Mendoza ... New World Wine ...

We decided to spend the nest 3 days in Mendoza, one of Argentina's most important wine regions. A few facts:
- accounts for nearly two-thirds of the country's entire wine production
- located in the eastern foothills of the Andes, in the shadow of Mount Aconcagua
- vineyards are planted at the some of the highest altitudes in the world with the average site located 1,970–3,610 feet (600–1,100 meters) above sea level - Malbec is the regions most important planting followed closely by Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo and Chardonnay.
- Mendoza is considered the heart of the winemaking industry in Argentina with the vast majority of large wineries located in the provincial capital of Mendoza.

We decided to stay at a new small boutique vineyard Hotel Aguamiel, it has an unbelievable view of the Andes Mountain, very nice photos on website:
http://www.hotelaguamiel.com/en/index.php?id_menu=3

Don't know what to say except everything was perfect at this place, one can truely relax and just 'enjoy the simple life'. Hotel is quite luxurious yet zen, simple and sleek at the same time. The owner is a young Mexican architecture who decides to move his family here for a slower pace of life. The first picture is the view from our bed :)



















WAKING UP TO THIS VIEW EVERYDAY IS A REALLY BLISSFUL FEELING ...


Once we settled down, we went to a local delicatessen Almacen Del Sur, where the food is simply delicious!
http://www.almacendelsur.com/
They serve mainly organic food they produce on their beautiful "farm".







Wonderful Onion soup with EGG!!!



Fresh sweet shrimp cooked to perfection (at least to me, think Frank wasn't as impressed maybe because he doesn't like nuts).



Oxtail wrapped in pasta.



This palette cleanser is refreshingly wonderful, pear in sweet wine.



Ha ha, dessert "wonton" filled with pineapple and grape preserve, soft cheese, in chocolate soup :)



Bought some beautiful roasted veges back ...













The star of Mendoza, besides the wineries, is the Andes Mountain. There's really nothing much to write about except that my mouth is mostly opened in awe as we drove to and amidst the mountain, just never seen anything like it before. Huge is an understatement, but the colors and texture is just so beautiful (what's another word for beautiful to the power of 10??). In case I have not mentioned, it is winter now in the Southern hemisphere. Afternoon can reach 70 + farenheit (20 celcius) whereas nighttime and morning can be close to 30s farenheit (0 celcius).

























Back to hotel for a gourmet dinner. Honestly, we are tired and told the hotel chef just simple regular dinner. Well ... she made a 7-course dinner, we almost flipped.