A Chile chill with a Uruguay and Argentina topping

[craven morehead]

We have an impatient person here, peeps ,

I stuck with the Bouza brand. This one was close to top of the wozzer by price on the list. As you can see, Uruguayan wines are pretty heavy duty.

Despite the monster ABV, it was very smooth. Mouth-filling of course, and a long lingering tarry/mocha taste with an acidic overtone,

Would I say a favourite? Probably not, but a very good experience nonetheless. My first time in Uruguay, so I needed to stretch a little. Worked well with the robustly-flavoured lamb.

Before anyone chimes in: I have booked here again tomorrow night when I will finish the half of each of these bottles remaining. I do - reluctantly - have limits .

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I'd expect nothing less from a Boozer sorry I meant "Bouza" and yes I've heard there is the odd impatient person on this forum

 

[drron]

I too thought the wine name was very appropriate.

 

[JohnM]

I too thought the wine name was very appropriate.

Droll... - very droll .

If I didn’t give you blokes something to chuckle about at my expense, just think how boring your lives would be... .

 

[JohnM]

Picking up the baton(s) from where I left off last night...



And one of the ferries heading over to Buenos Aires.



Note that I am at the same front row table. TKWIA .

TBC (just for @craven morehead .)

 

[craven morehead]

Droll... - very droll .

If I didn’t give you blokes something to chuckle about at my expense, just think how boring your lives would be... .

Yep

 

[Major]

I understand there is a small Naval Museum with some artifacts from the Graf Spee if you are interested

Battle of the River Plate - Wikipedia

 

[JohnM]

Thanks. I had already done the homework on that - heading there tomorrow on my way to Punta Del Estes

 

[JohnM]

The main. Pretty good in that the Lomo (fillet steak) was well charred on the outside and rare, as ordered, but the grilled sweet potato, while very good, was excessive by quantity in the extreme.

Maitre ‘d advised accordingly.

My meal last night was better.

The Tannat had relaxed, but only slightly, over 24h.

 

[JohnM]

Oops, forgot the pics.

 

[craven morehead]

Oops, forgot the pics.

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The sweet potato must have been on special at the market that day definitely excessive by anyone's standards. Steak looked spot on.

 

[drron]

That steak does look impressive.
I love sweet potato but even I couldn't eat that much.

 

[JohnM]

Scraps last night at schmick Lo De Tere in Punte Del Este, very conveniently about 250m from my hotel.



I went for what are essentially their sgnature dishes for starter and main - the octopus carpaccio and the hake. Both excellent.

The Uruaguyan wine I chose was out of this world. A possibly completely unique blend of Chardonnay and Albarino (65:35). Just amazing.

Don’t scoff at the foam - there was some fragrant ingredient in it that lifted the whole dish with great subtlety.







Now, I practically never eat dessert. But I do not mind a citrussy sorbet and a creme brulee has appeal. I was eyeing off both, trying to decide but the waiter leaned towards the creme brulee. OK - and maybe I should try the Uruaguyan botrytised wine...





The wine was interesting. Not a full ‘sticky’ as we would generally interpret it and not the cloying taste of heavily Botrytised wine. Made from a blend of Sauvignon Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Gros Manseng, Gewurtztraminer and Petit Grain. It was lighter and more acidic than the classic Australian or French interpretations. Enjoyable.



I kept thinking about the sorbet and the unusual description of how it was served. Dang! For the first time, I had two desserts...

 

[JohnM]

My last night in Uruguay and back in Colonia.

Hip Napo is the go for the best pizza this side of Napoli. Classic Neopolitan pizza (less is more). Set up by a couple who had spent many years in Europe. Add to that a cracker Uruguayan wine selection (even if the glasses are not to match) and phwoar!



That was the Crudo/Rucola.



Run this through Google Translate to get the go on real pizza.










Some pics out of order, but you’ll get the drift. The pizza was c. $11; the wine somewhat more at c. $80 (the top wine on their list). Both bargains by Australian standards.

 

[amaroo]

Another JohnM stunner. The food looks delicious!

 

[JohnM]

Another JohnM stunner. The food looks delicious!

Errr, hardly up to @amaroo standards, but I try within my severe limitations....

 

[JohnM]

In Buenos Aires tonight. Opted to dine at The Brighton, about six blocks away, rather than go further to my old favorite parilla Cabana Las Lilas at the old port redevelopment.

