Jugo de Torrontes

In Chilecito, after that goat dinner and a recoop in the Automobile Club de Argentina (a hotel that I am convinced used to be either a school or a hospital), we visited the Riojana wine cooperative in town. During our tour we witnessed the massive dumping of Merlot grapes directly from a large truck into a large de-stemmer, as 2 guys stood in the truck with the grapes, pushing them into the machine with large pitchforks. It was quite a sight, and it may make you think twice about buying wine that comes in a jug or box...

There we tasted some interesting bubbly made from Torrontes - one dry, simple style and one more sweet one that better expressed the grape. But what we enjoyed most was a fresh, pure juice made from the Torrontes grape. Like peaches and honey with a flowery aroma, it tasted just like some Torrontes grapes we had sampled at a vineyard in Mendoza. Peter got 3 cartons of the juice and bought me this hat, which came in handy during the roadtrips that followed in the blazing sun of 40+ degree-celsius temperatures (that's over 100 degrees fahrenheit, every day!).