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Our 2009 Harvest Package including accommodation has sold out but feel free to contact us for wine tours on these dates.
DAY 1 - Friday March 6th
Your bilingual wine host picks you up from your hotel in an air-conditioned vehicle and you head towards
Lujan de Cuyo, a half hour drive south of
Mendoza city. First stop of the day is
Lagarde one of
Mendoza’s oldest bodegas and home of
Argentina’s oldest white wine. A tour of the winery and vines is complimented by a tasting of their red and white wine. Next
we arrive at Alta Vista, a French-owned winery that conducts excellent tours and tastings. Here you will taste their Grand Reserve, a highly-rated Malbec blend from three of their vineyards.
A quick tour around Ruca Malen’s winery is followed by lunch at their in-house restaurant. Lucas is one of
Argentina’s up and coming chefs and we challenge you to not enjoy the 5-step lunch during which you will taste Ruca Malen’s full wine range.
In your free time that evening we suggest you watch the parade of "Harvest Queens" - the first celebration of the annual wine harvest,
La Via Blanca is the parade of the beauty queens from each locality accompanied by floats, dancing and music.
DAY 2 - Saturday March 7th
From the terrace of The Park Hyatt you spend the morning enjoying " The Carousel" - a spectacular sunshine parade of horse-drawn coaches, gauchos, bands, dancers and performers. The afternoon is then yours to stroll around the streets of
Mendoza enjoying the atmosphere, wines and food.
In the evening we will pick you up at 8.30pm to watch " The Central Act" - the big final blow out celebration of the annual wine harvest. This spectacular, shown on TV attracts Argentina's great and beautiful, including the President. It is held in the Griego Theatre, a 25,000 seater natural amphitheatre in Parque General San Martin. This is a celebration of the history of Mendoza, its wine and its women. The show concludes with a stunning firework display.
Day 3 - Sunday March 8th
Pick up is at 9.30am and we go southeast to Southern Maipú,
Mendoza’s most traditional winegrowing area with many rustic style wineries and olive groves. The north of the region is very much urbanised and frankly not pretty, but the southern part is an undiscovered region of excellent boutique wineries and small gourmet restaurants. Your first visit will be to
Bodega Carinae, a small, French venture with lots of charm. Owners Philippe and Brigitte are often there to show visitors around and with Michel Rolland as consultant their wines have improved immensely since they started five years ago. Here we taste their complete range of 11 wines.
Next we visit
Tempus Alba
,
a small, modern, family-owned winery where we conduct a tasting on the roof terrace.
You conclude the day with a spectacular lunch in
Domaine Dumont
. This 100-year old Victorian lodge used
to belong
to the champagne family Mumm. Here talented chef and sommelier Jasmine Montgomery will prepare a gourmet five-course lunch using local produce,l matching each wine to each course. After a leisurely cocktail on the lawn, lunch will be served on the terrace overlooking the lush grounds.
Return to Mendoza at approx 5pm.
Price per person; $520 US (including lunches and wine)
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