Sunday 21 October, Dia de la Madre

Testing the Cabernet Franc at Achaval Ferrer

Showcasing the wines at Alta Vista

Sunday was Mothers' Day in Argentina. There were flower stalls everywhere. Breakfast was OK, some Swiss-style muesli and nice coffee. We met Mike at 9am prompt. He's German, married to an Argentine. The town of Mendoza was founded in 1561.


We visited 3 wineries south of Mendoza - all different. Alta Vista was French-owned and set in a large garden. We had a tour - all the wineries used concrete tanks to store the raw wine, before blending. We tasted 3 wines there - a white Torrentes, a red Bonarda and  a Malbec, which is the premier Argentinian grape variety. Two Americans on the tour loved everything and wanted photos everywhere.

Enjoying a taste of Malbec

The next winery, Achaval Ferrer, was partly Italian and we tasted 6 wines, all red, including some from the barrel. They make several blended wines at this winery, the best of which was probably Quimera. They also export to Switzerland.


In the third winery, Belasco de Baquedano, we did a smelling test before having lunch with accompanying wines - a rose, three reds and an ice wine. It was a very enjoyable morning.

We returned to the hotel and talked to Laura on Skype. Later we had coffee and muffins at Havanna.