Argentine wine country

Wine in Argentina is sooooooooooooooo cheap!  Since it is still a growing industry by the world's standards,  pretty much 90% of the wine sold in the country is less than $25 and more than 50% is less than $10 a bottle. Even better is that the restaurants do not do the huge 3x markup that US restaurants are obliged to do.  I did a comparison of some bottles and found that they usually only mark things up by a few dollars.

After my brother returned to the States, I continued my journey to the Argentine wine country.  My first stop was San Juan, north of the popular Mendoza.  I had not seen any wines from San Juan during my time in Buenos Aires, so I was intrigued that they were a major producer of wine in the country.  After spending a week there, I can see why. Most of San Juan's wines are in the $7-15 range and I can't say that I had anything that was outstanding (something that was confirmed when I went to Mendoza).  Not to say that their wine was bad, but I will say that a common practice in San Juan is to mix their wine with either seltzer water, Sprite or Coca Cola.  I tried the first two mixers, but couldn't bring myself to mix in any CocaCola.  It does help the cheaper wine, cutting down the acidity and bite.

It was good timing for me to go to San Juan because it was harvest time! Many wineries are in biking distance, so I went on a tour to check things out.

I went to one winery in hopes to take a tour, but mistook it for another vineyard. What I found was Naves Vineyard, a small family operation that is closed to the public... except to me.  I stood at the gate and asked the father a few questions about his vineyeard.  He didn't speak any English, so he referred me to his son, who did.  After some small talk and introductions, the father asked if I wanted to join them for lunch that afternoon.  One of my rules in life is to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. This is one of those opportunities.

As I was taken on a tour of the grounds, the father showed me what we would be eating... a full rack of pork ribs...

...that had a steady diet that partially consisted of the pressed grapes:

We had a classic gaucho-style meal. A grill was set up over some coals and wood and slabs of meat and chorizo were set on top.

The father is on the right, the son is in the middle, and one of the only four employees sat down with me

a simple meat and bread sandwhich

these are the Torontes grapes used in the wine that we drank with our meal

a special dessert was brought out in my honor- grapes pickled in grappa. Normally this is only opened during the cold winter, and I can see why. Each grape absorbed about a shot's worth of 80 proof liquor!

some Malbec grapes...

some moscatel grapes

Just outside of the wine country was an area called Valle de la Luna. Some great rock formations and colors were found.

one area has a buncha balls!

this is called the submarine...

In San Juan, there is a museum dedicated to a former president of Argentina Domingo Sarmiento, who was born here. There is a creepy statue in the front. After taking pictures of this, I walked around the square. I passed the statue again, but nearly dropped dead when I thought I saw the statue scratch his head.  It turns out that someone who had a bald head and chunky body sat down next to the statue and I only saw the man because the statue was obscurred by a kiosk.