Agrelo

Sixty years ago, the president of Moët & Chandon decided to take the expertise of a centuries old Champagne house and export it to other countries. The result is that in 2022, Chandon produces sparkling wine in California, Brazil, China, Australia, India (who knew?) and Argentina.

Of course, with her love of bubbles, Brenda was unable to resist visiting Chandon's Mendoza facility. According to their website, reservations for tastings, tours and meals are required. We both tried contacting them by email and Whatsapp, but two days later we had received no response.

And so it was decided we would nevertheless trek 25 kms by bus to the winery in the hope that they would take pity on two hot, tired and thirsty travelers.

As we were about halfway there, both Brenda and I received replies: "yes, reservations are required and we have an opening at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Would you like to book?" WTF?!? Who wine tastes at 9:30 AM?

By that point, we were committed and knew in our hearts we were not to be denied! Onward we soldiered, arriving at our destination ninety minutes after leaving the apartment. Given the few tourists whose paths we had crossed over the last two days, we were shocked at how many people were at Chandon. The parking lot was mostly full, the bike rack was filling up and two small tour busses were idling near the entrance.

When we entered we were greeted with a very polite "ustedes tienen una reserva?" We explained that we had tried to reserve but no one responded and, in any case, we don't need a tour, we just want a tasting. The greeter didn't fall for our mournful puppy dog look and directed us to the receptionist who again offered us tomorrow's 9:30 slot. After explaining our situation with pleading eyes two more times, they finally invited us to take a seat at the tasting bar and poured us a complimentary glass of a new aperitivo sparkler infused with orange essence and bitters. We were told to make ourselves at home and to enjoy a walk around the gardens.

The gardens are meticulously maintained and, once again, set against a backdrop of the Andes. If it weren't for the blazing sun and snow-capped mountains, it would be easy to think we had been teleported to the Champagne region.

Once we had finished our glass, we went back to the shop and bought eight mini bottles of bubbly: two Extra Brut, two Rose, two Aperitivo and two semi-sweet infused with honey.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at Big Salad in Lujan and had a wonderful sandwich filled with stir fried veggies.

And now, Brenda and I are faced with the onerous task of killing eight wee bottles of bubbly before we leave for Santiago on Friday. I kinda hate to break up the set. They look so good snuggled up together in the fridge.Read more