Sunday 26th March 2017
Vineyards and olive oil…
Collected 8.15 for a vineyard and city tour with our guide
Cecilia. All were pretty zonked after
our session yesterday, not helped by a wine-tasting which started about
9.30. But we suffered for our education
and indulged!
The first vineyard, Don Manuel Villafane (www.dmvwines.com), was a modern –looking building
with fish moat and a grassy sloped wall. Very cool. One of the best wine tours
I’ve had then started with only our little group of 7 in the whole place and
taken around all the vats, machinery and cellar. 
We poured off wine in the
process of fermentation direct from the vats, wandering around with our
glasses. The guide was excellent in explaining
the whole system and then hosting us to test completed blended and reserva
wines – colour, legs, nose and finally a good swilling. We tried to buy three
bottles but their credit card machine wasn’t working so we settled for a
blended and a Malbec Reserva, which only cost less than $20. 
Next stop was an olive grove and factory of Familia Zuccardi
– producing Zuelo virgin extra olive
oil. Again we were shown around the whole factory process from the picking
process (by hand), through the cleaning, mushing and centrifuge to the final
vats. Absolutely spotlessly clean and
lovely machinery. A very weird ‘olive
oil’ tasting session then took place with small blue glasses used, and we then
had to rub our
hand around the bottom to warm the oil.
No testing of colour, but same as wine with
the sniffing and supping/swilling around the mouth. No bread in sight. It
actually tasted really ‘grassy’ and smelt like tomatoes growing, with a really
peppery aftertaste. We decided to have
an early lunch there and delay the next vineyard which turned out to be an
excellent decision. Lunch consisted of a massive selection of meats, cheeses,
nuts, olives, salads with of course olive oils and bread, all washed down with
some Pinot Grigio. Yum.
The final vineyard, Trapiche (named after the way the wine
was pressed), was much older and had been derelict for many years before a
recent refurbishment. Notable was the beautiful
rose-wood parquet floors, and an old railway siding that had diverted the
railway to make movement of wine and produce easier. This place used large oak
casks but also weird concrete ones with a narrower top which seems to be the
more modern way. The wine-tasting here wasn’t quite as successful – the first
couple of wines seemed very strong with tannin, but again the Malbec was nice
and the best was the red pudding wine.
We were then taken on a city tour which variously had us all
asleep. Should have done this
first! But Mendoza is a nice little city,
mainly flat, and full of squares with trees and usually a fountain in the
middle. Most roads are tree-lined which
is incredible as this is really a desert area and they are fully reliant on an
irrigation system coming from the glaciers and mountains. There is a department of irrigation and all
the farmers/ commerce who want water have to decide the amount and which days
it is required, then there is a system of canals and irrigation channels with ‘locks’
which are constantly monitored and adjusted.
There is a separate system of pipes for drinking water which is
allegedly pure (not risking it). 
As it
was Sunday, most families were out and about in the parks, around tables with
chairs and sometimes barbequing their food.
Street barbeques are a big thing, using wood not charcoal, with queues
of people collecting cooked chicken for taking away. The best statue was a huge one at the top of
the only hill, of General San Martin leading his troops across the Andes. Freedom was an angel breaking the chains and
the various friezes show the troops and horses at the beginning, around to the
General’s wives having to hand over their jewellery to fund the expedition and
through to the exhausted and bedraggled troops and horses who survived the journey. A picture of the statue is on the back of a
50 peso note. 
Chill-out evening in the room. Eaten and drunk too much
recently. Shared bag of crisps and used Loretta’s kettle to make tea. Hugely appreciated.
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