Luján de Cuyo, Argentina

I woke late this morning to rain and hailstones outside. Javier was in the kitchen and keen to help me figure out what I could do during my stay. With this weather I figured wine tasting would be perfect and booked on a late afternoon tour. I used the time before to orient myself with the city despite a grey and drizzly sky. The city was completely rebuilt post an earthquake in 1927 and has largely low rise structures either side of wide roads. It is a really green and has a large Plaza Independencia in the heart of the city. Tour picked up at 2.30pm and drove a little way out to Lujàn de Cuyo. First stop was Weinert winery and as I was one of only three English speakers (a South African couple) we got our own tour guide. We learnt about how both red and white grapes are crushed and then fermented in large concrete vats before being aged in oak barrels. They have a amazing old cellar that dates back to 1890. The time in the cask varies by grape variety and also how long they expect the wine to be stored in the bottle. Cabernet Sauvignon is aged for longer than Malbec. Weinert are particularly proud of their first production, a 1977 Malbec with only 300 still stored in the private cellar. The 1994 Malbec was also a good year for them and it is still in the barrels improving. We tasted a Carrascal Malbec 2012 and a 2007 Merlot. Both were good, not anything outstanding and surprisingly I preferred the Merlot, which is unlike me! The next stop was Pasrai, who make olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, raisins and skin care. I hadn’t appreciated how much more farming industry there was here. Whilst they make 70% of the country’s wine they also produce lots of soft fruit. It is all pretty tasty and I buy some tomato paste and chocolate covered raisins. Our final stop is Don Arturo winery, which is a much smaller family run operation. The machinery is smaller and there are more manual processes so the whole lifecycle from harvest to saleable bottle will take around a year rather than a potential 4 months by a larger operation. Here we tried a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Malbec, before then trying their premium Malbec Roble which I obviously preferred. By now it is dark but as we head back to the city we stop at the church of Santa Marie who the farmers worship and thank for their crops. The church also has part of the original building within it that survived the earthquake. The South African couple, Tessa and Rod invite me to join them for dinner so I get off with them at their hotel and we enjoy a lovely Italian restaurant. They wouldn’t let me pay, saying they had both travelled and wanted to treat me which I thought was really lovely of them. It is late by the time I get home and with the boozy afternoon I sleep well.