South America 2022/2023

For our 2nd day of wine tasting, we headed south to Lujan de Cuyo. We rented bikes at Vistalba Bikes for $9 USD pp/day and they helped us reserve tastings at Carmine Granata and Bodega Pulmary. After Saturday's wine tasting to 4 wineries, we thought we'd be wise and book only two for the day.

We arrived at Carmine Granata at 11:00 am and we had a private tasting with Mariana from the winery. It was only her 2nd week working at Carmine Granata and she was extra nervous because it was her first tour delivered in English. She didn't need to worry though because she did a fantastic job and we spent almost 2 hours with her, touring the winery and tasting 5 of their wines. Each wine was accompanied by a cheese or chocolate and it was obvious that Sophia who had done the wine pairing knew what she was doing. Our favourite wine, surprisingly, was a rosé which had wonderful fruit on the nose and was a little off-dry on the palate. Mariana informed us that it was actually the cheapest wine because it was a "mistake". The yeast had died during the fermentation process, thus leaving more sugar than intended but the winemaker was quite pleased with the result so decided to bottle it anyway. Personally, we thought he should try to repeat this mistake in the future.

We left Carmine Granata shortly after 1:00 pm for what should have been a quick 8 kms ride to Bodega Pulmary. Most of the route was on bike paths but the 2 or so kilometers that weren't, were tortuous. The road was narrow with busy traffic going both ways and no room for bikes. The sidewalks were uneven and not rideable. We got to Bodega Pulmary just in time for our 2:00 pm tasting.

Pulmary is a relatively small, family-owned and run winery and we were greeted by the son, Ramiro Maures, a law student turned winemaker. Under his guidance, we toured the winery along with a charming couple from Italy and two young women from France, all of whom were delightful company. Ramiro started us off with a small pour of beer from the winery’s sister company, Chacras Beer Company, that produces brews fermented using the traditional Champagne method. A good start to the tour.

The winery is certified organic, and all the harvest is done by hand. Unlike most other tastings we’ve done over the years, Ramiro was serving us unbottled wines direct from the barrel after siphoning them off with a tool called a thief. Our first taste was a young 2021 Malbec that was sitting in old French oak barrels that imparted little flavour to the wine but allowed it to gently oxidize. It was deep, inky red and very fruit forward on the nose and the palate. Next was a 2019 Cab Sauvignon that both Brenda and I thought had notes of acetone on the nose, making it quite unpleasant to drink. Ramiro stuck his nose in the cask and said he’d have to do something about that. The last barrel taste was a 2018 Malbec that had been sitting in a new American oak barrel for 6 months. American oak barrels impart strong vanilla spice and wood aromas and flavour to the wine, and all were evident in this one. In fact, a little too much for my taste. The last wine we tried was the same 2019 Cab that we tasted from the barrel, with one major difference: Somewhere in the bottling and aging process, it lost the acetone notes and became delicious.

As a coup-de-grace, Ramiro poured us a small shot of cask strength distilled malt liquor, that was produced off-site as a hobby. This clear 60% ABV moonshine was essentially the base for single-malt scotch that hasn’t yet seen any barrel aging and has therefore not taken on any of the characteristic colour of Scotch whiskey. It too was delicious, surprisingly sweet on the palate and very, very warming.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the striking beauty of this region of Mendoza. The acres and acres of vines stretch off into the distance before a backdrop of the snow-capped Andes. Under today’s bright blue sky and brilliant sunshine, the scenery made for postcard-worthy photos.

We ended our day with some vegetarian empanadas, a piece of grilled vegetable toast and a veggie burger accompanied by giant French fries at a small roadside café in Chacras.

Our bike ride back to Vistalba bikes, along a different route, was smooth and uneventful as was our bus ride back to Mendoza.

Another great day on the wine trail.Read more