Lovely setting but somehow a little tired and lacking pizazz. It was Friday night and I rocked up at about 2045h thinking I might just beat the typical 2100h dining rush. No probs getting a table and it didn’t get much busier than 20% occupied. Maybe suffering from the economic slump here?

A complimentary glass of sparkling was a nice touch.

Carpaccio was classic Argy style - the yellow pieces are parmesan cheese, BTW. The bife de lomo was translated as fillet steak. I went for that wanting a petite piece of steak. Something lost in translation - that was far too large in cross section to be fillet (aka tenderloin) as we know it. Cooked perfecto, but too big for me. I don‘t like wasting food, but I couldn’t eat it all.

The winelist had Cadus Single Vineyard Malbec listed, which I ordered, but the blend showed up. It was a good wine, but the Single Vineyard had rave reviews.

Waiter was a little confused when challenged about it (30% price difference, so I wanted to be sure whaitting). It was almost like they didn’t have a sommelier to check the stock and orders properly and someone had muffed it. The winelist was good but not as extensive as I expected.

Overall, it was good, but not excellent.

 

[JohnM]

OK, back home and needing to rewind on this and get it sorted before shooting through again on this year’s DONE4 in just under six weeks.
First evening in Guanaqueros with @juddles and a stroll along the beach to the fishing-boat harbour.



Next morning a walk out on the point and @juddles showing me where he used to live and go fishing as a kid. The first week was very cloudy.





Then we headed off to Tongoy, the next town south, for a look around and some ceviche for lunch at the fish market.



I can’t recall the name of this organism that grew in large clusters and which the fishermen harvesting it cut away to collect the flesh, but @juddles can enlighten.



Back to Guanaqueros in the afternoon and some action at the harbour with some fish-cleaning. There were about four very stout resident seals that set the dogs right off.



Numerous very pleasant evenings chewing the fat over some red… Next day, a drive into the hilly hinterland to @juddles’ old mining area.



Small-scale vein-mining and a large open-cut in the same region. The mining activity in the pit was strangely subdued with a few haulpaks almost casually wending up and down, but not the usual systematic stream heading to and from the loaders.

 

[JohnM]

Next day we went into La Serena, the main town, passing though La Herradura (Horseshoe Bay) to its immediate south. A good anchorage discovered by Francis Drake in 1578, it became a base for a range of pirates and buccaneers.



There is an old fort site on the very rocky headland between the bays.



The Cruz del Tercer Milenio (Cross of the Third Millenium) is a massive Catholic monument-cough-church in brutalist concrete that dominates the skyline of Coquimbo, the now contiguous town immediately south of La Serena. It was more interesting than we thought it would be. There was a plethora of Easter-themed bronze statues throughout the precinct.







Then a traditional completo for lunch – a hotdog, with sauerkraut, avocado and lashings of mayonnaise. Very messy to eat!

Followed by a walk around downtown La Serena.

 

[JohnM]

We spent the next three days in the Elqui Valley, famous for pisco production (Chile produces more pisco than Peru).

Looking down the valley towards the coastal cloud – and into a fearsome wind that whistles up the valley, before arriving at the Capel pisco distillery, a large cooperative and major pisco producer. Harvest was in full swing.





Fermentation vats (stainless steel and wood, depending on the style of pisco being produced) and stills.



The grapes are grown trellis-style, as shown in this demo plot in the grounds of the distillery.

Sampling the product. Light and dark styles.



Very interestingly-situated avocado orchards, and the valley floor dominated by grapes for pisco production. The trellis growing system very evident.





Windbreaks and even complete covers over higher-value crops are common in the main Elqui Valley; less so in the side valleys. Massive mandarin orchards were an example of a completely covered crop. Super-efficient and productive agriculture. Great stuff! The yellow tape was to support branches very heavily laden with fruit.

 

[JohnM]

Our digs in the Elqui Valley.







Heading to the far reaches of the Elqui Valley. The valley floor is too narrow and stony for agriculture that far up.



Old pisco fermenting vats make for a cute bus stop shelter.



Evening falls.



Some nice street art and the avocado orchard makes an interesting backdrop driving along the road through the centre of a town.





The top end of the side valley our accommodation was on. The road ran out at a group-owned large private nature reserve.