The end of the long and wine-ing road

Our last two nights in Mendoza were fantastic! On Thursday night we went to a cooking class where we watched and learned how to make empanadas, chimichurri with steak and caramelized fruit.

All the while our wine glasses were never empty of Malbec. The other students were also fun with a German speaking group of four, two American students from California and a couple of men from the US. One of the German speaking girls was sitting next to Christos and he had to keep indicating that he was here with his lovely wife! We finally left the school/farm/posada around midnight and stumbled back to our place shortly thereafter. The next day was our final day of wine tours and Christos had to skip the first tasting due to overindulgence the prior evening and a desire to do sometime riding. Christos enjoyed a couple short rides between wineries while Lisa travelled in the van.

Lunch was excellent although by the end (3pm) we were so tired we skipped the full winery tour and just hit the wine store. We made it back to Mendoza city shortly after 4pm and rested until dinner ... Dinner was simply amazing and the best meal of our trip. It was at a winery some half hour by cab from our hotel and was prepared by an American/Korean chef named Mun.

Dinner consisted of a chicken-tangerine salad followed by a cold spices soba noodle soup, a sushi plate (oh so yummy), a main of filet mignon with a Malbec reduction (and wasabi mash) and finally dessert of green tea ice cream and biscotti. The meal was served "closed door" which means one big table and no menu per se. We enjoyed chatting with the other diners and finally finished up around midnight for the cab ride back to Mendoza city and a few hours sleep before our early morning ride the next day across the Andes to Chile.