Biking Wine tour in Mendoza..

Today was soo great. Our overnight bus arrived in Mendoza around 8:30 in the morning and right away we dropped off our bags at the hostel and walked to the bus stop to go to Maipu, which is the area around Mendoza with the most wine vineyards. 20 minutes later we were paying 8 dollars to rent our bikes for the day at this charming street corner place where the owners kept refilling our wine glasses as we waited for the bikes to be ready. Benjamin met a French ski instructor on the bus who stayed with us for the day and the four of us set off on our bikes to the first bodega, winery.

Kathryn with the adorable puppy at one of the Wine Bodegas

The first place we biked to was a beer garden that was the coolest place. If we could, we would probably go back there every day. We left the main roads and went off on some dirt and then pebble ones before we arrived at this place in the middle of a wide green field that had 3 tables outside with umbrellas and a menu that offered four different types of house beer. I ordered una cerveza rubia, delicious flavor and came with half of a pizza that was the best I’ve had in Argentina (Argentines love pizza but I’m I’ve missed NY pizza..). It was so laid back and peaceful, we probably stayed there for an hour, Kathryn and I sitting there trying to understand the two boys speak French and not getting anywhere with it..

The beer garden, favorite place we stopped by on the wine tour

I had my first wine tasting at a beautiful bodega that we visited. We were introduced to about seven different types that the winery produced and sat with another older couple and another student from Seattle studying in Buenos Aires. We were brought to the cellar where the wines were kept in the huge, round, wooden storers and heard in Spanish about how they produced the wine. Argentines usually prefer newer wines rather than aged ones because in the past, most of the wines bought were the more recently produced because they were cheaper and now Argentines are more accustomed to that taste rather than the tastes of more aged wines. The oldest they had stored in that winery was just a year and a half old. We visited three more afterwards and tried different liquors, one winery produced chocolate liquors that I surprisingly hated and another was the oldest in Mendoza and had a small museum with it.

Kathryn met her love at this winery.. His name is Tobacco

When we came back to return the bikes, there were outdoor tables that we sat at and stayed until 8pm talking and having some more wine from the owners before getting back on the bus. Suuch a fun day. We’re going to dinner now at a parilla (grill) and then a bar called Por Aca.. Loving Mendoza so far.