El Vino

We began our tour through the vineyards of Mendoza around noon on a Wednesday.  Being the guidebook and map freak that I am, I planned the exact bus route, exact bike rental place and exact vineyards to visit (yes, that's right: wine tasting on bicycles).  Of course, we ended up on a different bus, at a different bike rental place and only visited three of the seven or so wineries on the list.  It went like this:  Picked up by different bus, driver promises to drop us off at requested bike rental place in Maipu (wine country) and proceeds to pass said bike rental place and drop us off at his buddy's shop: Mr. Hugo's Bike Rentals.  Turns out Mr. Hugo and his wife run a great rental business of beat up mountain bikes out of their little refuge, complete with cold drinks and lots of hammocks for the drunken riders in the afternoon.  So we got our bikes, map and waters and headed out.  First off: Bodega La Rural, where we sort of participated in a tour of old winemaking techniques from the 16th and 17th century - when the Spanish brought over grapes and techniques for use during Catholic mass (check out the cow skin "juicer" below)- before tasting a little Malbec and heading out.  

Then we were off on a sweaty ride through beautiful vineyards and streets without signs to Tempos Alba - a lovely vineyard you can see in the photo at the top.  That's my glass of rosado and Dave's flight of reds.  We ended up spending most of the afternoon here when we were joined by some new friends: Cecilia and Brad from Sweden/US and Erik and Camilla from Sweden.  We meandered down a lovely path to the final stop before closing: Tomasso.  

We were treated to an excellent tasting and, at closing, took a couple bottles and plastic cups out to the vineyard and sat on the wet grass, savoring the wine and a few laughs.  Since wine is best when shared, right?

So thanks new friends, Mr. Hugo and Maipu for a perfect end to a perfect day.

xoxo

K & D