Chris writes
Laceys were celebrating Ellis’s arrival around the world last night, with Maria in the UK being taken out by friends, Emma-Jane [Anthony’s sister] was in Palm Springs with close friends at a thanksgiving ‘Auntie celebration’ dinner and Chris in Finca Ambrosia, Gualtallary, in the Uco Valley.
At Finca Ambrosia, John and Karen hosted us in a fine manner discarding the usual servants and Karen along with Maureen cooked their husbands and fellow travellers of myself, Mike and Doug to a chicken and rice meal which we had to admit was the best meal that we have had since departing our own homes on September 25th.
The evening continued with tastes of Finca Ambrosia’s Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon fine wines accompanied by a variety of music and just a couple of silly games as we sat in the wine cellar at the Finca.
We were greeted by much clearer skies, but Volcano Tupungato itself was still playing “PeakaBo” [learning granddad language already].
Although today was a rest day there was still some driving to be completed as we had to dispose of one car, pick up two new ones the will take us on the final 3,000 miles to our journey’s end at Ushuaia and pick up two team members Frankie [making a return since our Guatemala and El Salvador days] and Craig. In addition there was a prearranged meal at Bodega Trapiche and a visit planned to the winery that actual processes the Finca Ambrosia grapes almost exclusively.
Javier dropped in for a coffee, he is the ‘agronomist’ at the Finca and he provided a good insight into how the land was tested and prepared, the vines planted and the science of knowing which grapes will grow best in which soil literally down to each square meter of the vineyard.
At 10.00 after a Karen breakfast, we headed back to the airport wondering in what condition the two rental vehicles would be in especially as they were coming from a local rental firm.
We need not have worried, paperwork all in order, new tyres all round and two spare wheels and tyres for each car, a comprehensive tool set in each vehicle and all fuelled. They also look great as we have seen so many pick ups we now feel like locals.
Then on to collect Frankie and Craig who get straight into the challenge by sharing a room on the first night they have met. But this new friendship seems to be developing fast.
We arrived at Bodega Trapiche joined by Veronica who has assisted with rental cars and works in the business and Julian who is the General Manager and an all round nice guy.
We had a three course meal of excellent quality accompanied by a variety of wines [apart from John and I who were driving the new trucks] all in all a unique dining experience for US$29 per head!
At the ‘Winery’ we were given an excellent tour by Julian, who showed us the facility.
Each tank is labelled that indicates exactly which area of the vineyard the grapes in the tank have come from down to the individual rows and actual vines. We learnt more about how blended wines are produced, and of course were asked to taste a new wine currently being developed.
We also learnt how wine varies according to what type of barrel is used and how old that barrel is and which wines it has been used for in prior years.
Barrels themselves are oak, not from Argentina, but from Europe and USA AND can cost up to €2,000. The large one we are sampling from can be up to €10,000.
We returned to Finca Ambrosia after 18.00pm having completed all our tasks for the day as well as another 200+ kms onto our rad trip tally.
Tomorrow, we start to prepare for the rest of the journey but are still based at the Finca and I am sure that we will be paid a visit by a couple of Argentinians as Scotland play them tomorrow at rugby in Edinburgh. Vanessa and Pedro who live on the estate are already preparing the asado [Bar B Q] for tomorrow.
Our America’s Challenge Drive 