Cafayate, Argentina - Day 3
Saturday, April 8, 2023
Last night was our latest Argentine dinner yet. We finally ate take-out tacos around 11:00pm, causing all four of us to go to bed around Midnight last night. That means we all slept in late this morning. After we woke up for the day, Andi ran into the city center of Cafayate to get his haircut and buy meat for our Easter meal tomorrow while I blogged and the kids chatted with their friends back home on Kids Messenger.
Around Noon, Andi and I wanted to go to a restaurant for lunch but neither Tory or Aden were interested in leaving their online games with friends. So, Andi and I decided to visit one of the bodegas (wineries) down the road from our airbnb by ourselves leaving the kids to their electronics. We weren’t able to get a lunch reservation at any of the bodegas due to the busy Easter weekend, but there’s one winery near us called Vasija Secreta that didn’t take reservations. I hoped that if we showed up at the restaurant, we’d be seated for lunch.
Andi had his heart set on eating at La Rosa Restaurant inside the El Esteco bodega, so we went there first to see if we’d be let onto the property by the guard. No such luck — without a reservation, most gate attendants won’t allow people past the entrance of the bodega’s property. Instead, we went across the street to the place I suggested called Vasija Secreta. It wasn’t the fanciest winery, but we were able to get a table for lunch under a shady tree in the bodega’s courtyard.
I ordered a glass of their Lacrados Malbec and Andi tried their Lacrados Torrontés wine. Torrontés white grapes are native to Argentina and grow especially well in the high-altitude vineyards of Cafayate. I also tried the bodega’s Gata Flora Cabernet Sauvignon which I liked a lot.
For lunch, we ordered a vegetable tart to share, along with chicken skewers, and the pork loin. The food was decent; I was just glad we found a place to go amongst the busy crowds. As we sat at our outdoor table, we watched bus-loads of people pour into the winery’s tasting room for tours. For that reason, Andi and I didn’t even go inside.
After lunch, Andi still had his heart set on visiting Bodega El Esteco. He’d read that if you can get past the gate attendant, you can usually score a table inside at the restaurant. This time when we met the guard at the entrance, Andi said we were there to buy wines at the winery’s store inside. The gate attendant permitted our entry, and we found ourselves driving down a long driveway leading to the hotel & restaurant.
El Esteco was, by far, the prettiest bodega we’d visited so far in Cafayate. Wow! The grounds are gorgeous. We struck out once again getting a table without a reservation on the La Rosa restaurant patio, but we were able to try some wines in the wine store. The guy working the counter there spoke English and was super friendly to us. He gave us a keycard to use at their wine vending machine — just put the card in the machine, hold up your wine glass, and select the wine you’d like to drink. The machine automatically pours the selected amount — 1.7 ml, 3.5 ml, or 5 ml pours. Andi and I poured ourselves two glasses of wine and sat in the patio courtyard. Yep, this place was pretty great.
The friendly wine store employee asked us if we’d be interested in an English-language tasting/tour of the vineyard. Andi checked in with the kids and they were both still occupied by their friends and electronics, so we decided to do the tasting/tour for $3,500 Argentine pesos/each. The tour began a few minutes later in the bodega’s vineyard.
Harvesting of the grapes takes place January - April, so the winery is now beginning production of this year’s crop. There weren’t many grapes left on the vines, but we were invited to sample the remaining white grapes which will be made into the sweetest wine varietal. Our tour guide explained that grapes grown in high altitudes such as Cafayate have a thinner skin than grapes grown in lower altitudes. The harsher the elements (sun, rain, wind), the thicker the skin of the grape making the fruit more acidic.
After we walked through the vineyards, our tour group proceeded into the production facility. Malbec is the most popular wine produced and sold in Argentina, so there were several barrels of Malbec wine, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Torrontés. Andi and I were the only English-speakers in the group, so the tour guide was nice enough to translate his information in English for us.
Finally, our tour ended in the tasting room. We splurged on the Reserve package and honestly, every wine we tried tasted excellent. We ended up buying two bottles of their Finca Notables Malbec to take home with us, so the tour guide comp’d the wine we’d sampled at the wine vending machine before the tour.
Luckily, our airbnb was just down the road from El Esteco so we didn’t have far to go after our tour. Back at home with the kids, Andi put on a movie called American Underdog which we all watched together in the living room.
Andi made sloppy joes and carrots for dinner, and then we took a sunset walk around the El Bosque gated community we’re staying in. We can’t get over how perfect the weather has been in Cafayate during our stay. It feels like summer here.
Tomorrow is Easter and we’re expecting most businesses to be closed. Andi bought some meat to grill at our airbnb tomorrow, so we’re planning to watch church, spend some time outside, and have a BBQ. Should be a great day.
