Mar 12 Mendoza

Today we are heading down to the Uco Valley about 80km from where we are staying. This valley is becoming known for some of the best Malbec’s and other reds and has a mix of large and small wineries.

Our first stop today was one of the larger wineries called Salentien where we had a tasting and then lunch. It was a beautiful location with snowy Andean peaks behind the rows of vines. It was a warm sunny day and lovely to wander around the vineyard.

Andes as a backdrop

Salentien Winery

Malbec grapes ready to pick

The tasting was slightly bigger than usual, which at 12 midday was to prove a challenge ! 

We had a mix of really good reds with some excellent premium wines but the tasting glasses were huge ! 

Big Decisions

Big Glasses !!

Needless to say we polished off the lot  which then resulted in Paul developing a new phenomenon called the Malbec smile …………

The Malbec Smile.........

thinking we’d better soak up some alcohol we then headed in for lunch which was lovely and again with that great backdrop of the vines and the Andes.

On our way out we bought a couple of nice bottles but by this time  we had completely missed our second appointment and were just in time for our third which was at another very small local winery La Azul.

When we arrived the locals were just finishing a long boozy Sunday lunch and heading home. They had several rustic tables outside and the whole atmosphere was lovely. Very local, very relaxed.

We had a look round the tiny winery and tasted some of their different stage production wines.

The Lesson

The Tasting

All very nice……….. Steve by now was losing the will to live..

Please can I go home now...

Janette then spotted the takeaway service...

On the way back, Janette and Mandy snoozed while Paul tried to stay alert and navigate. Poor Steve !!

That evening Mandy and Paul broke out the party wine on their balcony, the sparkling red they had bought which got the evening off to a flying start. (as if we hadn’t had enough today already..)

Lets get the party started !

We then headed off to a local Parrilla for dinner, where they cook all their meats on the big asado grills outdoors. We had a mixed Parrilla and this had some great flavours, garlicky sausages, soft black puddings, pork and beef ribs and then just when we thought we were done, they bowled up with a tray of steak !  All this for £12 each…………

Now this is what we call a BBQ....

As we were walking on our way home at midnight, we went through a little square to find the locals of all ages, old to young, dancing formally in the centre of the square. Most unexpected but very nice to see !!