We left Neuquen earlier than I think we managed to leave any other town on this trip, around 10AM or so. We'd planned on hitting several of the Valle Alto 'bodegas' or vinyards along the way and we still had a long drive.
The first sign we saw was for the third vinyard on the map, in order from west to east. How on earth had we missed the other two? Well...good thing #3 was Humberto Canale because we'd be itching to get to that vinyard ever since our first sip of his 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon called Intimo back at Lago Puelo.
Initially Guille (my ever faithful and kind translator) was told by the security guard at the gate that it would be impossible to visit. When she asked if we could at least BUY wine, we were welcomed in. Funny how that works!
Guille and I both grabbed our wallets and cameras though I worried we'd stand out as tourists. A few moments later and out of the blue came a fellow photo-enthusiast with a camera slung around her neck who came to say hi and see who we were.
It turns out Dolores' husband works for Humberto Canale. She's the one who told us that there was a big festival in the town of General Roca and the vinyard was hosting a couple of big events for it that afternoon so that's why they were so busy and weren't doing tours. Aha!
She got us access to see the museum before we bought our cases of wine. Then the sales manager came by and got chatting with 'Horseshoe Willy' as I've nicknamed Guille, and he invited us for a tour of the aging rooms. In the end Dolores led us around which was nice because not only is she lovely, but she could appreciate the extra time we wanted for taking pictures.
After the tour Guille went to ask the sales manager, Juan, for a wine glass with the logo of the bodega on it. There was another man standing talking to Juan whom I recognized from the brochure. It had to be a Canale so I walked over to say hi too! I wasn't going to miss that opportunity!
Afterwards we swapped notes and neither of us thought we'd heard him introduced as a Canale. Still, I was pretty sure I recognised his face. Once we got Internet we googled the vinyard and discovered he's the current head honcho there though his last name isn't Canale. It turns out he's the grand-nephew of Humberto Canale. Pretty cool!
As we left the bodega we decided not to bother seeing any other vinyards that day because they'd only be disappointing after this one! We also shook our heads at our good fortune. Had we found the other two vinyards or left Neuquen any later we would have definitely been turned away. Sometimes things happen the way they're supposed to. Yay.
When we pulled in to Bahia Blanca much later in the evening and parked in front of Guille's apartment, the odometer read 3450km!!!! What a run! I traced the route on the map while it was still fresh in my mind and below you can see where we went! At his point we concluded that "Dale Patagonia" was a wild success and we're continuing to scheme on how to make the Bolivia trip work out next month...
No comments:
Post a Comment