The morning was almost brisk enough for a jacket, but a long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt was my wardrobe of choice for the day. It was amazingly quiet, almost unnaturally so. But that’s the exact opposite of what it was; I’m so used to the background noise of my laptop humming, the air conditioner running, traffic on the streets outside, and the occasional Air Force fighters screaming overhead, that I’m not used to the sound of actual nature. In this case, there were no insects chirping, birds calling, wolves howling or anything. It was as quiet as a tomb. Actually, it was even more quiet than the Recoleta Cemetery that we had just visited, but we were telling jokes and laughing in the cemetery, so it’s not a fair comparison. It was so quiet that morning, it was almost unnerving. The stillness was broken only by the sound of me drinking a bubbly rose that was as crisp as the morning was.
Anyone who drinks wine knows that Mendoza is the heart of malbec country. Some of the best malbecs in the world come from that region just east of the Andes, where the weather is perfect for growing those grapes. If you tell someone that you’re drinking an Argentinian malbec, they immediately know you to be a person of refined taste and culture, and ordering a bottle is the easiest way to fool someone into thinking you’ve got your $hit together. All that being said, Argentinian malbecs are tasty, and you should definitely drink some. And where better to drink it than right there at the vineyard.
Our tour covered 3 different wineries with plenty of tastings at each. They spoke at length about the grapes and the process for making each wine, whether it was matured in steel or oak, how long the skins were left on to get the color of the wine just right, blah, blah, blah. All I know is that they were talking while I was trying to drink my wine. If you’re into all of that stuff, you’ll enjoy the tour, but it’s probably the same material that you hear at any other vineyard in the world. The only reason to go to these vineyards is to enjoy these specific wines. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember the details about most of the wineries that we went to. I remember that most of the wines were quite good, some less so (but those were the ones that were still maturing), and we even bought a few bottles to ship home. But after a week in Argentina, drinking wine by the gallon, they all start to blur together. But I can tell you this, a trip to Argentina will be wasted if you don’t make it to Mendoza for a wine tasting. Go in the morning, while the world is still asleep. Get yourself a glass of something light and tasty, and watch the colors of nature cascading over the Andes, with acres of grapes growing as far as the eye can see. But bring your iPod. It’s really quiet out there.
