Tupungato, Argentina

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Bad news — Aden is sick again. Yesterday, he perked up a bit in the afternoon and seemed to have his appetite back. I thought we were finally past all the sickness, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Poor Aden can’t catch a break. He threw up every 90 minutes this morning starting around 1:00am. Without a washer & dryer in this airbnb or any laundry soap, I am officially out of all the sheets and towels I can find. Really hoping we turn the corner on all this sickness soon!

Andi called the owner of this airbnb to ask if we could stay another night, but unfortunately the house is booked with another customer. We have no choice but to pack up and move on to our next spot today. We had planned a full day of wine tastings in the Valley de Uco (the heart of Mendoza wine country), and booked two rooms for an overnight stay at Tupungato Divino — a luxury restaurant and hotel in the valley. We really hated to cancel our plans as Andi and I have had this booked for months. Why does the stomach bug have to rear its ugly head now, in such an anticipated portion of our trip?!

I stayed up after my 6:00am wake-up from Aden and finished packing our bags. Andi arranged for an American Expat named Shane to drive us to Tupungato today. Originally from Texas, Shane has been a resident of Mendoza since 2015 and now is a professional guide and airbnb host in the area. He picked us up at our airbnb in Lujan at 8:30am, and drove us to a bakery called Jebb’s to grab a bite to eat before our scheduled wine tastings began.

Argentinians don't really eat breakfast. Their two main meals are lunch and dinner with a “media tarde” (middle afternoon) snack around 5:00pm. Therefore, it’s really hard to find a traditional “American style” breakfast with eggs and bacon in Argentina. Not that Aden could’ve handled that type of food anyway — he was the color of a ghost when we stopped for breakfast at Jebb’s. Andi ordered a few pastries and two coffees for us, and the five of us sat outside at a small cafe table to eat.

I always travel with a few gallon-size Ziploc bags for such occasions as this, and gave Aden one to hold onto should he need to throw up at the restaurant. Sure enough, about 15 minutes into our breakfast at Jebb’s he began to vomit into the Ziploc bag. Yikes. I quickly and quietly ushered him away from the patio full of patrons to a more private place behind a row of vehicles. I felt so badly for him! All he wanted to do was lay down and I had no where for him to go. We couldn’t check into Tupungato Divino until later this afternoon.

Shane suggested we stop at a pharmacy to see if they had some medicine for Aden, so that was our next stop. Andi returned from inside the pharmacy a few minutes later with a bottle of anti-nausea drops. I placed 36 drops into Aden’s water bottle as recommended and hoped for the best.

Our hour-long drive to Tupungato was a bumpy one. Poor Aden looked as pale as ever, but he didn’t throw up again. During the drive, Andi and I enjoyed talking with Shane about his life in Argentina. We also had the chance to pick his brain about upcoming cities we’re traveling to in Argentina and Chile, and random questions about how things work in this country like the septic system, the Blue Dollar, and tipping in restaurants. You can read all about a place before traveling there, but nothing compares to actually talking with a local to get the inside scoop.

Our first wine tasting took place at Bodega Casarena in the Lujan Valley of Mendoza. The word “bodega” means winery in Argentina. Lucas, our sommelier, was very knowledgeable about wines and friendly with the kids. He explained the process of making wine, showed us part of the vineyard, and talked a lot about why soil quality matters in the flavor of the grape. We saw examples of two different irrigation techniques used by the winery.

After the outside portion of the tour, we moved inside to a private wine tasting room. We’ve been to several wineries in California and New Zealand, but have never had an entire winery to ourselves during a tasting. It made us feel so special! Lucas seated us at a big wooden table with three place settings. “I’m sorry, kids, no wine for you” Lucas said. “Come back to Casarena when you are 18.” (That’s the legal drinking age in Argentina.)

Now it was time to try the flagship wines. Lucas demonstrated how to swirl wine in our glasses, sniff the aromas, and then taste the wine. Aden was so confused why Lucas took a drink of the wine and then spit it into a bucket.

Malbecs in Argentina are served chilled. That’s because it’s so hot outside! Lucas said he pulled the wines from the cooler about 30 minutes before our tasting to allow them to warm up a degree or two. We tasted the wines chilled, and then let them rest in our glasses for a few minutes. It was interesting to taste how different the profiles of each bottle changed as the wine warmed to room temperature.

