Argentina – Mendoza: Wine, Olives, and Asado!

Wine tasting, olive oil tasting, and Argentine barbecues for our stay in Mendoza!

Sunday, January 28^th, 2024

For our stay of a few days in Mendoza, we found the perfect base camp: a quiet and shaded spot in a campground with a pool, barbecue area, cold showers, and friendly neighbors to exchange tips with during the dishwashing duty! We had plenty of plans for our first day in Mendoza, but we feel so good here that we decide to just stay at the campground! Let's be clear, a day off once in a while is good for the soul, especially after those few days on the Ruta 40! 😁

Ah, Argentina! For the past few days, this country has been giving us a taste of our childhood camping vacations. We love it! And the journey? What journey? We're on vacation now! ⛱️ Reading, crossword puzzles, photos, blogging, pan con tomate nice and fresh at noon, a snack at 4 p.m., all interspersed with refreshing swims in the pool. In the evening, we cook excellent burritos and spend the night outside, in front of the Jeep, chatting. In short, a relaxing day like we don't have often enough.

Monday, January 29^th

The province of Mendoza is known as the wine region of Argentina! So, there's no question of missing out on a tasting of local wines. There are many wineries around Mendoza, and we chose the local artisanal cellar of Carmelo Patti. It's actually him who personally welcomes us for the tour. He, his wine, and his small family-run operation have received numerous international awards and have a small reputation in the wine industry. Here, everything is still done in an artisanal way, from bottling to labeling the bottles!

After a quick tour of the cellar, where he stores his bottles upside down, we get down to business: the tasting 🍷. Carmelo Patti exclusively produces red wine. He lets us taste four of them. A 2013 Malbec. A 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon. A 2019 Cabernet Franc. And finally, a blend from 2017 (47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 17% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, and 9% Cabernet Franc). They are all different but very strong! At the end of the tour, Carmelo Patti indulges in the game of signing bottles! A true local celebrity 😊

The visit quenched our thirst but not our hunger! So, we head to downtown Mendoza in search of a restaurant. It's scorching hot, 40°C, but we enjoy the avenues lined with plane trees, the large green parks, and terraces. It's very pleasant. We escape the heat in a local restaurant to indulge in Rémi's dream: an Argentine asado, a real one! We opt for a parillada to share, which is an assortment of meats cooked on the barbecue.

Next, we head to a specialized 4x4 garage for a routine check of the brakes and chassis and tire rotation. Rémi also detects a crack on a shock absorber mount, this time at the rear. Barely mentioned, Juan Carlos has already pulled out the soldering iron! 10 minutes later, it's done! We leave the garage after 3 hours of work for the modest sum of €18! The evening is calm and peaceful again. At least until midnight... Then it starts raining. Our Chilean neighbors, who until then were working outside, migrate inside the van. But since it's hot, they turn on the engine to run the air conditioning! At 1 a.m., a little annoyed, I step out of the tent to kindly ask them (I hope) if they could be so kind as to turn off the engine so we can sleep peacefully! 😅

Tuesday, January 30^th

After the wine, it's time for another specialty of the region: olive oil! The olive oils from the Laur olive grove were voted the best oils in the world in 2021 and 2022! A great recognition that the family is particularly proud of.

During the guided tour of the farm, we learn that olives are harvested in autumn (between May and June), when they are still green to reduce acidity. The machines used at the time are still on display, including a steam-powered press and decantation tanks to separate the oil from the water. However, the method was long and laborious. Additionally, the olives were exposed to oxygen, light, and moisture, which significantly impacted the final quality of the olive oil.

Today, all that is a thing of the past! The family owns four machines that can produce olive oil... in 3 hours! A first machine uses vibrations to separate freshly harvested olives from dirt (soil, insects, leaves, etc.). The press then crushes the olives. A third machine separates the liquid from the solid using centrifugal force. The solid is reused as fertilizer. The liquid, on the other hand, is placed in a fourth machine which, also using centrifugal force, separates the water from the oil. Throughout the process, the olives never come into contact with oxygen to prevent the oil from oxidizing. This is how we obtain an extra virgin olive oil (acidity level below 0.8% according to Argentine standards) of the highest quality and globally recognized 🥇.

Then comes our favorite moment: the tasting! Besides the classic (and very good!) tapenades and olives, we are presented with four oils and two balsamic vinegars. Each oil is full of flavor, and we spend a lot of time trying to differentiate them to determine which one we like the most. Some are more bitter, others sweeter, and some even sting the back of the throat. We debate for an hour, but in the end, they are all olive oils! They will be perfect for complementing our daily pan con tomate 😆.

It's under scorching heat that we leave the Laur olive grove. I'm not hungry anymore, but Rémi wouldn't mind trying a burger. However, all the McDonald's in town are closed due to technical problems! The frustration! In the city center, facing our fourth vain attempt, despair is almost there. Fortunately, we turn around and... Starbucks! It's 4 p.m., too bad for the burger, an overpriced milkshake will do.

Wednesday, January 31^st

Laid low by the sweltering heat, we treat ourselves to another day off at the campsite. Off, but productive. We take advantage of the day to do a deep clean of the Jeep! Between the dusty tracks of the South Lipez in Bolivia, then those of the Atacama Desert in Chile followed by the Argentine altiplano, the interior of the Jeep and all our equipment are covered with a thick layer of dust. And we've had enough of it! We take everything out, clean everything, tidy up, sort out, dust off. It's a major cleanup, and it feels good to have a clean and livable interior again 😁.

For the past three days, we've been at the campsite watching our Argentine neighbors make asados. Today, it's our turn! We fire up the grill and cook sausages, onions, and potatoes. In the evening, we're joined by our American friends Sebastian and Diamond, as well as a Canadian couple traveling with their children. Together, we have a great evening chatting and trying to figure out our current dilemma: now that we've all made it down to Argentina, "how do we get back?" 😂

Friday, February 2^nd

Après un faux départ la veille en raison d’une nouvelle fuite d’huile sous le Jeep, que l’on fera finalement réparer à Santiago, c’est aujourd’hui que l’on prend la route en direction de la frontière chilienne. La route est belle et très fréquentée : c’est en effet l’axe principale entre Buenos Aires, la capitale Argentine au bord de l’Atlantique et Santiago, la capitale chilienne au bord du Pacifique !

But before heading back to Chile, we have one final stop to make on the Argentine side. Besides the Inca Bridge (them again!), where we stop for a quick photo...

We're mainly heading to discover the roof of the Americas: Aconcagua. This giant of ice and snow is indeed the highest peak in the Americas. It reaches an altitude of 6,980 meters! We thought we'd see it from afar. But not at all! Aconcagua is well hidden deep in its valley, and we have to go to the entrance of the provincial park to finally catch a glimpse of it.

A ranger informs us that it takes between 10 and 20 days to reach the summit of Aconcagua, including acclimatization! Thank you, but we've had our share of high mountains with the ascent of Huayna Potosi in Bolivia. This time, we settle for a short 5-kilometer hike that offers several viewpoints of Aconcagua.

We spend the evening near the Chilean border with Gertrud and Keith, an American couple we met in the park parking lot. We hit it off really well and spend long hours sharing our travel adventures and experiences. They live in Portland, so who knows? Maybe we'll see each other again on our way back up? 😃

Tomorrow, we'll be crossing back into Chile for a short stay in the capital Santiago before heading south!