Another ridiculously good looking lunch

The Park Hyatt Mendoza looks like it should be a fancy government building, and it has a great terrace overlooking the main town square. Peter and I had lunch there when we got back from BA and it was another ridiculously good looking lunch. We got the 12-sampler tasting menu with a glass of wine each; Peter got the Alta Vista Torrontes 2009 and I got the Melipal Malbec Rose 2009.

The Torrontes was classic with musk and orange blossom. The producer has property right behind Peter in La Consulta, but the Torrontes comes from Salta. We've been trying to figure out why Torrontes isn't more popular and I thought maybe it is difficult to match with food. But it went well with many of the dishes we had, including sweetbreads, blue cheese w. honey, parmesan w. paprika, and fried calamari.

The Malbec rose had a smoky nose of cured meat and red berry. It was more fuller bodied and deeper in color than most roses I've had. It had good acidity and went with a lot of the dishes, most notably the grilled shrimp, salmon carpaccio and beef carpaccio.

Another day in Mendoza, another slothful lunch... or so I don't feel so guilty about it... another exercise in wine and food pairing.