breathe more, resulting in a faster aging.  The better wines are stored in the French oak.

                                  Discovering the Difference Between Two Types of Oak


  

   

A Final Toast