After spending four days in one of Argentina's leading wine regions, I believe I have gained a better insight into the wine production that takes place here. Instead of staying in the city of Mendoza, we chose to stay in Maipú at a vineyard. The area is not only about wine. There is plenty of other things you can do. Hiking in the Andes mountains, river rafting and in winter skiing and snowboarding. As a backdrop to all the fields with grapes, you can see snow-covered peaks as far as the eye can see when you look to the west. The highest mountain on the American continent - Aconcagua (6,962 m) is also located here. You can take a day trip up to the national park. But we did that last time.
Aconcagua
This time we have focused on wine and the aim was to visit several vineyards. There are several ways to do it. You can walk, cycle or book a tour. The cheapest thing is to walk, but then you have to choose an area where the vineyards are located closely to where you are staying, unless you are very fit. We chose to stay in an area where there are many wineries within walking distance, so we mostly walked. In addition, we rented bicycles to be able to get a little further.
The story of wine in the Mendoza region, goes back to the Jesuits who brought the plants with them 500 years ago. Since then Argentinian wine has developed and reached a level of international recognition. This has to do with the European immigrants who brought with them both new technigues and new varrieties of grapes. The Malbec grape is today considered Argentina's national grape. But it originally comes from south-west France, only with a different name.
Visiting a vineyard and tasting wine was a great experience. The farms vary in size and how they organize their tours and wine tastings. Some are very large, with a restaurant and shop. Tours must be pre-booked here. The smallest winery we visited was Carinae. It was only us present. We were given a tour inside the winery and the process of making wine. Also the story about the family who started it all (Europeans). Then we were served 3 different wines. The information we received about the wines, where it is grown etc. was incredibly informative. We got a completely different insight into the Malbec wine and how different it can taste, because technique, storage and the field matters for when it comes to the final result. All in all, it was an experience it is worth getting on a bike for. For me, this was my best experience, but many of the others were great too. It is also nice that the tastings each place is done so differently. Otherwise there wouldn't have been no point in visiting more than one winery.
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