Our wine tour started with a 15 minute drive with a driver and 2 Australian medical students. We arrived at the bike tour office, grabbed our bikes and helmets, and met Diego (our guide) and 3 flight attendants from Buenos Aires. Diego said they were "stooges"...."you know, stooges, like on an airplane". He meant stewards!
We rode for about 5 minutes toward our first stop when someone called Diego back to the end our single-file line. One of the Australian girls recently lost a close friend from a bicycle accident, and her aunt is being put on trial for murder for running over a biker in South Africa. Needless to say she had lots of mental issues with being on a bike. The arranged for her to meet us at each winery by car, and we rode on.
We stopped at the entrance to a pretty winery with long rows of grape vines and mountains in the background. We didnt end up going into this place, but Diego told us about watering the grapes and harvesting them by machine versus by man, and we noted that the "mulch" we were standing on was actually grapes (shriveled ones, skin, pieces of leaves, branches, etc.)
We took a few pics and rode on to the winery of Carmelo Patti - famous for his Malbec. He showed us articles in wine rating books and even in the Washington Post praising his prized Malbec wines. We tasted 3 of his wines and I really liked them all. You can tell he was really proud of his wine and his work, he was very friendly and we were happy to get a photo with him. He is considered a small winery because he produces only 50,000 bottles a year.
Next we rode on to a second winery, the name is escaping me. This one was much larger and we were able to see huge vats and barrels in which the wine is aged. We saw bottles being labeled and sealed. The basement of this place was enormous and in it we tasted 3 wines. A white, a malbec, and a blend. This winery produces about 600,000 bottles a year.
We biked on to what would be our last winery. This was a boutique winery that produced an even fewer number of bottles than the first one. This would also be where we would have lunch. Ryan and I each ordered the ribeye.
Wow! A table set to perfection in a private room of the restaurant was ready just for our group. Warm rolls were passed around and our plates were drizzled with high quality fine olive oil - oh the olive oil! It was delicious. We each had 3 wine glasses at our setting and they were all filled rather generously for a "tasting". We also each had a mini-empanada filled with tomato that was also very good.
I'd like to look back and see my face when they brought our plates out. A HUGE ribeye with a large square of layered white potato, sweet potato, and squash, also a portion of mashed pumpkin and a small green salad. A really large and delicious "lunch." The ribeye was excellently prepared and some of the best meat we've had; Ryan said it was right up there with (but not better than) his Dad's steaks.
The food was great and I did my best to eat it all, but sadly I had to leave a bit of meat behind. I drank about 2/3 of the wine they gave us, added to the other 6 tastes we'd had earlier...well...lets just say we were ready for a nap.
How cruel to spoil folks with food and wine only to make them pedal for their dessert! After a tour of the winery, we rode to Absinthe. Absinthe is an artisan shop full of delectable chocolate and marmalades sweet liquers, and the best olives we'd ever tasted. We sampled and tasting many of the spreads (cafe, dulce de leche, coconut, chocolate hazelnut and fruit ones). There was also a salty spread table with olive and roasted pepper and garlic preparations. Our favorite were the whole sweet green olives, and the coconut marmalade.
After the spreads we were asked to select 2 liquers which we'd like a shot of. My first thought was "Ugh, no more alcohol!" but the penny pincher won out in my brain with the "you've already paid for it" line. Ryan and I both had the chocolate banana shot, which was sweet and tasty, but strong. We both passed on shot number 2.
It was about 6 pm when we rode back and caught a ride to our hostel. We really enjoyed learning all about wine. (Always store wine on its side to keep the wine in contact with the cork). Also we are now in the market for a decanter.
We are still so stuffed from our huge 3pm feast that we are skipping dinner tonight. We are just hanging out and uploading some pics. Tomorrow our rappelling and climbing adventure starts in the morning!
with carmelo patti
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