Wineries

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  Cafayate, Argentina
Friday, February 8, 2008

friday morning we got up late thanks to all of the party people in the campground.  we walked to town and stopped at a panificadora.  ismael called it a panifier. hee hee.  itīs a bakery.  we got some yummy treats and some yogurt, then went and sat at the plaza and ate our tasty breakfast. 

we rented bicycles and headed out of town to a winery, bodega etchart.  as soon as we pulled up i had major dejá vu of a winery in france.  i swear they looked exactly the same.  we took a tour, but it wasnīt as neat as the ones i visited in france.  everything is so modern and done with machines.  in france the wine is put in bottles and then slowly, over months, tilted to different angles to let the sediment settle to purify the wine.  here itīs run through a filtering machine.  and in france they kept it all in underground cellars so the earth naturally controls the temperature

tasting

.  here, again itīs all machines.  makes for a boring tour.  after the tour we did a tasting.  thereīs a wine that is specific to this region, torrontés.  the grapes only grow here.  i like it, itīs sweet.  and they had a wine called cosecha tardia that was really sweet, i liked it best.  itīs a torrontés, but the grapes are left on the vine longer so they become sweeter. 

by the time we were done there pretty much everything was closed for siesta, so we got some things to make sandwiches and went to a little sandy hill next to a small river for a romantic lunch. we ate and had a contest throwing rocks at targets in the river. after an hour we went down the road to a farm where they make goat cheese (would you call that a cheesery?)  one of the wineries owns the goats, they bought them to use the manure to fertilize the vines, and they feed the goats grape seeds, so they are dependent on each other.  they had 400 goats, and only 4 were males.  woohoo!  a male goat can mate up to 25 times a day!  the tour was in spanish, so i didnīt understand it all, but ismael told me that they separate the males because their urine impregnates the utter and taints the milk and is what gives goat cheese that pungent smell.  really makes you want to go out and eat some, huh?  but the cheese there isnīt smelly since they separate them.  while we were standing there listening to the guide, one goat decided that ismaelīs pants might taste yummy. 

that afternoon we visited two more wineries, bodega nanni and bodega el transito, which are actually owned by the same family.  bodega nanni is an organic winery, one of only 2 in argentina.  they export most of their wine since organic isnīt a big draw in argentina.  in the courtyard there were all these stones that had been smoothed out

etchart

.  i asked the guide what they were for.  she said that the ones with a bowl shape in them were used by the indigenous people like a mortar and pestle.  the others were sort of shaped like a small slide, one end had been completely smoothed away and it was shaped like a U.  she said those were birthing stones, the women would sit on it and the baby would slide down.  weird. 

that night we had a barbecue.  we bought some steaks from the butcher and i made some guacamole.  it was very tasty.  again, noisy neighbors, so we didnīt sleep much.  the family next to us was playing cards, very loudly, at 330, so ismael went and asked the night guard to tell them to quiet down.  they finally did around 4.  i also couldnīt sleep cause my feet were itching so badly.  at one point i woke ismael up cause i was crying it hurt so much.  in the morning we saw why.  i had big red welts all over my feet and legs.  on my left leg i had almost 40 bites, most on my foot.  i showered and that helped a little.  we hurried into town to the pharmacy ( i think weīve been to the pharmacy in almost every town weīve gone to).  when i showed the pharmacist my legs she quickly got me some medicine.  i think i frightened some of the other customers, though.  thankfully, they had caladryl!!!  that beautiful pink liquid!  i love calamine lotion.  i finally figured out that our romantic lunch next to the river had done me in.  ismael had on pants and boots, while i was wearing a skirt and sandals.  i was attacked by sand chiggers or no-see-ums or the like.  ismael got a few bites, but i guess iīm really allergic. 

So after covering my legs with pink splotches, we went to another winery, bodega domingo hermanos and then rented bikes to go to bodega felix lavague

biking in wine country

.  their wine label is quara, which ismael sold at quatro in chicago.  they were some nice wines.  we stopped taking the tours and just did the tastings cause the tours were all the same--we put the grapes through that machine to separate them from the stems, then they go into these tanks, then through this machine, and this machine....very boring.  especially when i only understand about half of what they're saying.  that afternoon we headed up a dirt road for a 5km ride to bodega las nubes.  we were told itīs a very beautiful place.  and with the trek we had to do, it had better be.  the road is dirt and rocks, with areas that are sand traps, parts that arenīt packed down and slow you down a lot.  it was late afternoon, the sun was beating down and it was humid, so we were sweating profusely.  the bike i had wouldn't switch down to the low gear on the front set, so it was very tough to pedal.  those sand traps pretty much brought me to a halt every time.  ismael finally switched bikes with me.  we finally reached a sign that said 500 more meters.  i was tired, so i walked the bike the rest of the way.  but wait, does the sign at the entrance say itīs another kilometer to the house?  why, yes, yes it does.  argh.  back on the bike.  finally got to the house.  ismael was already standing over with the group listening to the guide, so i went and took some pictures.  it really is beautiful up here, worth the effort.  a nice view down over the the valley across the vineyard.  picturesque.  after the tour the group, a rather large one, sat down and the ownerīs wife came and gave a lengthy talk about wines and how to properly handle them to enjoy them fully and which glasses to use, etc

grapes

.  again, in spanish, so i listened for a while, and then zoned out looking at how pretty it was.  afterwards, we talked to a woman who works there about the possibility of working.  she said they harvest in mid-march, so we wonīt be able to.  but she said itīs an all day event, everyone comes and they have food and music and dancing, just like what i pictured.  i really want to do it, maybe weīll be somewhere else at harvest time and we can join in. 

after a very bumpy ride back down the dirt road we had some dinner and then wandered around the plaza.  again, people everywhere, and it was after 11.  i also had the best kettle corn iīve ever had.  cafayate is a little smaller than morris, about 11,000 people.  itīs out in the middle of nowhere, but really an enjoyable town.  quiet, clean, beautiful weather.  you should all go, especially if you like wine.

thatīs all for now,
melanie

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

nice little goat	bleh bleh	at the cheesery	fanning the flames
nanni	camping	itchy feet	i'm not a tourist
mmm...tasty	vineyard	ismael in the vineyard	vineyard1
old wine press	vineyard2	las nubes

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