It's wine tour time and with a group of girls from hostel we set out to do the famous bike tour of the Mendoza vineyards. The vineyards are located in an area called Maipu about a forty minute bus ride from the city. By the time we got sorted with bikes and left Mr Hugo's (recommened bike hire) and his never ending classes of 'Welcome Wine' it was about one pm.

The area of vinyards is roughly a ten km stretch and has about thirteen vinyards. A beer garden, olive oil factory and a chocolate factory are thrown in there for good measure too. One of the employees in Mr Hugo's gave us some information on the wineries. Everything closes at seven so we had to pick and choose and put a bit of planning in (well about two minutes worth). We decided to do this planning at the beer garden. It was nearby, a beer is an nice way to ease you into the day and more importantly it served food too. How sensible are we! Our plan was to visit the famous industrial one -Trapiche, a family run vineyard - Famillia Di Tomaso and a modern vineyard - Tempus Alba and Mevi.

A tip I got was to cycle out to the furthest away one first. That way you don't have such a great distance to complete on the way home that evening. From our awesome planning session above it was all going to work out like clockwork.

At the first vineyard Familia de Tomaso (the family run) we opted to do a tour. To be honest I was expecting to see the wine making process but it was only a talk about the process. We did get to walk through the old vats that they used to ferment the wine in. Our guide explained the fermentation process and the different storage in oak barrels. The oak barrels are French or American oak or they a be a mix. Wine can be bottled straight after fermentation or it can be stored in the barrels for six months or twelve months then bottled. We also got to sample each of these wines. The first one was too fruity, the last one was to oak-y but the middle one was just right!

Armed with this knowledge we hit the other vineyards. As there was a large group of us we ordered two bottles in each place. This way everyone had about a glass of each and we got to sample quite a few wines. Various Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec's were the pick of the bunch but we managed to throw in a Rose too. Malbec was my favourite.

With the sun shining down on us we sat out on the balcony with some spectacular views over the vineyards. Rows and rows of vines continued as far as the eye could see. The snow capped Andes range that ran from right to left provided a dramatic backdrop. With great wine, great views and even better company I could have stayed here for an eternity. Alas it was closing time and the police were waiting outside to escort us back to Mr Hugo's. They say it's for our safety as some muggings do occur but when one of the motorbike guys was chatting up Kelly on the way back I had my doubts..

Back in Mr Hugo's we were treated to some 'Farewell wine'. He asked us to leave a few times but each time
he said it he filled us another glass of wine. I may have had a few glasses of wine in me at this stage but his was certainly the most bizarre way to try and get rid of someone. At eight we eventually left and headed back to our hostel. When we arrived I was just in time for the BBQ with more red wine. What a day!

It was true what I had heard, the wine tour was definitely not to be missed on any trip to Mendoza. Without a doubt, it will go down as one of my favourite days on this amazing trip!