Wine Archives - In Search Of Umami

Ok, we- humans destroy a lot, we kill animals and our environment. But sometimes we create. And when we do, it can be pretty incredible. Here is a list of the most impressive human creations in South America

Casa Pueblo in Uruguay

It reminds me a bit of architecture that I saw on Lanzarote from Cesar Manrique: big, white and fascinatingly futuristic. Casa Pueblo was constructed by Carlos Paez Vilaro as a summer house and workshop. It took him 36 years to finish it. The artist passed away already but his family still lives in a part of the house, the rest is a museum and a hotel! It’s truly magical and it’s situated just by the water which makes it even more enchanted. Every evening at sunset they have a nice peaceful tradition of playing one of the poems written by Vilaro and some music. We enjoyed that moment a lot because it was just so relaxing and full of pure, silent joy. It also felt like the white walls were a canvas for the colors of the setting sun. Incredible!

Mechanic flower – Floralis Generica in Buenos Aires, Argentina

It’s an unusual gift from an architect, Eduardo Catalano, for Buenos Aires. The steel flower opens its petals every morning to close them in the evening just like a natural flower would. It looks very fragile and gentle but at the same time it’s actually massive- 23 m high and 18 ton. Since building it in 2002 there were many issues with the mechanism and when we were there the pool underneath it was covered and under maintenance, but even so it was worth seeing it.

Incan Empire- almost everywhere

We didn’t like standing in line to Machu Picchu and the crowds there manage to kill any magic in the place but… it’s not the only one. Incas ruled areas from North Argentina to South Colombia and they created really many cities, left many incredible artifacts and even mummies. All of their constructions were one of a kind and the majority was situated on a slope of a mountain which automatically assures you there is going to be a nice view from each one of them, and a good work out to get there.

Street art- whole South America

Street art was very present in our whole travel really. It all started in Argentina when we arrived in Buenos Aires and we saw murals everywhere. It was just incredible for us that there artists get payed to paint on the buildings and that they get recognition for it. Each of the masterpieces was signed and some even with a web page. The art was not only beautiful but also made us think about so many issues in South America. It was political, cultural and funny, it was everything. The passion in the street art didn’t change all over South America. We saw some incredible masterpieces everywhere, especially in big cities. The bigger the city, the brighter and more daring were the murals.

Wine- Argentina, Uruguay

Both Argentina and Uruguay produce amazing wines. Argentina is already very famous for it. Unfortunately Uruguayan pride- Tannat is not so popular. It’s a shame because it’s definitely one of the most delicious red wines we have ever had, very deep and dry. When it comes to Argentina we were very positively surprised with fresh, white, fruity Torrontes.

Textiles- Bolivia, Peru

Especially in Bolivia and Peru we saw a variety of incredible textiles of all kind- ponchos, capes, blankets, carpets and all you could think about. They were all incredibly colorful and they told us a lot about local culture. Many of them were showing funerals, chicha production (corn beer) and other community events. The form and colors were all changing depending on the region and subject.

Christmas lights-Colombia

Colombians say it’s a pity that Christmas lasts only one month- December. It really does! On the first of December EVERYONE has to have lights everywhere. The bigger, flashier, brighter the better. In big cities like Bogota, Cali, Medellin they create tiny villages of light. They are truly incredible and surprisingly they don’t have that much to do with Christmas anymore. But it still has the atmosphere of Christmas maybe because of the booze & food stands and the crowds surrounding it. Obviously the weather is far from winter snow and cold.

Argentinians are proud of a few things: their soccer, their meat and... their wine. The biggest and most famous region is Mendoza. But we decided to visit the second best - Cafayate. Wine here has a long history and was brought here by the Spaniards and precisely speaking by a priest in XVI century. Obviously it was absolutely essential for religious reasons...

The red grapes which are cultivated here nowadays like Malbec or Tannat were brought from France in the XIX century. But the biggest pride is the worldwide known and renowned- torrontes. This white grape came here from Spain in the late XIX century. All of the grapes adapted themselves very well, creating a specific variation typical for the region because of it's weather. Cafayate is situated 1700 m above sea level and it only rains here around 80-180 mm per year and when it doesn't the sky is perfectly clear and the sun can be unbearable. That I'm not going to mention the difference in temperature between day and night...huge. All of that creates a specific climate where grapes ripe fast and are safe from getting sick, which produces a very intense, fruity wine. The whole city and surroundings are busy with cultivating grapes and most of them do it the same way. From the fruit they make grape juice which later on is fermented with grapes leftovers for a long time (red wine) or very shortly (rose) or even without (white wine). Later on this wine can be already sold as a young wine. But for a better quality wine, especially the red one, it can be also aged in wooden barrels from French or American oak, that's how reserva and gran reserva are produced. The difference between them is the time, to call red wine a reserva it needs to be aged in a barrel for a period of 12 months and to call it a gran reserva it's 24 months. For white and rose wine it's 6 and 12 months. The rules here mentioned are only valid for Argentinian wine. After ageing in barrels the wine is aged in a bottle for extra aroma. It's essential that the bottle is positioned horizontally so that the liquid is always in contact with the cork as it allows gas interchange trough the pores. If the cork dries out it lets oxigen in which would produce an acid and bye bye wine! Additionally the quality of wine depends also on the quality of juice so for the best wine first pressed juice is used. Many of the wineries here have generally 2 or 3 brands to separate clearly the finest from the economic option. If gran reserva is still not good enough there is still the option of a blend, so a mix of the best wine of the year so it can be a mix of malbec, merlot and tannat for example. Generally a blend seems not to be produced every year as it's hard to have the highest quality from the 3 every year...
Certainly we didn't come to Cafayate only to hear about wine but also to taste it:) and there are plenty of bidegas in and outside of this beautiful town. Some are nicely situated in fields of grape plants like Finca Quara or Piatelli and some unfortunately are trapped in the centre with their plants far from the sight of a potential client (Bodega Nanni, Bodega Salvador Figueroa). Most of them offer a tasting and tour for which you mostly have to pay a small amount of money. But there was only one which permitted tasting almost everything (total of 12 wines)- bodega Piatelli. Their were obviously our favourites with Finca Quara where we tasted two wines free of charge. Both of them had good wine and both had something even more important love, passion and openness to share their joy and wine:)
If someone would like to go to Cafayate more details about the wineries we visited below:
1. Bodega Piatelli- beautifully situated on a hill in the heart of their fields, they offer two tasting option: one 80 pesos 7 wines from their reserva wines which includes their really good malbec-tannat, second option is their finest for 150 pesos - 5 wines, 3 gran reserva, 1 reserva torrontes and 1 delicious blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Their tour is also very nice and informative
2. Finca Quara- just outside of Cafayate, in field of their "gold". It's a quite big and old company with staff that is really passionate about their produce. Tasting of two wines and tour is free if charge
3. Finca las Nubes or Bodega L. Mounier- it offers nice walk from Cafayate as well as a rewarding view when reached, unfortunately we didn't love their wine. But at least it was cheap 15 pesos tasting and tour (3 wines from which their rose)
4. Bodega Salvador Figueroa- tiny is truely an understatement, their red aged wine is very good but their torrontes is rather avarage. Tasting and tour 10 pesos (two wines)
5. Bodega Nanni- no soul or passion, tour and tasting in a speed of a lightning which obviously is not enjoyable. Tasting and "running" tour 30 pesos (4 wines).
6. El Esteco- beautiful building which we immediately forgot about as soon as we came into contact with their unfriendly staff. Tour and tasting of 2 wines 60 pesos.