Mendoza: Wine not?

When beginning my month-long journey, I deliberately saved Mendoza, the country’s oldest and best-known wine region, for my last stop before returning to Buenos Aires.  Mendoza is one of the most widely recognized city names in South America.  It’s the epicenter of Malbec, Argentina’s most famous red wine varietal, and my personal favorite as well.  Mendoza is home to about 1,200 wineries and produces over two thirds of the country’s total wine.

I arrived in Mendoza at around 6pm and immediately walked over to the Park Hyatt Hotel, which was recommended to me by the Jacobsons as the perfect dinner place.  The hotel is located right on the outside of the Plaza de la Independencia.  They had already told me what to order as well, making things easy for me.  I arrived and ordered a caesar salad, two beef empanadas, tiramisu for dessert, and a glass of champagne.  It was fantastic!

After arriving at my hostel, I knew that I wanted to do a half-day wine tour with them, starting at an olive oil factory, then ending with two wineries, all located in Maipu.  On the day of our tour, our first stop was at Pasrai olive oil factory.  The name comes from a blend of the word “raisin” and its Spanish translation, pasa de uva.  This is because the company also exports raisins in addition to it’s different olive oils.  Here, we were shown the process of creating olive oil, finishing with a tasting of different flavors of oils they’ve created, such as garlic, basil, oregano, spicy pepper, etc.  They were all delicious (my favorite being the garlic flavor) and the perfect snack before wine tasting!

We then headed to Florio, a winery that specializes in sweet dessert wines and is one of the only wineries in Mendoza that is allowed to produce what are called “licorice wines.”  These are wines that contain more than the legal 15% alcohol and are actually considered liquors.  Founded in 1912, this winery is known for their Marsala, Oporto, and Moscato licorice wines.  Their Moscato wine is best paired with an Italian dish, called pizza y fainá, which is a type of thin bread made with chickpea flour (adopted from northern Italy) that is placed on top of a slice of pizza.  I haven’t tried this yet, but it is definitely on the top of my list for when I return to BsAs!  This winery also specializes in it’s sparkling wines, the most famous being their sparkling Malbec.  It is served chilled for hot Mendoza days (the city has over 300 days of sunshine and heat a year!) and was absolutely delicious.

We then finished our tour at Domiciano, a winery known for selecting and harvesting their grapes after sunset, ensuring the berries are cool on arrival to the winery and favor aromatic concentration.  Here, we learned how to differentiate wines that are located at our local grocery stores: classic versus reserve, meat versus fish versus dessert wines, etc.

Because I was in wine country, another day was dedicated fully to visiting Bodega Andeluna, which was first owned by Ward Lay, a good friend of my dad’s, and founded in 2003.  The name Andeluna is a two-part name: Ande, which is a combination of mountain, unique soil, water, altitude, and knowledge, and Luna, which is a place of inspiration, magic, and ingredients that all create great wine.  Although Ward Lay passed away in 2011, it was fun to be able to see his winery.  While I was here, I enjoyed a seven-course meal with accompanying wines.  I was lucky enough to be seated right by the open kitchen so I could watch the chef do his thing and ask questions along the way.  The courses had a little bit of everything, including but not limited to pineapple soup, salmon, a mushroom pastry, beef with lentils, mint mousse, strawberry tart, and truffles.  Each wine went beautifully with each course.

On my last night in Mendoza, I was lucky enough to be able to dine at 1884, a restaurant owned by Argentina’s most high-profile chef (and my personal favorite as well), Francis Mallman.  This restaurant is reservation only, meaning you have to email the restaurant weeks or months in advance and include a reason as to why you want to dine at his restaurant.  Imagine how stoked I was to receive my confirmation email!

The restaurant incorporates a cool, spacious marble-floored dining room as well a beautiful garden courtyard, complete with a wood-fired grill and clay oven.  Mailman’s dishes draw on his Patagonian roots, including an earthiness obtained by his signature open-grill, siete fuegos, style.  The restaurant also has a huge selection of appropriate wine pairings (the wine list was 60 pages!).  Seeing how many delicious things were on the menu, it took me forever to order, until I finally asked the waiter to bring me the most famous dish of the restaurant.  Lucky for me, the main dish selected was a ribeye steak (my favorite cut), with chimichurri sauce on Patagonia crispy potatoes.  For a starter, I had grilled goat cheese over grilled arugula, onions, and bell peppers, and for dessert I had a three chocolate combo.  This extravagant meal was totally worth every penny and I am glad I indulged in an amazing dinner for once on my trip!  Eating canned tuna, rice, and veggies for dinner gets old, quick.

After visiting so many wineries and tasting so many different varietals, I think my IQ has increased a considerable amount.  I feel like I could answer anyone’s questions regarding wine varietals, tasting wine, etc.  Interested in going to Mendoza to wine taste?  Allow me to explain a few things before you make the journey.

Before you learn what wine tastes like, you have to learn how to taste wine.  Let’s say someone has poured you a little bit of wine and you’re now expected to taste it.  What’s the first thing you do?  Pick up the glass.  This may sound easy, but it’s not for a lot of people (including myself… at first).  Always pick up a wine glass by the stem.  Picking up a glass by the bowl is like picking up a knife by grabbing the blade.  No.

After you pick up the glass by the stem, the next thing you have to do is swirl the wine in the glass.  Don’t forget to look at the wine’s color, too.  I know this is taking forever, but you’re still not ready to taste!  Now you have to smell the wine.  You will more times than not be asked what the wine smells like.  Maybe you smell cherries, maybe you smell apples, but it doesn’t matter what you say because you probably can’t smell that much really.  Knowing how to describe a wine with a lot of sophisticated words is called being a “connoisseur,” which none of us are professionally.

Now you get to taste the wine!  Finally!  But don’t take a big gulp, just put a little sip into your mouth and swirl it around before spitting it out.  And there you have it.  Now you can book your flight down to Mendoza and wine taste like a pro.

My time in Mendoza was really memorable.  It was the perfect place to spend time in before returning to Buenos Aires.  I learned so much about the city, including the fact that there’s so much more to Mendoza than Malbec 🙂