vineyard vines...the south american way

today was a great day because we went for two free wine tours, tastings, and had lunch at a bodega, or vineyard. we all met up at plaza independencia and my host mom was kind enough to give me a ride to the center of town so i didn't have to walk or take a bus. i got there early so i ran some errands and took some pictures of the plazas, something that i have been meaning to do since day one but haven't been able to:

this is plaza san martin.i pass this almost everyday on the bus, but not from this angle

general san martin, who is like george washington to the argentinians. but he is argentinian.

plaza san martin

i also pass plaza españa almost everyday too because it's exactly 4 blocks from plaza san martin, with plaza independencia sandwiched in the middle.

this plaza is my favorite because all of the benches, fountains, walkways, etc. are made up of this tile

plaza españa

we drove to bodega lópez first. i had no idea where we were until we pulled into this parking lot (randomly) and got out. i will now let the pictures do the talking so i don't have to type thousands of words explaining them.

barrels of wine.... "young" wine will be kept in them for 5-6 months but the "older" wine can stay in the barrels for up to 5 or 6 years!

bodega lópez

that little door/spout thing is where the wine comes out of. that is also how you climb in the barrel to clean it and yes someone has to do that every time they make a new batch of wine.

i wasn't paying attention during this part but it's part of the wine-making process...more storage/distilling i think

random parking lot.. turns out we were in the middle of a town. this was not an actual bodega but just a place where they make wine without the actual grapes at hand? i wasn't paying attention during that conversation either so i'll just say that they have a vineyard 20 minutes down the road and import the grapes from there

3000ml of wine

massive wine bottles...too bad they were empty

then we had our wine tasting. "tasting" meaning they gave us 2 teaspoons of wine. you can't even tell if there is wine in the glass but there is (and it was champagne, not wine). and then we had to leave. that is also the correct way to hold a wine glass, by its stem so that your hands don't warm the bulb of the glass and change the flavor

then we went to this bodega....owned by la familia cecchin or the cecchin family

lines and lines of grapevines!

that is where we ate lunch

looking into the parking area/garden

yummmmmyy

their famous white wine (which yes mom and dad i bought a bottle for you to try)

the labels here are all hecho de mano or "made by hand". i think by this they mean all the wines are labeled by hand

the textured wall, an appropriate painting, a wine box

the line of wines that are "younger"

shopping time!

baby grapes

olives

olive trees were everywhere

little baby grapeys

everyone eating lunch in the vineyard

outdoor bar area

dessert was ice cream with dulce de leche (obviously), wrapped in a masa, or a thin, tortilla-like flatbread made out of wine and cocoa powder (excuse me, what?!), with chocolate drizzled on top

whattaya know. clean plate again