The drive to Mendoza – over the Andes passing near the famous peak of Anconcagua (the highest in the Southern hemisphere at almost 7,000m!) was breathtaking, the gigatic landscape making even the double decker coach seem miniscule. The snow that had blocked the mountain pass just days before was still heaped high in drifts at the side of the road, but of course the highest point was also the border between Chile and Argentina, so we were stopped in the snow for over an hour while everyone (and their baggage) was processed through customs and immigration.

We spent our first day walking around town and soaking in the Mendocino atmosphere, somewhere I have totally fallen for plenty of parks and open spaces, old european style architecture, and old european cars! It´s been years since I saw a Peugeot 504… and the rather unusual drainage system – open concrete lined drains all along the pavements, not fallen in one yet, but watch this space!

In the evening, we met up with Aaron Epstein, a fellow wine blogger I had never actually met in real life until that night – he had invited us to the Monday night cheese and wine tasting they have at ´Vines of Mendoza´ where he works nowadays after moving here from New York late last year. It was the perfect way to get my palate back in shape after a fairly lengthy rest from tastings… I found that I drank less wine when working in the winery than I have in years!

We then all decamped to ´El Palenque´- a local restaurant for empanadas and other local delicacies chosen by Aaron – whose local knowledge I´ll be calling upon again hopefully when I return on my own in a few weeks.

The next day we took a ´bikes and wines´ tour, sticking with the theme – well this is Mendoza after all, the capital of Argentine wine…

In nearby Maipu, easily reached by local bus (no 171/2/3) there are a number of bike hire shops – we used ´bikes and wines´ who seem to be the oldest and have a snazzy website, although I have since discovered from friends that some of the smaller operators are cheaper, offer a more personal service, and have newer bikes! So it might be worth taking the bus out there and then shopping around for the best deal…

Despite being the middle of winter here at the moment, we were blessed with a sunny day and had a great time wending our way around Maipu.. with much of the route on bike lanes seperated from the somewhat erratic Argentine drivers, it is a fun and reasonably safe way of getting around (as long as you don´t over do it on the wine tasting!

Some of the highlights of our day in the saddle were the older bodegas: ´La Rural´ with their huge wooden fermenters, and ´Famila di Tomaso´ both complete with displays of old fashioned equipment – fun for me, fresh from working at the state-of-the-art Matahiwi winery working out what each piece of equipment would have been used for. Another was lunch, halfway round the route at ´Domaine du Mont´ a 100 year old French-style house apparently once owned by the Mumm family (you may have heard of their champagne!) The platter of cheeses and meats in the idillic garden was perfect – and not too filling considering we had to get back on the bikes afterwards! To accompany the meal we had a bottle of the Carinae Malbec 2006 – an unoaked Malbec with bright berry fruit that was exactly what I´d hoped it would be when I´d ordered it to go with our light picnic-style meal.

Even better, we later found ourselves stopping in at Carinae, a modern bodega, with Michel Roland´s team involved, but with old fashioned style epoxy-lined concrete fermenters and owned by a French stargazer, who clearly shares his passion for wine with a passion for astronomy. Winemaking equipment shares space with telescopes around the place, and even the name Carinae comes from the carina constallation (only viewable in the Southern hemisphere).

That evening, having worked up an appetite, we took Aaron´s recommendation on the ´best steak in town´ (bearing in mind this is Mendoza – a town home to many good steaks!) and headed down to ´Don Marios.´ Their ´bife de chorizo´ is more of a carnivorous challenge than a steak! It was HUGE and in any normal restaurant one of these would have fed all three of us! The quality was spectacular, again, at Aaron´s suggestion I ordered mine ´jugoso´ (rare) – something Argentine chefs don´t usually do, but definitely how I like my steak.. my only regret is ordering it with a sauce, which was excellent, but unnecesary -beef of this quality has all the flavour it needs, well seasoned and straight from the parilla (grill). This was my first Argentine Steak, and is going to be far from my last…