Mendoza: "You've only tasted the wine..."

Ah, Mendoza...also known as my mecca. Argentina is the fifth largest wine producer in the world, and considering my affinity for wine, I knew this trip was a must. Argentina's wine story began when the large Italian population of immigrants arrived, bringing with them a strong love of wine and a few delicious production secrets. They also brought the art of olive oil production, which compliments the prevelance of Italian food in Argentina. Today there are over 600 bodegas (vineyards) and many olive oil factories in Mendoza.

Mendoza is a province of Argentina, with Mendoza city being its capital. During our stay, Avril and I toured the city and found that Mendoza is truly lovely. It's much smaller and slower paced than BsAs, with less than one million inhabitants. It's filled with beautiful plazas and parks, grand tree-lined avenues and of course, the most delicious vino in the world. Argentina is known for its Malbec wine, which is a medium to full bodied red wine. Its produced from Malbec grapes, which are unique to this region because of the ideal climate. Although Argentines are red wine lovers, the bodegas also produce the occasional white wine, usually Chardonnay or Sauviogn Blanc. In a popular Argentine movie, Son of the Bride, the main charcter (who is a restaraunt owner) says to the wine vendors, "Actually throw a bottle of white wine into the order. There's always someone with bad taste."


An avenue in Mendoza


The statue of San Martin, the liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru


Plaza España - one of the loveliest plazas in the city

While in Mendoza we toured two bodegas to learn more and to taste the wines they produce. We learned some interesting things about wine, including the history, production and wine etiquette. I won't bore you with my expertise garnered from the bodegas, but I did learn a unique fact about Argentine wine: it's all natural, which is very rare in the wine world. In Argentina it's illegal to add yeast to wine - a common practice to help with fermentation. We also toured an olive oil factory and sampled their oil with complimentary breads and sun-dried tomatoes. The wine and olive oil were so cheap we left with bottles and bottles!

Now some of you may know that it has been my life's ambition to retire early and buy a vineyard in either Italy or France. That has changed. It is now my life's goal to retire early and buy a vineyard in Mendoza and run a little bed and breakfast while drinking vino all the time (just like in my favorite movies "A Good Year" and "Under the Tuscan Sun" - both wine movies that you should see if you haven't already).

I'm currently in the midsts of a love affair with Mendoza and would love to return before the semester is over. Until then I guess I'll just have to sip on a glass of Malbec and think, I've only tasted the wine...

*The title of this post and the ending line come from a well-known Frank Sinatra song, "The Best is Yet to Come," which I have to say I agree with