ARGENTINA - Wine and Chocolates in Mendoza

The area of Mendoza is famous throughout the world for the production of great quality Argentinian red wines especially Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.  There are hundreds of wineries around the region, producing wine mainly for export.

The growing of vines began with the Jesuits developing vinyards  in northern Argentina over 500 years ago, then with the arrival of the Spanish, French and Italian, all bringing with them their own varieties in the 19th century, the wine industry really took off.

Mendoza is a perfect area for vines due to a number of reasons – Sunshine - it’s pretty constant summer! It’s in a dry desert area with very little rainfall, so water is regulated and piped in from the snowmelt of the Andes.  Altitude – There are varying altitudes around Mendoza, with some grapes growing better at higher altitudes than others. Mendoza is between 900m and 1800m perfect for its Malbec! The final reason is the variance in temperature between night and day. Warm days encourage sugar production and allow the grapes to develop a nice thick skin, and the cool nights ensure good acidity levels.

With all those facts after touring round the wineries by bike, we had good chance to sample quite a few!!

A nice wee Rose with the vinyard's son.

The vines of Mendoza

We spent a great day cycling around the wineries of Chacras near Mendoza, and ended the day at a lovely little rustic chocolate shop - . The owner Nora grows all her own fruit, bakes her own cakes, jams and pickles, and makes chocolates (from her Swiss husband’s family recipes handed down through generations), and the highlights – home made Dulce de Leche and liqueurs.  Whilst we were there a real bad storm was brewing outside, blowing up dust and bringing down trees so Nora insisted we stay, and with a plate of chocolates and a glass of home made absynthe how could we refuse!

Nora’s Dulce de Leche - 4 hours hard work stirring milk and sugar  in her copper pot!

Some good strong absynthe after all those wines!

A great place to seek refuge from the storm!

Buying a jar of chocolate dulce de leche, which I’m hoping makes it to Australia for Christmas, Nora recommended making a caramel flan (like egg custard/crème caramel) with it which is popular to have on Christmas Day, so fingers crossed!

Meanwhile outside....!

Recipe for Flanes de Dulce de Leche
250g / 9 oz sugar 220g dulce de leche
50ml water 3 eggs
500ml milk 3 egg yolks
1. Place in a pan 150g (5oz) of the sugar and the water. Boil until dissolved into a caramel. Divide the liquid into the dishes and leave to cool.
2. Heat the milk along with the dulce de leche and half the remaining sugar (50g), stirring until dissolved, then remove from the heat before it boils.
3. Beat the eggs, yolks and the rest of the sugar, then pour on top the cool milk mixture without parting the mix ???? Check the Spanish translation!!
4. Colar ??? and separate into the dishes.
5. Place on a baking tray of hot water as a ban-marie and cover with foil.
6. Place in the oven at 170 C for 20 – 30 mins if separate dishes, or 40 – 50 mins if a large flan.
7. Chill until ready to serve.

Serve with caramelised nuts –
200g / 7oz nuts 100ml water
200g / 7oz sugar
1. Place the nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven (180C) for 5 mins.
2. Put the sugar and water in a pan and on the heat stir until a thick syrup is formed.
3. Remove from the heat and add the nuts.
4. Keeping of the heat, stir with a wooden spoon until the nuts are coated in the white sugar.
5. Serve along with the flan.

Camp Food
Just incase you think we’re doing a lot of fine dining in Argentina, this is how we normally eat – a tasty camp feast of noodle soup and crackers!!

camp kitchen

What a feast - super noodles, sausage, pasta sauce topped with cheese!!