Day Sixty-Six: Malbec and Mountains in Mendoza

Apparently Mendoza shuts down on Sundays and there aren’t many wineries open today.  Victoria at the front desk makes a reservation for us at Balasco de Baquedano, one of the wineries open today, and schedules horseback riding for the afternoon.  What better time to ride a horse than after a large lunch with lots of wine?

We head to the winery and get there at 11:30am, an hour before our reservation.  Victoria, our guide, is free so she gives us a private tour before lunch.

 

The winery has a room full of glass stands with different aromas we find in the wines and descriptions of what creates those aromas.  “Ohhh buttermilk!!” Laura exclaims.

At lunch we have our tasting.   Balasco de Baquedan only produce Malbecs, so we try different Malbecs, each paired with one of our five courses.  My favorite is the dessert wine.  I buy a bottle of to bring home.

My Spanish teacherMarcelo, our driver, picks us up and takes us into the mountains for horseback riding.  The drive is about an hour and it’s beautiful.  On the ride, Laura continues my Spanish lesson.  She’s a great teacher and has really helped me improve my Spanish.

 We get to the ranch and hop on our horses.  I’m riding Currachin.

We trek through the desert on the horses for two hours before taking a van to pick up some rafters on the way back to Mendoza.  We have some wine and enjoy the view while we wait for the rafters to finish.

We have dinner at Grill Q, an Argentine grill.  The food is great and the wine, even better. Alta Vista Malbec Terroir Selection 2007.  I highly recommend it.

We call her brother Sergio.  He tells me how grateful he is to me for inviting his sister.  “are you crazy!?” I ask him.  “I’m so delighted she is here!”  I really am.  See more pictures.