Potrerillos Dam, Mendoza( photo by Mike Muirhead)
A Day Without Wine?
By Mike Muirhead, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CSW
As Banville & Jones Sommeliers visiting a country for the first time, we are there to do two things: first, find some darn good wine to bring back to our customers; second, find out what makes that region’ s wines unique. Oddly enough, learning what is unique about that country in terms of people, climate, and landscape helps us find the best wines, and fine tunes our wine education. In Argentina, that thing that is uniquely Argentine is the Andes.
In February, Gary Hewitt and I flew into Santiago, Chile en route to Mendoza, Argentina. That last leg is short— only 55 minutes in the air— but you cover a lot of altitude: 9,000 m to be exact. My first impression when looking out the airplane window was that Chile is green, and Argentina is brown. Argentina is in the rain shadow, and receives about 100 mm less rain than Santiago, Chile. Because of this, the Argentines have had to perfect sourcing their water from the Andes.
Our first three days in Argentina were spent exploring wines in Patagonia. After much encouragement from local winemakers, we set our sights on Aconcagua National Park, home of the Aconcagua Mountain, which, at nearly 7,000 m, is the tallest mountain outside of the Himalayas. It is also one of the most easily accessible for both the regular tourist and the seasoned mountain climber. It is only 115 km from Mendoza, but exploring our little corner of the Andes took us 10 hours from start to finish.
Leaving Mendoza( elevation: 825 m), we took a beautiful drive through Lujan de Cuyo, and to National Route 7. This took us past some of the most prime vineyard land in Argentina, but we had to keep reminding ourselves: today is not about wine!
Our first stop was the Potrerillos Dam. This dam is the lifeblood of Mendoza’ s agricultural industry. At 12 km long and 3 km wide, it regulates water throughout the region, in order to make it available year-round. Without it, the seasons would be characterized by flash floods and major droughts, and agriculture would be almost impossible. Villa Potrerillos is also a great tourist destination, as it is a great place to stop for a hike, a canoe ride in the dam reservoir, or a bite to eat.
Taking in the view from the dam, it intrigued me that the mountains don’ t look at all like our Rockies. It is not in their form or size that they differ, but in their incredible colour. Our mountains are grey; the Andes are multicoloured: from green-blue copper bands that ribbon through the rock to bright spots of orange and yellow mineral deposits. Leaving aside the beautiful ski hills and breathtaking hiking trails, this Prairie boy could spend a month just staring up at the majesty of these mountains.
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