MENDOZA - DAY 3

THE WINE TOUR

Our private driver Miguel arrived at the crack of 9am to pick us up.  He had a full day of wine touring planned for us.  We were headed to the Lujan de Cuyo area which is located on the southeast side of the valley.  Our first stop of the day was at Alta Vista.
 The d'Aulan family produces wines in several wine growing regions around the world, from France, the country of origin, to Hungary and Argentina, where they created Alta Vista in 1998, in the search of the greatest qualities of two emblematic varieties: Malbec and Torrontes. The result is the perfect combination of French savoir faire and Argentinean passion.







The winery is in the heart of Chacras de Coria, 15 km south of Mendoza city. It is a historical building built in 1899, fully restored in 2003, and with all the cutting-edge vine-growing technology.  The winery stands out from all the rest because of its small tanks, which enable the production of high-quality wines. The cellars, the most beautiful in South America, shelter Alta Vista wine barrels.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    This was a door to one of the original wine tanks which is now where their wine tasting room is located.

 

 The original cellars are being used to store the wine in mostly French oak but some American oak is also used.  The French oak's pours are further apart from one another than the American oak which creates more oak flavour.  The premium wines are store in the barrels when they are new and being used for the first time.  Second and Third use is for the lower end wines.  Sometimes they are used a fourth time but that depends on the winery.  They are then recycled for furniture, flooring or liquor making.

 This is the owner's private collection of wines for the past 15 years.  Very impressive!    











Second stop - Achaval Ferrer

 The coolest part of the wine tour here was our Guide took us down to the cellar and we tasted wine straight from the barrel.  It was not completely ready yet but it was fun to taste the difference between the wines even before they were complete. 

The cellar is temperature and humidity controlled.  Because Mendoza is such a try climate they have to pump humidity into the cellars to keep the barrels from drying out.  If they don't pump the humidity in they wet the cement floors and walls instead.







Third stop:  Ruca Malen  -   THE LUNCH!

The tour of the production facility was not nearly as impressive as Alta Vista, however the 5 star 5 course meal with each course paired with a specific wine ranked right up there with our closed door restaurant.  Bill actually said it was the best steak he had ever tasted and that takes a lot to impress my husband when it comes to meat he has not cooked himself.

The third course had so many different ingredients that the chef served in on glass with a description sheet taped to the underside so you could tell what each of the swirls were.

The best steak we have ever had in a Restaurant!  And this was lunch.  We were so full after we got home we had to cancel our dinner reservation because we could not eat another huge meal, so opted for something a little lighter.

Bill had enough wine during the day so ordered a coke for dinner.  They served it in a wine glass and half way through dinner I caught him swirling his COKE.  I told him coke did not get better when swirled only red wine did.  LOL

Walked through the Plaza Independence on the way home from dinner, which they are setting up for their Wine Harvest events this weekend.

Cheers!