Well far more interesting to me than learning a language, is learning about wine,music and food! If you can't stand reading about food and wine then read no further.
I have had a couple of great days ofeducating the palate.
On Thursday I went to Vines of Mendoza www.vinesofmendoza.com
and did the tasting of Los Tintos (the reds). For this boutique flight of 5 wines it cost $15 US. Much easier than trying to get to the wineries, and in a fantastic tasting room.I had a tasting board of regional specialities as well (cost $8US). Yummy things like wild smoked boar, prosciutto,cerano ham,goats chess (hard and soft), and blue cheese. Just perfect to cut the reds.
1. Mairena Bonarda 2004 -an Italian grape variety, smooth and complex.
2. Cinco Tierras Malbec 2005-owned by Italians who have winery in Banfi, Tuscany. I liked this Malbec, smooth, dark violet.
3. Gentile Vollins Gran Syrah 2002 A great Syrah, hints of coffee,vanilla, especially when left for a while. God mi encanta syrah!
4. Hacienda del Plata Cabernet Sauvigon 2002 was meant to be next but I talked them into substituting in a 2002 Carmelo Patti 2002 cab sav. This was the wine Barry and I had tasted from the barrels at his winery a few years ago, and he had predicted it would be great. It was released last year. 2002 is an outstanding year for wines from Argentina. Keep an eye out. Also 1997 and 2006. This year is looking bad as there is more rain than usual and the harvest has been delayed by weeks. Anyway it gives off hints of silage and peppers. The goats cheese was just right. Carmelo is the most famous mendochino winemaker.Most of the wineries are actually owned by foreigners.
5.Pulenta Estate Merlot 2004
A typico merlot, tannins, dark red..least enjoyed of the 5.
Nicely edumacated at this point I walked briskly to the language school to meet some mates to go to The Soul Bar. We were there far toooooo early ie 9.30pm and we were the only ones in the large room. We were lucky enough to catch the band warming up, so got a double shot. They finally came back on around half 11 to begin, and by then people were starting to arrive. They were playing 1930s jazz as you would have heard in Paris at the time. Great!
We decided to have a coffee and baileys to stay awake. Well a huge juice glass of baileys appeared! Yum. The coffee did the trick but it also kept me awake for the rest of the night arghhh!! At 2am grabbed a taxi and tried to sleep to get up at 7am, but no luck.
Suprisingly I was fine all day on Friday, I think it was because of the meditative state I had been in at the spa and also just listening to the jazz was very restful. Plus didn't go over-board on the drinking.
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