Finally! After months of drinking the stuff I visit one of the places that makes it all. Cafa(sh)ate! Although Mendoza is the most famous there are several wine routes in northwestern Argentina and we drove through a couple cities, and decided to stop in this very special one. Rolling into town it was already dark. 5 hours on the road had complete exausted us and there were talks of an all day bike tour of the bodegas the next morning. We stopped at the most decent looking Hostel and pulled our dust covered car into the parking lot. You might think we went straight to bed, but food and wine were both on the agenda so it was important we made time for them. Pizza, a red, locro (stew), empanadas, and a couple litros of beer on the sidewalks of the main square and we had accomplished our goal. Then....bed (a queen size one with soft red sheets!!!).
Next day: bike tour. We made it to 2 count em 2 bodegas. The first we were late for the last tour. The weather was perfect, but it was a saturday and a lot of the vineyards were closed for tours or closing early. We scrambled to blend in with the back of the tour and made it just in time to skip all the borning wine making details and history of the label to go straight to the cold cellar and the tastings! perfect! New discovery: Torrontes.
The 2nd bodega...well lets say we did a bad job at converting km to miles and we were on bikes in slightly hilly terrain at mid-day without water. When we finally stashed our bikes in a bush out side a fancy hotel on the vineyard property and walked the rest of the way we discovered that we were in no mood to do the wine tour. The 4 of us girls were passed by numerous vehicles. We had our thumbs out, sweaty, red, puppy dog faces to the road, and not one of them stopped. Wow were we cursing the Argentines at that point... Remedy: A platter of cheeses meats and fruit and a pretty bottle of pink wine. Which then turned into several bottles and a sunset and a
succesful hitch back to our bikes which turned into a breezy downhill coast to return our bikes 1 hour late, and schmooz the owner with wine and pizza, and then showers, another night in the hostal.....Salta tomorrow.
