Who is the fifth biggest wine producer in the world, you ask?

....well it is Argentina according to google. We are both big fans of Argentinian malbecs. It was therefore with great pleasure that we embarked on a self-guided tour of the Maipu section of the Cuyo wine region.

We stopped by Trapiche, one of the bigger names in Argentinian wines, and the country's largest exporter. It was the slickest tour by far, with videos and demonstrative machinery. One in ten bottles exported from Argentina is from Trapiche, so that's why there is always a good selection at Chaffers New World in Wellington.

We also visited Mevi and Carinae. Both were more boutique than Trapiche, but had similar selections of malbecs and torrontes, of course. Mevi had a really nice deck to catch the sun, and reasonable food options. Perfect spot to end a wine tour. We will have to return next time with a crew and rent bikes.

We finished the day at a craft beer brewery, because why not? A group of tourists were there having finished up a bike tour of the vineyards. The police came and told them to clear out as the sun started to get low, as apparently Maipu gets a little bit stabby after dark.

We stayed at a nearby campground that got pretty cold at night. We had to spend a while scraping the ice off the windscreen before we could get going in the morning. There was even ice inside the windshield.