Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina and the main reason we visited Argentina. Neil is on a quest to visit all the major wine growing regions of the world! The city is low rise and very
green, with lots of trees and many squares and parks. Everything is a
bit dilapidated but charming enough and although there is no
distinguishing architectural style, let's face it it's no Stellenbosch,
it's still a great place to stroll around. We loved it. There are 2 main
nightlife areas, Sarmiento Ave, where our hotel was and Villaneuve, with all the trendy bars and restaurants. Mendoza has some excellent restaurants; our favourite was Azafran
for a set food and wine pairing menu.
Mendoza is known
for Malbec and there are about 4 or 5 different wine growing areas
around Mendoza City including Maipu, Luyan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley
which nudges up against the snowy Andes. We took a few days; exploring
region by region and visited quite a few wineries. The architecture of some of the bodegas is impressive
and quite a few have restaurants but our favourite meal was at the small
Bodega El Azul, for very quirky food paired with their own wines. For a
good Malbec you need to pay about US$50 from the estate. Many of the
best wineries are foreign owned by big conglomerates and focus on the
export market. Argentina is the 5th biggest producer of wine by volume,
90% of which is for the local market and pretty poor quality. We visited
Lopez in Maipu, one of the local producers. Even their premium reds are
matured in very large oak barrels that they have been using for over a
hundred years. At the opposite end of the spectrum we visited
Terrazas de Los Andes owned by Chandon, who have pumped a great deal of money into renovating the old cellars and have started producing some excellent wines.
One day we drove through the Andes to the Chilean border and visited the Aconcagua National Park. The scenery was stark and the wind and weather were just ghastly. We lasted about 20 minutes before heading back to the car. If you are thinking of trekking up that hostile peak, my advice would be DON'T. But do go to Mendoza for the food and wine; that comes highly recommended.
Mendoza Street Cafes
Neil helping street artists, Villaneuve
Terrazas de los Andes
Bodega Jean Bousquet
Bodega El Azul
Stuffed Squash Starter, El Azul
Bodega SalenteinOne day we drove through the Andes to the Chilean border and visited the Aconcagua National Park. The scenery was stark and the wind and weather were just ghastly. We lasted about 20 minutes before heading back to the car. If you are thinking of trekking up that hostile peak, my advice would be DON'T. But do go to Mendoza for the food and wine; that comes highly recommended.
Uco Valley
Aconcagua National Park
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment