שפונדרה

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.

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After only 6 hours of sleep (and sparkling wine still in my veins) I woke up in a very good mood and was already on a bus to Maipú at 8 in the morning. As soon as Hugo laid his eyes on me he went into his house and brought out his crown bike for me, what a good guy. I was given my water bottle and off I went, another day of riding through the Mendozian country side visiting wineries. This time I took Juan José Paso Road and crossed Rt. 40 until the famous San Martín Avenue. I took a left and arrived at Bodega Weinert at 9 in the morning after a 20 km or more bike ride.

Weinert – Bodega y Cavas is a German owned winery with Brazilian ancestry. I walked in and expressed my interest in having some tastings. Since I was the only one there and so early in the morning, the nice girl suggested to taste all the wines she had open. A total of 9 wines, okay with me. We walked down into the wine cellar and after all the wines were brought out and poured, I starting drinking them one by one. While drinking I asked about the winery's history and its worldwide business. Most red wines were fruity but with a dry aftertastes. I liked the white wines better. A nice white wine was their Chenin Blanc 2003 which had a nice light whiskey color. The wine had great aromas of apple, maple syrup and caramel; together with a light raisin flavor. Since the tastings didn't cost anything I decided to buy another wine bottle opener (my 7^th). I said "Muchas gracias." and continued on. I had a 10 o'clock reservation at my next winery.

I arrived at Hacienda del Plata – Viñedos & Bodega on time even though I couldn't find it in the beginning. They still don't have a sign in front and I don't know if they even plan to put one up. I recognized the number 4871 and rung the intercom button. I was buzzed in and walked into a sun bathed courtyard. A woman came to meet me at the path and introduced herself as Chrissie. Originally from Canada, Chrissie works part time for the bodega giving wine tours

להמשיך לקרוא ←