I've got another winery visit today...a 60 mile drive south of Mendoza to Bodega Fournier for a winery tour and gourmet lunch with the nice folks from Switzerland that I met yesterday at Catena Zapata.
It's only 60 miles, but I have been advised to allow two hours for the drive because of traffic, constructions and a number of small towns along the route. At 10:00, I'm on my way...down Route 40 to the town of San Carlos. Fournier is not in my Garmin GPS, so I figure that I'll just wing it” when I get to San Carlos. At around 11:55 or so, I'm in San Carlos, but I'm having trouble finding the winery. I drive around for awhile before stopping to ask a young guy for directions. He draws me a little map and, at 12:10 or so, I'm at Bodega Fournier.
A nice young lady invites me inside, and I enjoy a glass of Malbec while waiting for my Swiss friends. At 12:30, they join me, and we sit down for a fabulous lunch. The restaurant at Fournier is regarded as one of the best in Argentina and has consistently been voted one of the top 10 winery restaurants in the world. They do not disappoint...Cold Beet Sorbet, Roasted Corn Soup, Savory Empanadas. We all order the “premium” wine package, so each course is accompanied with the Bodega's finest wines...buttery Chardonnay, inky Malbec, and two of the Bodega's blends which contain Tempranillo and Touriga Nacional blended with Malbec. And, all through lunch, I am enjoying the most excellent company of my Swiss friends (who speak great English). We talk about food, wine, travel, politics (particularly French politics), camping...you name it.
Lunch lasts a little over three hours and concludes with ice cream and coffee. Then I bid farewell to my friends and head off with my attractive guide for the winery tour. Fournier is owned by a retired Spanish banker worth a billion or two. In 2001, he came to Argentina to build a winery. Construction began in 2002 and was completed almost two years later.
And...the winery...it is magnificent. I love wine and I have visited wineries all over the world. But I have never seen anything like Fournier. The winery rises up out of the vineyards...several floors supported by massive concrete columns at the corners. Trucks drive up ramps to the top of the winery to unload. The grapes then move one floor down to be pressed. The juice then flows down to the next floor for fermentation. There are no pumps...everything is “gravity-flow”. The juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks, oak tanks (I've never seen this before) and concrete “foudres” like they use in France. It's the ultimate combination of architecture and wine-making...of traditional and modern techniques. Aging takes place one floor down in a massive room that's built like a huge cathedral...and filled with various works of art. There's no temperature control...we're way down below ground level...so it's a perfect 55 degrees.
I am sorry when the tour at last comes to an end. I wish that I had time for a second tour. But, it's almost 5:00PM. So...I buy two bottles of their “Beta Cruce” blend, and I'm on the road back to my campground.
Back at camp, the weather is still great. I sit outside with a cigar...drink wine...check emails, post to Facebook. Around 9:00, I fire up the grill behind my cabina and throw on yesterday's leftover steak and grilled vegetables...a little snack. I eat, drink more wine and watch the sun set behind the small mountains that surround my camp.
I drink wine until after midnight...then...time for bed.
Days don't get much better than this day.
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