Day 177 - Wednesday 15th March 2006

Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina and the 8th largest wine producing region in the world. Therefore a big activity for tourists in the area is to visit a vineyard, take a tour to see how it is made and of course to sample some of the local produce.

As an afternoon tour I set out at 2pm and paid a visit to the first of two places that were included in the tour (obviously I overindulged in the goods as I can’t remember the name of the place). This place was a fairly big producer and the tour focused more on the production of wine and it seemed to rush through, getting people in & out as quickly as possible.

Often on tours the companies who organise and run them pay a visit to a place that is used as a time filler. That place on this occasion was a stopover at an olive oil producing factory. It wasn’t great and after 2 of 3 visits I was pretty disappointed with the tour.

The third and final stop needed to be good and luckily it turned out to be just that. It was to a small vineyard that had only been open for business for a few years, after being abandoned years ago. The couple who bought it, a French husband and wife, renovated and ploughed a lot of money into making it operational, after an initial US$350,000 investment. This was in 2002 and the vineyard produced its first wine in 2004, which have all sold out after winning a few prizes.

This vineyard had a much more intimate feel to it, and the way the guide (a v.fit Argentine) talked she obviously loved her job and had a passion for wine making and this particular vineyard. She explained how the flavours are obtained and about the manufacturing process for a while before we moved on to the good part, the tasting.

Basically to make red wine the whole of the black grape is used as it is the skin of the grape that gives the wine its colour and flavour, however white wine is made by sepaerating the pulp from the skin, and only using the pulp. It is possible to make white wine from red grapes by separating the skin straight away from the pulp. If the juice and pulp are left with the skin, it begins to turn first a pink (from where rose wines are made) and then into a deeper red.

After fermenting for a while the sugars are turned into alcohol and the wine can either be bottled there and then, or put into French or American Oak barrels and left to mature for a period of generally between 7 months and 2 years. The wines that are bottled straight away have more fruity flavours, whilst those that are matured in barrels obtain flavours from the wood, such as chocolate, cinammon and vanilla.

Obviously the most expensvie wines are those that are left to mature in oak, as they take more preparation & don’t go out onto the market for a longer period of time. That and he fact that the oak barrels cost about £400 a pop and each one can only be used about 4 times. After the lenghty explanation it was time for the tasting. 5 ifferent varieties of wine that are produced at that particular vineyard. Pretty good stuff - it was clear though that the oak matured varieties were the superior wines, having a smoother flavour.