Maipu's Wine and Bike Tours: Mr. Hugo's

One of the best things I did when I first go to Mendoza was to to the wine and bike tour. At first I was a little nervous about visiting vineyards and drinking and riding the bike at the same time but it was surprisingly easy with scenery like this. 

 view of the Andes from Maipu

We went straight to Mr. Hugo's. I always like promoting good people and Mr Hugo is one of them. Maipu is known in argentina for it's bodegas and many of them are in Maipu

map

So we took the one of the buses (171, 172  or 173) on Alem and Rioja in Capital, we walked  for a while it was far from  our apartment. We didn't wait long, there were young American tourists with thick black Ray Bans waiting as well. The bus was almost empty and it's coin box wasn't working. It was only accepting bus passes, we didn't have one so he just let us on. 

After 30 minutes or so we got off at the bike shop, Mr Hugo in person welcoming you  in. For about 30 pesos you get a bike for the afternoon, a little bottle of water and a map. The bikes are in good shape, all the other people that got them from the other rentals didn't look so good. Then need to because those roads are tough. Seriously, cracks everywhere so you need a bike that can handle a bumpy road. 

 

You will get a map that has all the locations to all of the bodegas and tourist attractions from the people you rent your bikes from. Everything is pretty close but you may need to get the cardio going beforehand.

We decided to take the first left turn up the road on our way to Bodegas Trapiche. We saw lamas :)

Trapiche has tours every hour on the hour. We were 30 minutes late so we just decided to get the cava and drink it on their fabulous terrace with a view of Mt Tupungato (or so the wine hostess claims).

We decide to go further up the road. We decide to hit Tempus Alba and have a steak lunch at the mini family bodega across the street.

This is Christian. he gave us a personal our of the small bodega across Tempus Alba. 

Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the place. It was written on my Mr. Hugo map and it was in the pocket of my jeans when they went in the wash. It's not exactly across Tempus Alba but in the other side of the road it's hard to miss. Remind me know the name if you visit.

 a few of the wines Chrsistian had displayed. 

Frankie and I posing for our "Evidence of Relationship" folder LOL

There are some bodegas that still do things the old way. This is one of them. The barrels are still lined with some kind of leather I think. I'm not sure about the numbers but there can't be that many that haven't pimped up their bodegas to increase production, at least the popular ones. The newer bodegas are putting their barrels underground for better temperature control and the use of gravity to move their liquids. Bodegas Dollium in Lujan was one of the first.


Our wine tasting faces

We were the only ones there but we got a mix of everything. A typical Argentine asado with real home-made chimichurri. We took a few more pics and head off to Tempus Alba.

One of Frankie's friends told him that he looked like Dos Equis's "The Most Interesting  Man in the World" so we spent a couple of month laughing at the funny quotes he could think of in the accent.

BTW, Frankie can never wear that old man Santa Clause beard. It was fun once but don't worry that's it, I'm sure it will never happen again. Luckily, this picture will be here for ever and ever.

Off to Tempus Alba.

in Spanish and in English

funny pic time

 the vines

If you go in the summer they leave some of the gapes on the vines so yo can get to tast a fee if you visit them then. Malbec grapes are super sweet and smaller than the regular grapes you get. I tasted  few without being seen!

Wine tasting at Tempus Alba in Feb 2011

The Beer Garden

There is this quaint little artesanal beer garden about 300 m from Trapiche. There are arrows and hand made posts around so keep your eyes peeled for those and you'll be able to find it easily.

 Just follow the signs!

 inside the "Beer Garder".

I think this is was exactly what my first apartment looked like

So we had a great time and just recently we took our Australian guests biking in Maipu and they had a great time too. A must do here in Mendoza. Say hello to Hugo for Frankie and me if you ride his bikes.

Me drinking complementary wine after my exhausting bike ride.

Did I mention he gives you free after you return your bike. Free for clients ;). He has a nice little sitting area with umbrellas and never lets you glass go dry.  You'll meet a lot of people from all over there every time and they've all ridden their bikes buzzed but safely back to Mr. Hugo just like you and are drinking free unlimited malbec.