Farmstead Cheeses and Wines: Jeff’s Blog

After the visit to the Olive Oil factory, we repaired back to the hotel, where I blogged and napped before dinner. Surprise, we were going out to have some Asado and Malbec! This time to the famed Don Mario restaurant, a trdition of Parilla and Asado in Mendoza for generations.

We had eaten at don Mario’s first restaurant several days before (see photo below of brick sized portion of meat), but tonight it was to have his famed baby goat - butterflied, salted and grilled, delivered sizzling on the table, accompanied by the most excellent wines of Viejo Isaias.

Eating all of this meat for days on end was starting to get to me, so I was overjoyed at the sight of some vegetables arriving at the table - wow, a salad - who’da thunk I could get so excited over a slice of unripe tomato and a few lettuce leaves!

The goat was amazing — succulent, crispy and juicy - different from the Birria Tacos I’ve had from International Blvd taco trucks. This had more depth of flavor with subtlety, and wasn’t gamy at all. Would I go out of my way to eat baby goat again? Sure.

Then it was back to the hotel for a nightcap and dreamland.

The next morning, we piled back into the busses for our last winery trip - to Belasco de Baquedano - a relative newcomer on the Mendoza wine scene, but one that has four generations of winemaking experience in Spain.

The winery and vineyards are the site of some of Mendoza’s oldest vines (100 years old), and is one of Mendoza’s only gravity flow winemaking facilities.

The wines are elegant, deep, and not over the top (their 2005 Tiza Malbec will be a Wine Club selection in August).

The winery is state of the art, utilizing every trick in the book - high tech barrel washing machines, cold maceration rooms, gravity feed delestage cap management , and minimal intervention.

The results are stunning - balanced wines, deep and rich, with complexity, depth and grace.

Did I mention the views from the winery? Or the really cute 10 week old Mastiff puppies (bigger than my medium sized dogs now, these cuties will be 200 lbs in a year!)? The sweet, crotchedy owner’s speech about Basque independence when asked about the spelling of his name? Belasco is the Basque word for crow.

After touring the winery, we went upstairs to the terrace to admire the view and taste through the wines.

After that, some Asado (surprise!), then off to the front lawn to play with the puppies.

Then back in the bus for siesta, final dinner, and Adios Argentina!

Muchos Gracias and much appreciation to Fran Kysela for organizing and hosting the trip, it’s a privilege to be able to hang with one of the wine world’s great minds for ten days), and to Manuel for providing spot on translations and making sure we had enough beef.