Catena Zapata

On our next day in Mendoza we took an afternoon bus to Maipu pronounced...ahem ¨my-poo¨(pause for jokes...there were three days worth of jokes made here so I have pretty much heard them all). Once in Maipu (stop laughing) we tried to find a taxi but to no avail. Standing in the middle of an emptry street, with 15 minutes left before we were supposed to be at Catena Zapata winery, we were five extremely lost and sorry looking tourists. Finally a police officer took pity on us, stopped, and called us a taxi. One sketchy taxi ride later with us having to stop (meter running) so he could fill up on gas(!), and stops along a dirt road with our driver insisting we were going the wrong way (the map does not lie!!), we arrived to a beautiful winery with the signature Catena Zapata Mayan temple style building before us. It was like arriving to a palace.

Every inch of the walls, floor and ceiling were made of a magnificent cream coloured marble/limestone. 12 foot long tables made out of one piece of wood from a tree from the Iguacu Falls. Premium french oak barrels (used for no longer than 3 years...a year shorter than the other wineries we visited) were lined up in rows in a large pristine and perfectly cared for ampitheatre shaped room...actually shown on their website. We got an extensive tour from top to bottom of the winery, including rooms with every inch of space taken by wines aging in the bottle.

The wine itself was indescribable. We were provided with two wines to taste, a 2008 Chardonnay and a premium bottle of their 2005 Malbec. Heaven.

The next day in a group of 9 we headed to MR. HUGO! A bicycle rent shop where we got bikes for the day and went from winery to winery, tasting and generally having fun. After the amazing day before, however, and because I was feeling slightly feverish I did not sample much wine and mainly concentrated on staying awake.

Did not think it was possible but am definitely sick of wine for now so Matt, Shandy, Gibby, James and I (the last remaining from the Navimag boat trip) headed to Valparaiso, Chile.

Santiago in a day or two and then flying back home.