Mendoza

We took a 14 hour bus to Mendoza from Buenos Aires on one of the long weekends.

Mendoza is wine country of Buenos Aires with beautiful nature and tons of vineyards that largely make up the reasons why Argentina has so much good (and cheap!) wine.

Vineyards

We ended up going to 4ish vineyards and doing tastings at them. It was fun to learn about the way that wine is made, the differences between wine and some of the reasons behind differences in prices.

I find it fun to learn about things like wine that are a part of our life because it gives us a bigger appreciation for them. After this trip, I definitely appreciate good wine more, I know at least a little bit more of what I am looking for in a bottle of wine when I am picking it out, and I even understand how to not look stupid when they let you taste the wine at a restaraunt before actually drinking it.

I was never much of a wine drinker before coming to Argentina, but now I am a big fan. It goes well with many meals and the wine drunk is very relaxing.

It’s interesting how much cheaper the wine is in Argentina than the US. Partially because many things are cheaper here, but I’d bet even more so because they avoid all of the import costs since they grow locally.

It was breathtaking walking through some of the vineyards and seeing the grapes that make all these different types of wine.

One of the days we did a vineyard biking tour which was really fun. We rented bikes and then just biked to different vineyards and got to taste the wine. The first picture above is from inside of the large vineyards. That whole area is for growing the grapes that make up the wine.

Passover seder!

We were in Mendoza for Passover, so I ended up finding the rabbi of the Chabad down there and we went to first night of seder in Mendoza.

It was cool seeing their different customs through the seder and being with people who lived both in Mendoza and were also visiting.

There was a large group of Israelis at our seder as well that were traveling after the army, and we spent some time with them which was fun.

I find it so special that I can find Jewish communities from all over the world and feel at home.

Other highlights

We ate a lot of really good food, including this beef tenderloin wrapped in dough that was amazing. Lots of good wine, we had fun at a huge park in Mendoza and visited an olive factory that had amazing olives, olive oil and balsamic. We also had a fun day at these big pool/hot spring things.

Very relaxing and chill place and not too pricey as long as you plan correctly.