First Day at Work and Drinking at 9:00am

06.30.08-We just finished our first day of tasting, and who would have thought that it would be so tiring! Perhaps it was because we had our first taste of wine at 10:00am and our last at 5:00pm ! Like they say, good work if you can get it.

We were picked up by a representative from the first winery, and whisked around before heading to the tasting room. With the winemaker opening the bottles we went through about fifteen different wines, including an unfiltered cabernet that was harvested just four months ago and had been pulled straight from the barrel.

Our second winery picked us up from the first and after tasting their delicious, terroir influenced, offerings, we were treated to a lunch of barbeque pork and steak to accompany their 2006 reserve malbec. They are the brainchild of a Mendoza based family that is very active in the community and make terrific wines. What was cool about the winery was that it used to be a mosaic tile factory so the entire place I mosaiced in brilliant colors. Wonderful!

The third winery is a family operation where we were hosted by the grandson of the founder. He is one of about ten members of his family who work at the winery, and who spends weekends there playing soccer and drinking wine while it is closed to the public. In addition to tasting their organic, unfiltered wines, we were able to meet our host’s father, brother, and sister, all while having a quiet taste. One thing that really stuck out was that all of their labels are applied by hand by a couple of ladies sitting in the bottling room. I know that this is a small boutique winery, but what a lot of work!

All in all, this was a fantastic introduction to the bodegas (Spanish for wineries), that we could be partnering with, and I can’t wait to see what the week will bring.