Andy and I spent the last week riding bikes to wineries in Maipú, a subregion of Mendoza, Argentina. In the neighborhood where we stayed called Coquimbito, many of the wineries are over 100 years old and still have 60-80 year old vines. The wine tourism though has only developed in the past 5 years, making it an interesting study in new and old wine culture.
We biked around 10 miles a day with the scenery ranging from beautiful views of the Andes and fall colored vineyards to urban riding next to lots of trucks and countless dusty vintage cars sputtering through town. All of the wines we tried were good quality. We found vibrant Malbec, balanced Cabernet Sauvignon and region specialties such as Bonarda and Torrontés. We tasted 47 wines at 6 different wineries- La Rarual, Cavagnaro, Carinae, Tempus Alba, Mevi, and Di Tomasso- not even a dent in the 600 some vineyards in Mendoza! We were surprised the most by the malbecs which were all more fruit forward than any we have tried in the U.S.
