Monday did not start well. I mean that is an obvious statement, any day with a 7:30 wake up call for me, did not start well, but this was worse. I rolled out of bed, and despite going to bed by 11, I was exhausted. It was as if the amount of sleep did not matter, my body rebelled against the early hour. We rushed to get out the door, and arrived at the El Cristo! offices to find that despite their broucheurs proclaiming an 8:30 am wine tour, their store did not start until 2:30 pm. We headed back to the hotel to regroup and I opened ESPN to find what was to be the final straw. UNC had lost. The day was over, I was exhausted from the hours, disappointed by the tour and depressed about the floundering of the boys in baby blue. I jump into bed and fell back asleep.

I awoke 2 hours later, with Ashley nagging at me to get up, still in a foul mood. While I had slept, Ashley had not wasted the two hours. After she convinced me that I should not be sleeping late in Mendoza, she explained to me what she was up to. The most pressing issue was the she had schedule a private guide on Tuesday, but we had to pick out 4 wineries to visit with our guide, in the next 45 minutes. We poured over the list of 20+ wineries and looked up some on the internet. After we compiled a quick list we headed to meet our future guide and give him the list. He seemed liked a nice guy, and the business he was running was bustling.

During the two hours Ashley had also scheduled a wine tour for the afternoon, a 2:30, through a different agency (she thought El Cristo! might be Christian, and shied away from it) and had a quick list of things to due until then. The first one was a small wine store called Marcelino, which has wine tastings on Mondays from local vineyards, and is supposedly frequented by the bigwigs in Mendoza viticulture. We walked there and found it to be close for the Siesta. Luckily we saw a wine bar that was a part of Ashley’s list along the way and turned back to stop by it.

The initial plan was grab a glass of wine and go to a few other places. Ashley chatted up the waiter in Spanish (she is so shy in when speaking English but is a huge flirt in Spanish) and he mentioned that they had wine tastings at 4:00 everyday. We lamented the fact that we may not be able to make it to one, and we ordered our glasses of wine. I do not know what happened back in the kitchen but the waiter returned a few minutes later and said that, since the restaurant was so quiet, we could do a private tasting. We quickly accepted his offer.

 

To appreciate this wine bar one has to see the room. It is much like the Pantheon, in that it cannot be photographed all at once. It the middle was a large circular high table, with a raised center part made of glass. Above the table hung a wine glass storage device, which, with the lighting, looked like a wine glass chandelier. The walls were completely lined with different bottles of wine, and while we waited for the flight we perused the bottles. Stopping at ones we had tried, or heard about, and, as usual, pausing over the ones so far out of our price range. We were alone in this seemingly private cellar, with only the waiter to come in and our occasionally.

The flight came and we sat down to 5 nearly full glasses of red Mendoza wine. Just to make sure everyone is aware of this, Ashley is a nerd. This is not is a bad thing, it is actually very endearing. It does mean however that wine tastings are not just opportunities to try new wines at a low price. No, wine tastings are a time for NOTES. Each wine bottle had to be found on the shelves and photographed. Every nose, mouth feel, taste and pairing ideas were documented. Even wine that was obviously not enjoyable (like the Merlot that seemed to simply end, as if you taste buds suddenly fell of a flavor cliff) had to be paired, and analyzed. This actually makes the tastings a lot more fun, and the comparison of you pallet to someone else’s allows you to, I think, find more flavors.

~ by aedlund on January 13, 2009.