Today we opted for a biking tour of some wineries nearby Mendoza in an area called Lujan de Cuyo, just south of the city. By chance, there were 9 other people from our hostel that were doing the same thing. We hopped on the bus and took that to a bike rental place, where she explained possible routes for us to take between the different nearby wineries.
Our first stop was Carmelo de Patti. It was this older guy that only spoke Spanish that had been making world class wines since 1971. We tried some of his 2008 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, which was amazing. He was very knowledgeable about wine and gave us lots of tips.
1) If you want to chill wine, don’t put the whole bottle in a wine chiller (unless it is Rose or sparkling wine), you should put it in a decanter and place the decanter on a plate of ice.
2) Cabernet should be in a decanter for 2 hours, malbec for 1 hour.
3) If the cork isn’t coming out easily, you can heat the top of a bottle with a lighter and the cork will come out easier (and don’t worry, it won’t hurt the wine).
He was a very interesting guy with very delicious wines, and the tasting was included with our bike tour, which was nice.
We were supposed to make it to the 2nd winery by 12:30, but we didn’t finish the first one until 1 because of our large group. We had received a recommendation on the first day from a server at a wine bar that Kaiken was her favorite winery, so we took a chance and headed in that direction instead. We arrived at the winery without any reservations around 1:40. There was a group for an English tour that was going to start at 2:00, so we started the tasting first. We tasted 4 wines. 1) Torrentes (a white wine that I think it only grown in the north part of argentina) 2) Young Malbec 3) Malbec “Ultra” and 4) Mai, their signature wine which was a blend. They were all fantastic wines, and we were glad we went off the beaten path to go there.
Our next stop was Alta Vista Winery. We didn’t have much time after we finished at Kaiken, so we basically sprinted on our bikes the entire way to make it in time for the 3:30 tour. We made it in time and snapped some pictures of the beautiful scenery before the tour started. The tour was very informative and then we did the wine tasting. One of us had the regular tasting and the other had the premium including a sparkling wine and their highest quality wine, Alta. I think we both agreed that Alto was the best wine that we had for the day.
The last stop for the day was an artisanal store called La Antigua. It is a business run from a family’s home using mostly local ingredients. There, we tried homemade jams, dulce de leche, tapenade, and liquors. I tried a spicy pepper liquor that was amazing, and Alejandro got the absinthe. Neither of us had tried the traditional absinthe before. They lit a spoonful of sugar on fire then let it burn for a while before it was stirred into the absinthe. It definitely burned but the taste was interesting. After our tasting here, we had to head back to return our bikes.
Tonight was Asada night at our hostel. A grillmaster from a nearby restaurant came over to our hostel to make dinner, including pork ribs, sausage, and some kind of meat. After the long day of wine, and the fun we were having with our hostel mates, we kinda forgot to take pictures… Sorry!
Travel Fun With Cassie and Alejandro 
Cassie and Alejo:
I loved reading about the wineries it was very pleasant ride without heartstopping jumps or hikes I needed that.
I congratulate you for all the wonderful experiences you are having, I would love to be in my twenties and live
a great adventure but through your pictures and writing I’m living the adventure too. Thanks for all your sharing.
Love you so so much.
Lolis
LikeLike
There’s the pattern again! Bike, wine, bike, wine. Congrats for staying upright all day!
LikeLike