Liza's wine blog (and some food)

After a number of requests for further details about our Argentinian wine tasting, I will be describing our wine journey in this ongoing blog entry.

We've started off with house wines (copa de vino tinto de la casa), table wines and half bottles at the lower end of the market. Interestingly we are enjoying these and haven't found much need to go upmarket yet - but we'll be sure to try them soon enough!

Rincon Famosa 2003 - a blend of sangiovese, malbec and merlot from the Mendoza region of Argentina. We really liked this one (hmm you'll hear that comment a fair bit). The color was a bit more rustic - brownish red - showing its age, but still very fruity and smooth - we happilly consumed this half bottle unaccompanied by food. (18 pesos --> $7 AUD)


Lopez - a Malbec from Mendoza. Another half bottle for about $8 AUD. Good with food- beef of course!

Valmont - a blend of cab sav, malbec and pinot noir from Mendoza. Perfect with a plate of green olives before dinner on Christmas Day!

San Felipe - a Malbec from Mendoza (as is 70% of Argentinian wine). We have tried this a few times and it is an easy drinking cheapie as above.

Bianchi Nuestro Borgona - a blend from Mendoza, a beautiful dark red colour and easy to drink. It was also a 1/2 bottle for 26 Peso or about $11 AUD.

Norton Clasico 2006 - another Mendoza blend, so far we have a preference for the blends. deep ruby red colour, the best so far!

Luigi Bosca Reserva 2005 - Now I had the opportunity to taste a more pricey Malbec today and was very impressed so I lashed out and bought a bottle, yes a full 750mls, for $59 Peso- approx $25 AUD. Will reserve further judgement and comment on this one until we make an occasion of it!

Well we finally tried it! Very impressed from the first taste, packed with flavour and still very smooth. Deep purple colour, no it's deep burgundy in colour, just a minute we better have another glass......

Navarro Correas Colleccion Privado 2005 - At dinner last night at Los Chilenos, a Chilean restaurant in Retiro, we tried this full bottle! It was a cabernet sauvignon, a beautiful dark red colour but much lighter than an Australian Cab Sav, very smooth and light, made for a long evening. It was their most expensive bottle (at 59 Peso/ $25 AUD) so we attracted some attention from the staff and an ice bucket to try to cool it to 18 degrees!






















Mendoza Wine Tasting

Well, as we have already highlighted, this was a fantastic long weekend of wine appreciation.
The first day, after arriving on the bus early that morning we went to 2 wineries (bodegas). We only made it to 2 because there was a risk of buying significant amounts of anything if we ventured further after consuming such large quantities of wine at these two.
The suggestion of hiring a bike or scooter to tour the wineries soon became obviously an extremely bad idea and not something we would attempt. Taxis were a sensible and much safer option!

Lopez Winery:

We skipped the tour and paid 16 peso ($6) each for wine tasting and that entitled us each to three generous glasses of good quality wine, the only way to taste!


Casona Lopez 2002 - a light, smooth and fruity (?plum) malbec. Very easy to drink and would be good with or without food. It was pink to red in colour and Greg's favourite out of these 3, but he does like a bargain. At 20 peso ($8) a bottle, the price was right!

Chateau Vieux 2000- this blend of cab sav, merlot and pinot had a fantastic smell, and was woody like some Aussie blends with an earthy pinot influence. A brownish tint gave it an aged appearance and this is my favorite so far. At 25 peso ($10) still very affordable.

Montchenot 1999 - another blend, this time cab sav, merlot and malbec and very different to the other two. It also had a slight dark brownish (aged) tint and was quite dry. It smells oaky and would go well with Lomo (great cut of Argentinian beef). I am undecided which I prefer between the 2nd and this one but think that this one needs to go with food, or maybe that's just me after 600mls of vino tinto on an empty stomach! At 42 peso ($18), it's a bit more pricey!

