Day 87 : Bike & Wine in Maipu

Being in Mendoza and not visiting the vineyards would be a crime!  So I took a public bus from Mendoza city towards Maipu, one of the famous wine region in the area located about 20km from Mendoza city. 

The journey took about 40 minutes and I constantly kept a look out on where to stop when a young boy boarded the bus and approached and asked if I was going to visit the vineyards. 

He was representing Maipu Bikes to solicit customers to rent bicycles to visit the various vineyards.  Since that was what I was planning to do, I agreed to go to their office to check out the bikes available for rental, especially when it was much cheaper than what was advertised on Lonely Planet.

I rejected the 1st 2 bikes because the brakes were not working too well and even the one I finally took did not have the ideal brake resistance, and so took extra care when riding.

What I liked was that they provided a map with the various vineyards that were near and easy to cycle and visit. 

1st Stop : La Rural

This was the only vineyard that provided free wine tour and tasting.  The tour seemed rather impressive, as they showcased a lot of ancient equipment used in the wine making process previously, though was conducted in Spanish. They also have tours available in English too.

But it was rather disappointing as they only gave you 1 wine to taste, and it was more like a table wine which was not great.  They had other wines available for tasting, but it wasn’t cheap and they were charged by the individual glass.

2nd Stop : Familia di Tomasso

I was given a personal tour in English as I was the only person visiting the vineyard at that time, and had to pay 16 Pesos (after 4 Peso discount for renting the bicycle from Maipu bikes), which included the wine tour and 4 wines for tasting. 

This is apparently the oldest vineyard in the area that is open to the public.  Built in 1869, it has now been awarded the national heritage monument title and for that reason they are unable to do any modifications to the buildings and landmarks in the property. 

As such, it was shared that after the grapes are hand-picked, they are subsequently transported to another facility about 10km away for preparing and fermenting the wines, before transporting it back to this vineyard to be aged and bottled. 

What I found interesting in this vineyard, was that the grapes were fermented in containers made out of bricks rather than stainless steel, and to prevent the cement from coming into contact with the wines, the interior was coated with bees wax.

 

They had a wide range of wines, and for the wine tasting I was given 3 different Malbecs (not aged, 6 months aged in barrel, 12 months aged in barrel) and 1 dessert wine (which I extremely enjoyed that I ended up buying a bottle!).

 

It was also interesting to learn that although Malbec is famous for being produced in Argentina, it was originated in France.  In fact, the word “Malbec” is French for “bad in mouth”, because the grapes used to produce Malbec in France turned out awful, however the weather in Argentina was fantastic for the Malbec grapes.

3rd Stop : Tempus Alba

This was in a really nice and modern building, and was an interesting vineyard I went to, as the tour was self-guided through well labelled signs and explanation. 

1. About the vineyards

2. Fermentation Wing

3. The Cellar

4. The Conservation Wing

5. Terrace Wine Bar

And finally, wine tasting!  I decided to also stay here for lunch as there was a really nice terrace area overlooking the vineyards and the food was one of the more reasonably priced ones in the area.  It was surprising that there weren’t anyone else around though, and reckon that it is the low season and crowds usually come around November to March.

So I ordered the infamous Argentinian steak with my 3 wines for tasting (Syrah, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon), which I decided to accompany with my meal. 

Mmmmmhh… Perfect!  I personally enjoyed the Malbec most with the steak and the steak was so good that the flavour lingered in the mouth for at least half an hour after I left the place!

4th Stop : Mevi Wines

I was told by Maipu Bikes that this was the newest vineyard around and thus decided to check it out.  Turned out that their wine tasting was more expensive than I was told and I wasn’t keen to be paying Peso 25 (S$8) for tasting 3 variety of young wines or Peso 35 for wooded wines.  So I left and headed to another vineyard.

5th Stop : Carinae

Carinae is a name of a constellation and apparently everything in the labelling and naming has something to do with stars and constellation because of the owners love of astronomy.  The owners are French and had bought over an existing vineyard in the last 10 years and renamed it Carinae in 2004. 

They are a small boutique producer, with an annual production of 260,000 litres.  A lot of things are still done manually, including labelling of bottles.  However, when I first entered the compound, I was greeted by a huge bottling machine which I later learnt was rented, and used only when bottling is required. 

Again I was given a personalised tour, but it was rather brief due to the size of the winery, and proceeded quickly to the wine tasting.  There are many different options available, ranging from Peso 20 to Peso 200+, and I decided to go for the 3 wines from the Joven range + 1 reserve Malbec for Peso 25, and ended up buying a bottle of the Malbec Reserve.

Wrap Up :

Unlike wine tasting in Australia or New Zealand, where most places do not charge for wine tasting or at most charge a token amount, it isn’t cheap doing wine tasting in Argentina. 

Almost all vineyards charge an average of Peso 20 for wine tasting and generally only include 3 average wines (not even a sip of the premium range was offered!).  It cost a lot more just to want to try the better grade wines. 

It is a pity because I would probably have considered buying wines from some other vineyards if they had offered something better at the start. 

It was an interesting experience cycling to the various vineyards on my own, and pretty easy moving about following the wine route map given by the bike centre. 

Extra care had to be taken as some of the roads along the way were unpaved and rocky, and often on numerous occasions will require riding on the road with all the other vehicles. 

Think my butt is going to hurt the next day after having cycled for over 25km today!  It is already a little sore!