Argentina

This month I am participation in a blog challenge. I will write 26 blogs. Each title will begin with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. My idea is to write about different countries and cities I’ve visited and share a specific memory experienced there. Hope you enjoy!

 Argentina

 The bus ride from Santiago De Chile to Mendoza Argentina is six hours long, with 28 switchbacks and a border crossing in the middle at nearly 10,000 feet.  We took it at night so as not to waste a day traveling and in the hopes that we could sleep. That never happened. Not in those conditions. 

I still made the trip several times while living in Santiago.  At the time, Argentina’s peso was so low we’d spend more money on a regular weekend in Santiago than we would  traveling to Mendoza, going on wine tours, eating 5 course dinners and enjoying all the ice cream we could manage. 

It was in Mendoza that I discovered my love of Malbec wine.  I am still dumbfounded by any California wine that tries to say they are a Malbec.  I turn my nose up to it. Before Mendoza, I had never even heard of Malbec, though I had considered myself a budding connoisseur.  I eagerly participated in the monthly wine tastings offered at the restaurant where I was working in Chicago. In Mendoza, I remember thinking what a poor job the sommelier had done, not including a Malbec on every list.

It was in Mendoza that I visited my very first vineyard.  I saw the vines and the barrels and everything in between.  We were treated to a five course meal, each course paired with a different wine.  During the second course I savored my first Malbec. It was love at first sip.

Perhaps, had I never gone to Argentina Mendoza, I may have discovered a Malbec at some other point in my life. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it just as much, as things such as fine tastes rarely change, but I think the association with the many memories and moments I experienced in Mendoza each time I visited made the wine even more special to me. Besides, had it been another time, it may have been Californian.