Country Article / Postcards

Forget Buenos Aires

Date: 11/27/2006

Yesterday, I told you about my favorite things to do in Buenos Aires. But if you visit Argentina, you should take at least one side trip out of B.A. If you're into wine tasting and world class dining you'll want to visit the Mendoza wine country.

Last month a friend and I took a first-class, overnight bus from Buenos Aires to Mendoza city, 500 miles to the Andes foothills. We went primarily to eat and drink. I suggest you do the same. But also try to include a visit to the Casa Fader, the fine arts museum of Mendoza province.

Fernando Fader, 1882-1935, one of Argentina's top painters, settled in Mendoza in 1904. A year later Don Emiliano Guiñazu, a very big muckety-muck indeed, hired Fader to paint murals in his summer house in rural Mendoza. That house is now Casa Fader, now in the suburbs rather than the sticks. You can see those original murals today, some restored and some not.

Fader had the good sense to marry the boss's daughter, Adela Guiñazu. In the early years of their marriage, although Fernando and Adela never actually lived in the Casa Fader house, the extended family played and partied there in an effort to escape the summer heat downtown.

In 1945 Guiñazu's widow willed the summer house to the province of Mendoza, which turned it into a museum. Although everyone calls the place Casa Fader, the museum is technically the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, Casa Emiliano Guiñazu. When you visit you get to see the house (now fully restored), several acres of grounds, an historical exhibit on Fader’s life and times, some of Fader's best paintings, and other paintings by Argentines and Europeans. Open Tuesday to Friday all day, weekend and holiday afternoons, closed Monday. The museum is a 20-minute cab ride, about $8, from downtown Mendoza. (We took the number 1 bus back to town, from the bus stop in front of the museum.)

Now to food and wine. Just down the street and around the corner from Casa Fader is the Alta Vista Winery. Visit the winery and grounds and you're probably retracing Fader's steps, when he and his young wife felt like escaping the old man.

The winery moved into the modern era in 1999, when the d'Aulan family from France bought what is now Alta Vista. After a complete restoration the winery now glows; what should be new is new, what should be old has been treated with loving care. Alta Vista's Premium malbec costs about $7 here, one of Argentina's best wine values, available for slightly less than twice that in the U.S. and Europe. At the winery you can taste the full range of Alta Vista labels, their better wines only available in Argentina. Highly recommended.

Next stop should be Casa Weinart, on the way back to Mendoza. One of the oldest wineries in Argentina, Weinart represents old-style winemaking. New-style wineries make intense, fruity wines, age them for six months or so in new, small oak barrels, and move them out the door.

They're meant to be drunk young. Weinart on the other hand makes old-fashioned wines. Instead of new, small oak barrels for six months, Weinart uses old, huge oak vats for two to five years. New means fruit and wood, young and tasty. Old means orange hues, longer aging both in vats and bottles, better balance, more complexity. I prefer new to old, but buy a bottle at Alta Vista (new) and Weinart (old) and compare for yourself.

As you return to Mendoza you pass the distinguished 1884 restaurant of celebrity chef Francis Mallman. The striking, modern 1884 occupies part of an old winery and has both indoor and outdoor seating. We started our dinner there with a platter of kidneys in garlic mustard sauce, then went on to mains. I choose a thick, juicy lamb steak while my friend tried the delectable young goat ribs. All of our choices had been roasted in 1884's outdoor clay oven. For wine we chose a local malbec from the very reasonable, very complete wine list. A spectacular evening, all for less than $40 total for two. Terrific value on any worldwide scale, especially compared to Mallmann's restaurant in New York.

Across the street from 1884, on the other side of Belgrano Street, is Las Negras. Locals insist that Las Negras is better and cheaper than 1884.

Mendoza offers a wide variety of lodgings, but my favorite is the Club Tapiz in nearby Maipu. Club Tapiz is a boutique B&B with only seven rooms, built in and around an old winery. Wander through the old caves, relax by the pool, and indulge in a massage at the modern, accommodating spa. For new arrivals, there's wine-tasting of the best Tapiz wines at 8 p.m. Rooms go for around $100 a night.

Paul Terhorst
For International Living