Since we were on a roll, we signed up for another wine tour the following afternoon. As it was booked through the hostel we were a little apprehensive, fearing a bunch of booze-seeking twenty somethings (old, us?). However when the bus pulled up it was full of folk around our age and upwards - and all from S America.

Understanding little of the preamble on the bus out to the first vineyard, we flagged the issue and were assigned a private guide in English for the tour. Result! Dante Robino is a medium sized bodega producing a full range of reds, whites and sparkling wines. Bodegas need a special licence to provide sparkling wine and so not many do. Although the tour was interesting and informative, the methods don't differ place to place and so the sparkling section (!) was great. Three wines duly tasted and very much enjoyed we headed off to the next stop.

Cavas de Don Arturo is a tiny family-owned producer of organic red wines only. Again we got a private guide. After tasting another three wines we were sufficiently tipsy to make a purchase. We are now carrying around two bottles of wine as Fabrice still isn't well enough to enjoy them. Grrr! Erm, I mean poor Fabrice...

Next stop was an olive oil producer - small and family-owned of course. We didn't know but olive oil production is the second biggest industry in the Mendoza region after wine making. It was interesting to see the mostly manual process by which the oil is produced, and to finally understand the different between virgin and extra virgin olive oil. All to do with acidity.

That evening we headed out to a large mall on the outskirts of the town to see Skyfall at the cinema. In contrast to the mostly deserted mall in La Paz, this place was teeming with Mendoza's youth. At least half the shops were Abercrombie & Fitch-like. The movie was excellent. I won't mention where we Mc-ate afterwards....