Mendoza Wine Country

Thursday afternoon Karen and Andy, Jenna's parents, flew Jenna and I out to Mendoza wine country where we were going to spend the next two nights! We were picked up at the airport by a man named Rimero who was driving a grey pickup truck...we were on our way in style! When we arrived to "Cavas Wine Lodge" my jaw dropped at how gorgeous the place was. Before we even walked into the door we had a glass of wine on our hand! We were in the wine country! 

We arrived!

                                    

They greeted us with wine!

Our room!- Me and Jenna were a couple for the weekend!

We had just missed a tango show that the hotel was hosting but once we dropped off our stuff they invited us to an Argentinian "Barbeque" aka SO MUCH MEAT. 

The menu!

Blood sausage- black sausage with pork and beef that explodes like blood when u cut into it

Chorizo- Pork Sausage

Sweetbread- Heart Gland 

AND YES....I did try it all! I really disliked sweetbread unfortunately...

Two types of meat- Short ribs on top and Rib eye on the bottom- Loved Rib eye but still not a short ribs fan (a little fatty for me)

Our assorted salads- Carrots, beets, potato, and eggplant

Tiramasu dessert with dulce De Leche

Of course I was extremely full after this hearty meal and ready to go to sleep! In the morning we woke up as the sun was rising and had a private yoga lesson! This was one of my first times doing yoga and my flexibility did not get me too far but I did enjoy it! It was not to much of a work out though so after we went on the treadmill for a little bit! 

The view from our hotel in the morning!

The vineyards in front of the snowy mountain

We had a delicious egg white and fruit breakfast at the hotel before we were picked up for our day of wine tasting! There at 1,500 wineries in Mendoza. We arrived at Montequieto first, known as a smaller vineyard they produce only 70,000 bottles per year. We learned all about how wine is made. All wine red or white is from a red grape but the only difference is when the grape is fermenting with yeast the red wine has the skin in the barrel and the white wine has no skin only the juice gets fermented. The time of fermentation and then the time in an oak barrel after it has turned into wine is what affects the taste. But each type of wine has a different type of grape. But the same type of wine can taste differently in different companies because of the varying times at each step. Soaking it in an oak barrel for longer makes a stronger taste.

We were shown the vineyards then taken inside the factory where we were tasting all different wines that were in the process of becoming bottled wine.

Our guide filling our glasses straight from the tanks!

Our first glass!

All of our wine:

1 Sauvignon blanc- grapefruit bite at the end 

2 Chardonnay - more fruity long and woody pineapple banana 

3 Malbec - purple not red plums cherries sweet tangy 

4 Cabernet franc red peppery more intense dries out your mouth ( Zinfandel and primitivo) 

5 Syrah blueish blackberry 

6 Quieto reserva - translucent blend so much smoother from 2011 - 1 year in tank 1 oak barrel -Cabernet  franc, Malbec, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon 

7 Bottled Malbec 

8 Bottled reserve mix 

Next we went to Ruca Malen- a much larger vineyard- for lunch and accompanied by another wine tasting. This time we sat at a table and the wine was chosen based on the food they thought it best went along with. 

Our table...SO MUCH WINE!! 

Our meal- Citrus Zucchini salad- if you look at the top it was labeled on the plate really cool!

Yellow Corn Cake with Smoked red bell pepper sauce (interesting but delicious)

Wheat stew with sausage (not my favorite)

Grilled steak(Filet Mignon) with grilled vegetables and a potato and pumpkin croquette- DELISH

Dark Chocolate Cake with Dulce de Leche fondue- (Cannot go wrong with this)

After such an incredible time wine tasting we returned to our hotel just in time for our Wine Therapy Massages!! It was definitely meant to be a couples massage because every step of the process was together, so thankfully Jenna and I are very comfortable with each other! We started off by getting a wine scrub where we laid on massage beds next to each other and had a Malbec wine scrubbed on every inch of our body. We then took showers (in shower heads next to each other) and were shown to a wine bath!! Literally a tub full of wine and bubbles that we were to sit in for 30 minutes! After our wine baths we had 45 minute full body massages which was of course my favorite part. 

Ready for our treatments!

Couples wine baths!

Yes thats wine

Yes this happened

After our incredible massages we had dinner at the hotel and went to sleep. We woke up to another beautiful day and ready to go horseback riding! We took a car out to the mountains where we each got a horse to ourselves and were guided through the mountains that were on the border of Argentina and Chile. In the distance were snow mountains but we were surrounded by dessert terrain. It was SO BEAUTIFUL and extremely relaxing to be on the horse! By the end we all got our horses to gallop which was my first time being on a galloping horse! It was so much fun!

One of the beautiful views

The snowy mountains

Tomas came along with us!

Me and my horse- Cacherro

After horseback riding we were taken into the house for a picnic next to the fireplace!

Our picnic!

We returned back to our hotel with just enough time to go for a run through the vineyards! It was actually a really enjoyable and scenic run. We showered and we were off to the airport to return to buenos aires. 

We arrived back and had a quick turn around as we went to see a tango show in a really cool hotel. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and such a cool atmosphere. It was really the cherry on top of an incredible and unforgettable weekend!!

Mendoza was an amazingly beautiful and well worth it trip. I want to make sure to thank Karen and Andy for taking me along as their child this weekend and I loved spending time with both of you!