who invented the bicycle wine tour? why did they think it was a good idea to put gringos on bikes and get them drunk? perhaps we’ll never know.
the bicycle wine tour began just behind schedule on tuesday morning. irish dave, keri and i strolled out of the hostel by at least 11:15, which is not so bad considering how much planning we had to do before the ride. we hopped on a bus to maipu–dave thought i was pulling his leg about the entire plan due to the comic nature of the english pronunciation of the town. soon enough, we were at mr. hugo’s bikes and gearing up for an adventure!
mr. hugo specifically went to find a second bike with a basket for keri and i, because everyone knows that no respectable woman will ride a bicycle without a basket. and we were off!
we had a police escort before we even began as we rode all the way to the furthest vineyard, nearly an hour away. perhaps the excitement was causing us to wobble on the bikes…
at carnae, we tasted a rather uninspiring rose and young malbec, though the malbec cab that followed was bordering on good and the reserva malbec brought a smile to my face. the owners are foreign and have incorporated a whimsical celestial theme throughout their lines.
next we tasted olive oil at an olive vineyard named laur. you can bet i bought a bit. lovely sun-dried tomato and aubergine bruschetta pumped us up for the ride to familia di tommaso.
at tommaso, we tasted a young malbec, a 6 month oak-aged cab, a
drafts folder, dated 13 november 2009. laura sure brings things to completion! let’s see… erm, there was some more wine tasting, at one point we had both a motorcycle and police van escort, keri fell off her bike, i was attacked by a parrot while holding a kitten, we drank some more wine, and finally made it back safely to mr. hugo’s.
sometime around now, i found out that my antarctica trip was canceled due to an explosion on the ship. i postponed my onward journey and spent a few extra days in mendoza, drowning my sorrows. moving right along!