Andi and I tasted four different wines produced at the vineyard — Jamilla, Naoki, Lauren and Owen. Lucas told us a lot of interesting information about the wines and the qualifications it takes to become a wine maker. He said that only Argentine wines are allowed to be sold in Argentina — there are no wines from anywhere else in the world here. Approximately 65% of wine produced in this area is exported to other countries and ninety percent of all Malbecs in the world come from Mendoza. That’s because the climate here is perfect for growing Malbec grapes and the vines love dry, rocky soil.

After our tour/tasting at Bodega Casarena, Shane drove us further south into another wine region in Mendoza called Valley de Uco. He arranged for us to have lunch at a restaurant called Ruda Cocina. I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around where we were in the world. Ruda Cocina was located down a long dirt road, literally in the middle of the dry foothills of the Uco Valley. There was nothing around us as far as the eye could see.

Yet, here we were siting on a gorgeous restaurant patio with a very “foodie” tapas menu. Ruda serves meals in small, shareable plates and all the food sounded delicious. We asked our server to pick some of her favorites and surprise us.

There was so much food — oh my gosh, so much! Some of our favorites were tomato ceviche served with potato chips and corn, mushrooms with goat cheese, and a beet salad. We also ate pickled rabbit, broccoli, and a pork stuffed bun.

I can’t say this was the kids’ favorite place to eat. Tory was game to try all the different foods until Andi told her the meat on her plate was rabbit. Her eyes grew wide as saucers and she said, “I am not going to eat a baby bunny.” After that, she spent most of the meal pushing food around her plate with a fork. To make up for serving her bunny rabbit at lunch, we let Tory order chocolate mousse for dessert. She said it was really, really good.

The medicine we gave Aden this morning seemed to be working because he stopped throwing up, but he was still pale and refused to eat or drink anything except water. I think he’s traumatized after throwing up so many times this week. We asked the waitress if she could bring more “kid friendly” foods to the table like rice, bread, or noodles, but she didn’t have anything else to offer us besides the menu.

After a long lunch at Ruda, the five of us made our way back to Shane’s truck. The plan had been to visit another winery in the Uco Valley, but it was clear that Aden needed to rest. Instead, we asked Shane to take us to our hotel, Tupungato Divino. By 3:00pm, we thought we’d be able to check into our rooms. We thanked Shane for his time today, and for all the information he shared with us about Mendoza and the country of Argentina.

Tupungato Divino was one of the first places Andi booked when planning our trip to Argentina and whenever we’d dream spending time in the wine country of Mendoza, we’d always pull up pictures of this place. Now, we were finally here in person, and it was every bit as beautiful as we imagined it to be.

The four of us laid around in our rooms for an hour, but it was so hot. We were all cranky and uncomfortable. Finally, Andi suggested we go sit by the pool. “There’s a pool here? Let’s go!” we said. The outdoor pool area was hot, too, but the water was cool and refreshing.

We swam for a bit, and then returned to our rooms to get ready for dinner. “I need time to get ready and do my makeup,” Tory said. She was so impressed by this place.

Dinner was served at 8:30pm, but we were ready by 8:00pm and had time to walk the grounds. The sunset was gorgeous — gorgeous! All the colors of the sky and the vineyard were like a painting.

For dinner, we were seated on a small patio with two other groups of hotel guests. There are only eight rooms total at this hotel, so it’s a very intimate setting. We picked out our menu choices earlier at the pool, so our food was brought to the table shortly after we sat down. Andi ordered a vegetarian lasagna, chicken skewers with a citrus sauce, a shrimp salad for us to share. The meal was served with some of the best homemade focaccia bread I’ve ever tasted.

The stars were shining brightly by the time we finished dinner. We gazed in wonder at the clear night sky on our walk back to our rooms. Aden was leading us down the dark path and screeched when he brushed against a gigantic toad. There were toads (or frogs?) the size of my fist all over the sidewalks and patios.

The four of sat outside on our patio and looked at the stars for a while before bed. What an almost perfect day! (I say “almost” because Aden wasn’t feeling so well.) Our family had a wonderful time together at dinner laughing and enjoying each other’s company. It’s definitely a memory I’ll cherish in my heart for a long time.

Tomorrow, we planned to tour more wineries in the Uco Valley, but we’ll see how Aden is feeling in the morning. Two more days left to spend in Mendoza.