The Godiks and Penns in Mendoza: Part 2 – Familia Zuccardi, Estancia San Pablo and Vino Patricia

On Friday, the Godiks arrived. Zeev, Patsy, Greg and Jack (Georgina, their oldest, remained in London to work) stayed in a beautiful hotel close to the finca called Cavas Wine Lodge where guests are placed in small adobe houses interspersed throughout a vineyard (sorry, no pictures).

The next day, they came to the finca, where we had a relaxing lunch. Jack is an Argentine at heart and seems to love everything about the country -- the polo (which he is learning to play in London), the mate (an Argentine tea ritual - more about this later), the animals etc. You can see how he would easily fit into the lifestyle here on the finca with Pascual, Maria and the animals. In the afternoon, he went on a horse ride, and the rest of us relaxed, preparing for our busy week of "playing" ahead.

The next day, Zeev and Patsy arranged for us to have lunch and spend the afternoon with their friends the Zuccardis at Familia Zuccardi bodega. Julie, Mark, Annabel and Rebecca had previously met Julia Zuccardi, the daughter of Jose Zuccardi, the owner, when they went to visit the bodega a few months ago. Julia is lovely, warm and welcoming, and the rest of the family is the same. We ate a delicious, huge lunch in their beautiful garden outside of the restaurant. The olive harvest is coming up in May, and along with wines, the Zuccardis sell olive oils. Several of us went to see the new state-of-the-art olive press while others went to look at the new baby kittens that had just been born to one the bodega's cats.

On Monday, we drove the 1 ½ hours back up to the Uco Valley to spend the day with Walter, a gaucho, and his family. Walter and his wife own a large cattle ranch in the foothills of the Andes Mountains called Estancia San Pablo (http://estanciasanpablo.com.ar/). Getting to San Pablo is an adventure in itself. Much of the drive to the Estancia is on dirt road and, once there, one has to cross a precarious, broken bridge in the car. “You’ve got to be kidding!” was Mark’s response (and Jack said “We watched you cross the bridge and your tires barely made it over the slats” – we were in 2 cars). But, it was all worth it.
Walter is a true gaucho (multi-generation) and is committed to raising his two young children in the gaucho tradition of living off the land. Almost everything they eat is either grown or raised on their property. When old enough, their children will ride their horses to attend a small school (20 children in all, grades K-6) down the road. Their now 4 year old has had, and has been riding, her own horse since she was 1 ½ years old. Patsy, Zeev and their children have been to Estancia San Pablo several times.

As with many Argentines we've met, Walter and his family had many animals on the property - dogs, cats, horses and cattle (of course) and to the delight of us all, a newly adopted baby llama. They had taken the baby llama in when her parents had been hit by a car. Walter had bottle fed her, and now, predictably, she wouldn’t let Walter out of her sight (even inside the house). Walter's wife prepared an amazing asado for us (all of the food from their land): homemade empanadas, marinated eggplant and tomatoes, goat (a regional specialty), steak, trout, salad...it was a feast. After lunch, they saddled up the horses and we went for a long ride through the mountains. It was breathtaking - we crossed small rivers and road up into the hills. At one point we stopped to visit a cave in the side of the mountain and drink the water which ran down from the Andes. It was sweet and delicious. After 2 1/2 hours, the kids were ready to keep on going, and the adults were ready to keel over (Patsy and Julie were hobbling around for days). Needless to say, we all slept well that night.

The next day was fairly relaxed. That night, the Godiks, Pops and Julie went out for a very laid-back meal to one of Julie and Mark's favorite little restaurants called El Palenque (The Hitching Post). Pops was leaving the next day and it was the perfect end to his visit.

The Godiks stayed for a couple more days, and, unfortunately, Pops missed, by one, our visit to Zeev and Patsy's wine maker, Mauricio Lorca, where Vino Patricia (named after Patsy) is being made. It was so exciting. We saw the barrels and the cement tanks where Vino Patricia from this year and last year's harvest is fermenting. And then we had the wine tasting. How wonderful it was to taste the wine from the grapes growing in the finca....and it was delicious! By September, Gauchos will be selling two Vino Patricia Malbecs from last year's harvest. We all felt so proud and happy (see the picture of Patsy tasting her wine).

It was a wonderful visit. At the end, Patsy and Julie did get a little time together which was lovely, but is never enough. After they left, Julie, in particular, felt sad already missing her family and knowing that this was the beginning of the end of our time in Mendoza.

