I have to admit, before our trip, Mendoza was one of the places I was most excited about visiting. Wine tours around the Argentine countryside, what's not to like? But in reality, the city itself was rather a disappointment, the best wineries are out of town and your only options of reaching them are via ridiculously expensive tours (where tastings are additional!) or renting a car. We didn't really fancy the last option so we were a little confined to the city. Luckily we had our island friend, superstar techno DJ Rous to help us find the gems this busy city has to offer. On our second night, Rous and his boyfriend decided to take us out on the town and we got to experience how the Argentines party. It was so so fun but exhausting! It is usual for Argentines to bring their own wine to a restaurant, bearing in mind that Rous is a wine expert, we left that to him and had two delicious bottles of red (naturally) at one of Francis Mallmann's new restaurants, Oregano. Then there were more drinks at a fabulous garden bar. Then there was gin at Rous's beautiful apartment. Granny Charlie and Grandpa Rob are normally fast asleep by 2am, but instead we found ourselves heading out to a techno club with a gut full of gin and red wine! But techno dance we did and made a respectful exit somewhere around 4am. The next day was a disaster, we were tired and hungover, and then Rob slipped in the shower and smashed his head. It could have been much much worse, but luckily he escaped with just a massive egg on his forehead. We should have stayed in bed and declared a movie day. But in our eagerness to try to explore this land of grapes, we headed out to Caquimbito, an area of wineries just outside of the centro. At least, that's where we thought we were headed, until we realised we were on the wrong bus. And before we knew it, we were walking through Mendoza’s version of a gangland, rucksacks placed firmly on our chests, wondering how the hell we were going to get out of here alive, stomachs groaning and desperate for a cheesy empanada. At last we found what Rous later informed us was Mendoza’s ‘worst winery’, Lopez, and signed up for a tour in Spanish because we couldn't be bothered to wait an extra hour for the English version. It was not interesting and the wine was shit. The only good thing about the day was a wonderful home made pasta dinner at Rous’s place. This guy can cook, pick the best wine, and DJ some serious beats. What a dream boat!
The next day was all round much better as Rous was determined to show us the best bits of his home city. We were treated to private bodega tours of Escorihue La Gascon, the oldest winery and cellar in Mendoza, as well as visiting another of Francis’ restaurants, 1884 before hoping on a bus to the lovely Lujan district. When it finally came to boarding our overnight bus to Salta, we felt we had started to see the appeal of this hard to define city. Comments are closed.
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AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
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Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |