When in Mendoza it seems rude not to do a wine tour, so I had booked a tour of 3 wineries in the Uco valley, through a company called Trout and Wine. They picked me up bang on time at 8.40, and there was one other couple, Laura and Jean-Pierre from Canada, already in the minivan when I got in. Our guide, Sabrina, explained that it would only be the 3 of us (plus herself) which worked out really well.

As we left Mendoza, Sabrina launched into her tour guide spiel and, just like the guy on the previous tour, barely stopped for breath in her eagerness to impart as much information as she could in a short timeframe. But she was very charming and always happy to be interrupted with any questions.

The journey to the first winery passed in no time, and it was probably no later than 10am when we had our first taste of wine. We were eased in gently with a light rose before being taken on a tour of the winery – followed by a tasting of 3 more wines, accompanied by cheese and crackers.

On to the second winery where we started with a Sauvignon blanc and a tour of the fermentation area before being invited to take a sample of Cabernet Franc directly from one of the tanks!

After a brief stop in the room where all the barrels of wine are kept for the ageing process, we proceeded to a private room for the actual tasting – having already had a taste of the Sauvignon blanc and the Cabernet Franc, I had thought we were already doing the tasting! We tried a delicious sparkling wine – it was so good I ended up buying a bottle – and four further varietals and blends. The final wine was a Petit Verdot which we all agreed was delicious.

On the way out we bumped into the owner, who is French, and who asked how we had enjoyed the tour and the wine tasting. He apologised for not being able to speak very good English, at which point Jean-Pierre chatted away to him in French instead. A waitress arrived with some empanadas for the owner and his guests and we were invited to help ourselves – definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time – and having a French speaker in our party!

We headed onto the third winery (Bodega Andeluna) where we were booked in for a 4-course lunch with different wines paired to each course. We had lunch out on the terrace and all agreed both the food and the wines were superb.

Altogether a fabulous day out with wonderful food and wines in beautiful settings. Though it did finish me off for the rest of the day – yet again I found I couldn’t face going out for an evening meal or anything further to drink, so just lazed around in the room trying to finalise my itinerary for Salta.