The Mendoza Malbec Cure

Our last day in Mendoza, where did we drag our wine-soaked bodies?
To the spa of course! We had booked a full day at La Cacheuta, and so off we went early in the morning in the van to a hot spring oasis next to the river and under the snowy Andes.















We soaked, we steamed, we covered ourselves in mud, we had an incredible gourmet all-we-could-eat lunch in our bathrobes with lots of Malbec, and then we started over again! The only hitch was disorganization in booking massages,












But yes, it was fantastic, and if I lived close by, I'd be a regular. Heck, I'd live there!

Mendocino Nights

The truth is, there's not a whole lot to do at night in Mendoza after dinner and a bottle of delicious Malbec. (The same is true for all day on Sunday.)

Ruben and I naturally went out in search of tango. Saturday night has to have some tango somewhere in an Argentine city, right? We took a taxi to one place that was a little cafe-theater, another place was a tango show, the third place we decided to check out no matter what: Tajamar, San Martin 1921. Lots of people crammed in a small art-filled space, eating dinner waiting for the one-woman show to begin. We got a table at the corner of the stage and ordered a bottle of, what? Malbec!





Jessica Torrijos came out dressed as a tanguera (an Argentina's basic uniform of slinky black dress and fishnets?) and began her show, Mentiras, which was a kind of Vagina Monologues without the anatomical details. Changing costumes onstage, Jessica was every type of woman from Laura Ingalls Wilder to Ugly Betty, and I understood the jokes! I got it! I was rolling on the floor laughing with Ruben and the rest of the audience! I felt great! Humor is the last to come in a foreign language.

So we went back to our B&B tired from laughing (and the Malbec), and we planned to find tango the next night, Sunday.

And we did, at Cafe Soul, San Juan 456. And what luck, it was the milonga's (organized by Ana y Luis) second anniversary and there was live music, El Orquestra de los Hermanos Lucesole, and Ernesto Balmaceda y Stella danced three tangos and a vals to celebrate the end of their weekend workshop.



It was a big night out for the Mendoceno milongueros, and for us, too. If there were only one milonga a week where you lived, I bet you'd be sure to be there as well.

Floating in a Rio of Malbec

Oh yes, in Mendoza there is fantastic wine everywhere. I bet you couldn't buy a bottle of rotgut if you tried. At the one and only Mendoza milonga (more info next post), there was even a wine list of great bodegas--not like the red, white, or sparkling choices in the milongas of Buenos Aires.

One major highlight of our Mendocino stay was a full-day private wine tour organized by Javier Inzaurraga, the son of the owner of the B&B where we stayed (Plaza Italia.) We left early in the morning in his car and were soon tasting delicious vinos tintos around the fire in the cozy lounge of an antique winery at the foot of the snow-covered Andes...sigh. We hit a few more wineries before having a gourmet lunch at another one, Ruca Malen, with more crystal goblets on the table than food!

We thought we were done after that, but we visited another spectacular bodega with subterranean tasting rooms that should be photographed for Architectural Digest, if they haven't been already.






Having been to Napa, Sonoma, and Mendecino valleys in California, and several wine regions in France, the comparisons are obvious. To my eye, I would describe the landscape as like that of Santa Fe, New Mexico, topped by the snowy and spectacular Andes. We were there in late fall and I had been worried that the vineyards would not be as lovely to see as in the summer, but the colors had turned and it was gorgeous. I hope we can return in another season, but autumn has always been my favorite time of the year anyplace I go.




What's so interesting about the wine industry of Mendoza is that it is pretty much run and marketed by Americans. Our first night, we headed over to the Plaza Independencia to visit The Vines, a beautiful, sophisticated space for only degustacion. They won't even sell you any wine, just membership in their wine club, which ships from California. We had a great tasting of 5 wines conducted by pretty and bilingual Gisella Cangialosi. The Vines will even sell you little plots of land so you too can be a vintner! But hurry, I think they are almost sold out!

The Road to Mendoza

When is a cama not a cama? What's the difference in cama ejecutivo, cama suite, and cama cama? These are important questions if you are contemplating taking the bus out of Buenos Aires. Argentina is vast, and the distances huge, so if you don't want to fly or can't afford to (and the airlines charge foreigners more than double), the alternative is one of the many bus companies that travel everywhere you may want to go.

I've been coming to Buenos Aires to dance tango since 1997, and living here since 2004. Yet until last year I never got out of Capital Federal--always too expensive, too far, not enough time, etc. But I've vowed to make as many of the highpoints on my list as soon as possible. What's the sense of waiting? So last year Ruben and I went to Mar Del Plata and Iguazu, and last week to Mendoza.

I booked our bus tickets online (through Plataforma 10). Our all-night trip to Mendoza was on CATA with Cama Ejecutivo seats. I was disappointed that they didn't recline all the way, but ok, we managed. The worse thing was that due to the blockade on the highways, the trip took several hours longer than expected.

Coming home Tuesday night we were on SENDAS, with Salon Suites, just a little more expensive. My oh my, it was like a dream of riding in the Pullman car of the Union Pacific Railroad on the City of Los Angeles, as I did with my grandmother when I was a little girl.



There are only 4 seats in the bottom level of the bus which has it's own bathroom sporting slippers inside to not chill your tootsies on the cold stainless steel floor. Every seat has it's own TV monitor, the hostess kept us plied with wine, champagne, whiskey, tons of food (well ok, the hot main course was exactly like a Swanson Pot Roast TV dinner, but hey!) The first movie was actually fantastic and intelligent (Even Money, with Danny Devito, Kelsey Grammar, Kim Basinger, and other stellar American all-stars), and the second looked good too but it was dubbed, so I didn't bother, just reclined my huge easy-chair seat 180 degrees and went to sleep.


Now if only I can take the bus all the way to L.A.!



'Nite, Ruben!



More later on Mendoza.