שפונדרה

After our small breakfast at the hostel, Tim's prophecy came true that this morning he would have a flat tire. We started heading towards the bike shop but then I remembered that Guillermo gave me a small air pump. In the middle of things I called the winery and told them that we would be a half hour late.

We arrived at Andeluna Cellars at 10:30 in the morning. The tour had just started and Tim joined them. I decided to wait this one out and rest on their amazingly comfortable sofas. The winery had a nice wide spaced room with a wood designed bar, wine accessory shelves, a big kitchen and dining room, and the few sofas that I was sitting on. It also had a nice big porch with comfortable white sofas that had a fine view right into the vineyards about 10 meters away. As I rested I started to talk to a tour guide who brought her group to the winery. After the tour,  we all sat down at the pre-arranged bar and were given wine menus. Tim and I decided to share the tastings of 4 wines. Except for the Merlot 2004, the other three wines were extremely good. Even  though the Chardonnay 2005 had some tuna aromas (with olives and lemons as well), its peach and pineapple flavors were sharp and tasty. The Malbec 2006 had berry and vanilla aromas, while flavors exhibited plum, oak, and spices. The Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 had great Cab aromas of oak, leather, plum and cherry.

להמשיך לקרוא ←

I woke up early and packed my small backpack for a couple of days. I walked over to the central bus station of Mendoza and paid for a ticket to Tupungato, the northern most part of Valle de Uco. After a couple of hours on the bus I finally reached Tupungato. I walked outside the bus station and looked at the town map. I walked over to the information center and received all the information I was looking for. When I came out I surprisingly met another tourist. Tim from Idaho was also interested in touring the area's wineries. While he went into the info center I went across the street to the lucotorio (phone booth) in order to try and make some reservations for today and tomorrow. I made a reservation for Bodega Salentein later on today. Now that we had somewhere to visit we had to find a place to rent bicycles, if there was such a place. According to the info center there was only one place to rent bikes, so Tim and I headed in that direction. When we arrived we found out that the owner rented all his bikes out to a big group of tourists.

להמשיך לקרוא ←