The Godiks and Penns in Mendoza: Part 1 – San Rafael and the Uco Valley

Julie’s father, John, better known as Pops and her cousin, Patsy, and her family, arrived from California and London respectively for a much anticipated visit. Patsy and her husband, Zeev (their last name is Godik, own the finca and will be selling the wine that they produce from the grapes grown there in their restaurants in Europe. Their restaurants, called Gauchos, specialize in Argentine fare (the food and wine are delicious, by the way, so if you are ever in London….), and the Godiks come to Argentina frequently and know it well. This is the Penn side of the family (Patsy’s mother, Joan, and Julie’s dad are sister and brother), and Patsy and Julie, before they both moved from South Africa and then when they came back for annual visits, grew up together in Cape Town.

Pops arrived first laden down with books from the girls. On his first day, we took him into Mendoza and introduced him to the wonders of trying to conduct business in Argentina, spending 2 hours in Citibank changing travelers checks (Pops said, “I thought you were exaggerating when you said it would take 2 hours”). We decided that that was the last time we would do that, and spent the rest of his time focused purely on hedonistic activities (which, of course, in Mendoza always involves visits to vineyards).

Our first visit to a winery was to a wonderful little bodega called Clos de Chacras, which is located 15 minutes away from our finca. The vineyard is small, about 13 hectors, and they produce only a few thousand bottles a year, and it is an old vineyard which is good (the best growing years for grapes are when the vines are between 85 -135 years old, according to Zeev). We planned to have lunch at their restaurant and then do the wine tour. The restaurant was lovely, small and warm, and the owner was there with her infant granddaughter making it even more cozy and homey. Pops and Julie decided to go all out and do the 6 course meal with wine pairings. The food was great and the wines were delicious. After the meal, we went on the wine tour. They happened to be bottling wines when we were there which was interesting. Because it is a small winery, they hand apply all their labels. At Clos de Chacras they use the older methods to produce the wine. They have caverns underground with concrete tanks and they store the bottles of wine next to the tanks. After the tour, we bought a couple bottles of wine and Pops purchased a Close de Chacras cap, which he wore constantly for the rest of his stay.

The next day we left for our trip to the Uco Valley, San Rafael and Valle Grande. San Rafael was recommended to us by our Argentine friends, Natalia and Mariano, and many Mendocino’s vacation there with their families because there are so many fun, outdoorsy things to do. The Uco Valley is another famous area for wines and is on the way to San Rafael. The Valley is at a higher elevation than Lujan, where we live, and is very dry, making for good grape growing conditions. We made reservations to visit a very good winery called O. Fournier. Patsy introduced Julie to the owners of O. Fournier, Jose and Nadia Ortega, and they have helped us immensely in getting acclimated to Argentina. O. Fournier is unlike any other winery. When you approach it, it looks like a spaceship has landed in the middle of the vineyard. The restaurant and bodega are ultra-modern. The restaurant is enclosed in glass with a stunning view of the Andes. Again, we opted for the multi-course lunch with wine pairings. The Ortega’s are Spanish and O. Fournier specializes in Tempranillo wines, a traditionally Spanish wine, and blends. The Ortegas designed their bodega to make optimal use of gravity and other natural phenomena. The initial de-stemming and crushing of the grapes takes place on the roof. There are tanks built into the floor and the juice, which eventually becomes wine, is passed down and the fermentation process, in the oak barrels and vats, occurs underground. The bottom floor is where the wine is bottled and stored. It also doubles as a modern art museum.

In the late afternoon, we drove the extra 1 ½ hours to Valle Grande, where we had rented a cabana for the night on the banks of the Rio Atuel. We arrived after dark but woke up early to make sure we could participate in the activities. We had many options: white water rafting, horseback riding, zip lining, hiking….we opted for white water rafting and were glad we did. The river was a level 2, perfect for us. Pops was a trooper, we had a great guide who made our ride as bouncy as possible and then threw Julie in the water (Mark and Rebecca had already taken the plunge; Pops and Annabel remained in the boat to engage in rescue procedures, if necessary). The scenery was magnificent; we were in the middle of Canon Atuel, a mini-version of our Grand Cannon but with water, and behind us were the magnificent Andes mountains.
On the way home, we stopped in San Rafael for a meal at a local restaurant, La Gringa. (We were the only gringos in the place.) Pops said it was one of the best steaks he ate, and then we drove back the 2 ½ hours to Mendoza.