El Cerno Winery:
We asked Lopez to recommend another bodega and this was it! This was a small boutique winery but also had Lomo sandwiches so it was a winner! Again 16 peso each for 3 glasses for tasting.

Wayna - a young fruity unwooded malbec (just the way Greg likes them), but not as fruity as the Lopez malbec. It had more body than expected, yet was still soft and and a deep red colour. A bargain at 18 peso ($7) a bottle.
Vina El Cerno Barricado 2002 - another malbec but smoother and more aged than the Wayna. Greg liked it as he purchased 6 bottles of it at 36 peso each ($15).

Was there a third one, there was definitely a third one, there are three glasses in the photo, my notes have disappeared, I'll ask Greg if he remembers..........

Oh! he doesn't look like he'll remember either.









Park Hyatt Mendoza- the vines wine bar

On our final day at Mendoza we stayed in town and did some more tasting before catching the overnight bus back to BA.

Cavas de Crianza Malbec - a young fruityMalbec with an aroma of berries. Greg really enjoyed it but thought it might be a bit 'young' for me (I'm not sure what that means!). 28 peso a glass.

Montecinco Oak - Was awarded 'best Malbec in the world' according to the sommelier! The aroma was sensational, I didn't feel a need to drink it, smelling it was a treat. For the purpose of this blog I thought I should drink it; it was initially sweet on tasting, with a soft, dry finish. Greg thought it was sensational too, with much more oak and body than the previous one above. 38 peso a copa.

Mairena Bonarda - unsure what the varietal was- we had never heard of it, but usually used in a blend. This was was solo this time and very good. It had a sweet aroma which was quite unusual but perhaps plum. It was a deep red colour like a cab sav. Greg nearly finished it off for me, I think he enjoyed it too! 25 peso a copa.

Sin Fin Cab Sav - the aroma was not great initially but improved over a short period of time to smell like berries. The flavour also opened up quickly. It was a deep red cab sav colour. 25 peso a copa.
At a great restaurant in Mendoza- Casa 3 we had the best meal so far in argentina, I had pork with baked apples and pears- yumm! We had a bottle of Andeluna 2006 Malbec as we didn't make it to that winery but thought we could taste it with our dinner. It was very good!

Back in BA at another great restaurant - El Federal which cooks Patagonian food in San Martin Greg had lamb and I had goat. Both were cooked perfectly and were very tasty. The wine we had with it was a full bottle of Weinert 2003 a malbec from Mendoza, which had an intense ruby colour, opened up very nicely, and matched well with our food.

The same restaurant again El Federal, (became quite a favorite as it has some mildly spicy foods such as garlic, onion and chilli). This time we tried a Latino Chicken meal and a beef sirloin with roasted garlic, onions, potatoes and mushrooms. The wine we enjoyed with it was full-bodied for a change, a deep red-color with a soft berry flavour- Cinco Tierra 2oo6 Bonardi.

Greg's favorite parilla also in San Martin, Centro was El Establo and it did the best steak, ever! We became regulars at this place and got an animated welcome and kiss from our mozo (waiter) each time.
This is the place where we progressed our steak appreciation; Greg has moved from preferring medium-well done steak to ordering 'punto' which is medium and quite a lot rarer than he would have previously liked. Likewise, I used to order medium, and finally at El Establo I ordered 'jugoso' or rare, which was fantastic!
On one visit, I had decided to have an alcohol free day, since we were ramping up the gym work and trying to get fitter, so Greg ordered a copa de vino tinto della casa (glass of red house wine). The look of horror on our mozo's face quickly turned to disgust as he hurried off to the wine shelf and came back with a half bottle to show Greg. It was a cab sav from Patagonia, Postales Del Fin Del Mundo 2007, and it was 18 peso a half bottle compared to 12 peso for a glass of house wine. So I had to help Greg with that, it was surprisingly smooth with a cherry finish.
To finish the meal, the mozo also bought us a glass of Limoncello each- well! it's the thought that counts!

We haven't only been drinking vino although from the volume above that may seem hard to believe.