This morning started with sleeping in. We wanted to leave for a bodega (winery) by 10:30am. Danelle and I were up a little after 8am. We got ready and enjoyed the morning, getting Sonora up at 9am so she could shower. But we were all ready and only left a few minutes late. We went first with the Ripoll family following a few minutes behind us.
When we arrived, we were not quite sure where to park. We went down the street and turned around parking on the street. Corvin and I started walking and were barely at the corner, when we heard a honk of the Ripoll’s car. We turned around and saw them pull into the winery, so we walked in behind them. Coty’s godmother Carolina owns the Bodega Hagmann with her husband, so we got a special behind the scenes tour of their location. We were told we had something special for us today and she didn’t disappoint!
I can’t do the tour justice, but we got very close to the equipment. Carolina also allowed us to peek into a 50,000 liter tank that was being cleaned as the harvest is about to start. It’s not part of a normal tour due to the danger of falling in. It would be hard to be rescued through a man hole cover.
Following the tour we enjoyed an outdoor wine tasting. The area was a grove of olive trees interspersed with barrels used for aging wine. She provided some grapes freshly cut from the vine at Carolina’s brother’s house and Dulce De Membrillo made out of rubio fruit (quince). The Dulce was like a spongy jelly formed in a bar. My description is horrible, but the taste was amazing. We tried five different wines. I liked 4 of them. They also have port here, my favorite style. We ended up with 8 bottles of great wine for about $36 USD. This place is crazy good if you love wine.
After the tasting, we had a quick lunch at the Ripoll house, then siesta. After a 30 minute nap, I grabbed a water bottle and took off on a solo walk. I enjoyed being in my own head to decompress and just see the country. I took several photos. More special to me, I talked to a gentleman after taking photos of a water pump. I explained “no Spanish.” He offered water and I thanked him, but had enough to finish the walk. People are amazing everywhere.
Tonight we’re having traditional Argentine BBQ for dinner at the Ripoll house and I’m looking forward to the meal. Coty’s grandparents came over (Hugo and Tere) plus Marcos and Anna (aunt and uncle). Francisco BBQed two different cuts. The beef cut looked like the shape of the country. He placed some paper over the meat while cooking and used a combination of smoke and coals to cook it. I think salt was the primary rub for flavor. That was followed up by a large cut of pork. Both meats were excellent but the pork won over my tastes. Everyone else liked the beef better.
After dinner, the kids went in the house to get ready for their evening out. The rest of us followed dinner with a long conversation primarily in Spanish with occasional breaks in English for me. What wonderful hosts/friends. We brought out our laptop to show some photos of the new house and the current progress. Then some other photos of the Missouri River to show a piece of home. Danelle had an interesting time describing different places and explaining some of the photos, but she enjoyed the opportunity to put her Spanish to the test.
The kids were going to an overnight party at a local club. Coty had already purchased tickets. It goes from midnight to 5am. We left close to 12:45am and took them to the party with money to get a taxi home in the morning. Coty has done this before and we trust her. We said goodbye and goodnight and drove the kids out. Arriving back to the house around 1:15am we didn’t waste any time falling asleep after another wonderful day.
