Goats and blackouts and floods, oh my

On the drive back to Mendoza from Salta, through red mountains and cactus-lined streams, we stopped overnight in Villa Union, a tiny town in the San Jose valley that produces some wine and sometimes loses electricity.

















As soon as we got into town we noticed this sign in front of a restaurant, and I said, free goat? But it means all-you-can-eat goat. So we knew what we were having for dinner. AC on in the hotel and all electricity apparently working, we went to dinner and ordered the chivito libre with a salad and a bottle of locally made wine called Syros Syrah 2009. The wine was very fruity, young and simple, with plum, raspberry, and light oak. The goat was simple as well but tasted very fresh and just about perfect with a little lemon juice (from that classic green bottle) and salt. The waiter also brought us a glass of the Syros Torrontes 2009, which was surprisingly sweet and lacking acidity, but we imagined it was intended to be like this, juicy with some residual sugar and no acidification, unlike most wines in the area (it's often too hot to hold onto the natural acidity during the grapes' ripening).

After 4 plates of goat the lights went out and the fans went off. You can't imagine such darkness or such heat. The waiter came over and offered us a candle. We weren't quite done eating, but after a Junebug kept diving for my plate I was ready to quit. We had the waiter clear the plates, but then I remembered our goal was 6 plates and we were still hungry after 4, so we decided to continue the effort. We ordered another round and got through it, but the heat got the best of us and we called it a night after the 5th plate. We got flan to go and ate it back at the hotel with a 2007 late harvest Torrontes that we'd picked up in Cafayate at San Pedro de Yacochuya. It was surprisingly Sherry-like, with pronounced alcohol, a nutty creaminess, and sweet vanilla and orange blossom. Not what we expected, but we liked it!

  



San Pedro de Yacochuya's Coquena line of wines is named for the supernatural protector of the vicuñas, animals of the camel family that are native to the Andes and are prized for their fine but rare wool. Coquena is a little man dressed in white who travels at night driving large herds of vicuña. He punishes those who wantonly kill these animals.

Thankfully the electricity was still working at the hotel and the AC was still going. We didn't lose it until the next morning around 8am during a thunderstorm that flooded the town and sent us packing - but not until after visiting 3 gas stations before finding one with enough power to pump gas.

Viva Villa Union!

The future of the Andes

Our last day in Cafayate, we visited a winery right in town called Porvenir de los Andes - the Future of the Andes. We toured and tasted with the winemaker, and while we are concerned that the intense heat and lack of water in the Salta area of Argentina makes the future of winemaking there slightly questionable, he does not anticipate a problem anytime soon. (He really believes in the winery's name!) Unfortunately I didn't take notes during this tasting, and I neglected to write my impressions down afterwards, so I can't be too specific but I do recall that I liked all the wines. The Torrontes was classic and the reds were intense, flavorful, and smooth. I do remember that their spittoons were unlike any I'd seen before - instead of being empty they were filled with oak shavings, so you didn't make a mess when using them, and the scent of the oak was a nice palate refresher in between wines. Also, we confirmed an interesting practice in the making of rose, and I think it probably holds true for other parts of Argentina and Chile as well: many wineries "bleed" off a percentage of their fermenting red grape juice to allow the remaining juice to have maximum contact with the skins during fermentation, resulting in a more intense extraction of color, flavor, and structural components; we suspect that many roses originate from this bleed, or sangria.

Road less traveled to Colome

In the Salta province of Argentina, we set out to visit Bodega Colome, launching from Cafayate, the charming town where we were staying. We were about halfway there, enjoying the scenic route up through the mountains alongside the cacti, when we were faced with a choice of 2 directions to take. We opted for the "shorter" way because we were running late, but it was perhaps not the best choice. It was clearly the road less traveled, and for good reason - very narrow, rocky, sandy roads with no pavement in sight. At one point we almost got stuck in a sand ditch and had to build a rock path to drive over. We gathered rocks and Peter arranged them just so, building up the sand with 2 lanes of rocks so he could drive over the ditch. Once we built our bridge I directed him to ensure he stayed on the rock path, and after just 2 tries Peter got us out! We were so relieved. The next obstacle was a bit of mud and marsh, and again, 2 possible directions, but Peter assessed the situation and determined the best path, concluding that the mud was solid enough that we wouldn't get stuck. From here we could almost see Colome up in the hills. Then finally we made it there, 2200 meters above sea level, a mere 1 hour late for our appointment.

Thankfully, it was worth it! I really liked the wines here. The whites were flavorful and crisp. The reds were super concentrated but had really good flavors and complexity. All the wines here had a chalky minerality that we hadn't noticed in wines from Mendoza. This could be attributed to the rocky mountain soil. Colome has 2 additional vineyard sites besides the 2200m one we visited with the winery, and one of them is 3015 meters above sea level - the highest vineyard in the world, they say. The altitude helps cool things down in this very hot region of Argentina.

The wines:

*Mystery white: a mystery because the vines are so old and have morphed a few times from cloning, so they don't know exactly what they are. To me it tasted like Sauvignon Blanc, with gooseberry, asparagus, and jalapeno pepper.

*Torrontes 2009: at first vanilla and banana candy, then classic orange blossom as it warmed up in the glass. Different from the Torrontes we'd had so far, but interesting, and smooth with good acid.

*Amalaya 2007: a blend of mostly Malbec with some Cab Sauv and a little bit of something I can't remember. Cranberry and spice, good body and smooth tannin, my favorite of the tasting.
*Malbec Estate 2007: 85%Malbec, 8%Tannat, 5%Cab Sauv, 2%Syrah. Pure blackberry fruit, bright with firm tannin.
*Syrah 2007: a wine only available at the winery and served in their hotel's restaurant, it was pretty special with cassis, blackberry jam and a hint of cured meat. Firm tannin and almost 16% alcohol! A wine that should come with a 1-glass max. warning.

Colome is biodynamic and produces 900,000 liters of wine per year from 150 hectares of planted vines. All their supplies and equipment come from Mendoza, so everything makes that rocky, uphill climb through the Andes. There is a beautiful hotel on the property, and we now realize why. After all those bumps and jumps you totally want to take a nice long siesta. But our trip was just 3 hours, so we about-faced and took the road more traveled with no snafus. Muchas gracias to Peter for getting us there and back, no worse for the wear!