My first stop in Argentina was Mendoza. But let me go back slightly to the bus ride from Santiago. To get from Santiago in Chile to Mendoza in Argentina, I need to cross the Andes. One of the most beautiful bus rides I've ever been on!

Snow capped mountains turning into snow drenched mountains and winding zip zag roads up and over them. The photos are taken from a moving bus so don't do it justice at all! At one point we even went under a ski lift from one of the small resorts. The Chilean military was also out in full uniform having a ski lesson. It was stunning! The border crossing was freezing however! I was not even a little bit prepared for it... Having come from Santiago, that was reasonably warm, I hadn't thought about wearing an extra jumper or having my hat/scarf/gloves in my bag. Luckily I had my coat with me. Butstill, it was cold!

After the border it was all down hill and the landscape slowly changed to a desert one. Mendoza was a lot warmer. The first two days I was walking around in a t-shirt, in the sun with brilliant blue skies. Mendoza is the capital of wine making country here in Argentina. This is why I was here.Wednesday afternoonI booked a half day wine and tango tour through the hostel. After weighing up a couple of tours, varying ridiculously in price I decided to give the hostels tour a go.... And what a disappointment! The tango which featured so prominently in the name of the tour, was actually just a 5 minute lesson outside of a winery. With no music and the winery guide as the teacher. The wine wasn't much better either. We visited two wineries, Domiciano and Stocco de Viani. Whilst the wines were bed, they weren't anything special. And the tour through the winery was very simple. Here's a tank, here's a barrel, here's a bottle. That kind of thing. Not all that exciting. We also visited an olive oil factory and a chocolate factory. So the emphasis on wine wasn't all that big either. The rest of the group seemed to love it though, and almost everyone bought at least one thing from each stop. Some maybe it was me? Maybe I'm just too much of a wine snob for a hostel operated tour? Well, two days later I would get to find out. Friday I had planned one of the more expensive tours. Through a company specialised only in wine. Expectations were high. And expectations were met! This group was much smaller. A retired American couple (who were only in town for 4 days, doing a different wine tour each day), an Australian couple and a young Swiss guy. And our guide who kinda looked like Shakira. The first winery, Clos de Chacras, we were met with a glass of white wine. It was a small boutique winery where everything was done by hand. They have a very small production amount, much smaller than it once was and as a result, in the cellar they have the original wood fronted tanks. Preserved so that people can see how things used to be.

I thought this was great. It's not often these days that anything original is preserved. Then it was back upstairs and to the tasting room!

This tasting was paired with two cheeses, nuts, raisins and crackers. Wednesday's tour had no food so I was already more impressed. I'm not a big red wine person but these were very nice. Only the Cabernet Sauvignon I didn't like, but that is a very heavy grape.

Outside of the winery they were barbecuing two mini goats. Saturday was Independence Day in Argentina and this was in preparation for the celebrations.

I'm not going to go through all of the wineries, I will only say that the second was called Domino del Plata, Caelum and had an amazing 5 course meal at Bodega Vistalba.

At the second winery, we were given a plank of food and asked to pair each wine with an item.

From left to right we had a Torrontes (the only grape variety originally from Mendoza), a Malbec, a Brioso and a sweet Malbec and food wise there was rocket, cream cheese, caramel (national dessert of Argentina!) and salted crisps. I thought the Malbec went well with the cream cheese but had no clue about the rest! The Australian lady said everything went with the caramel (she had already confessed her love for caramel as soon as she saw it!) and the Swiss guy thought everything went with the crisps. Their tasting room was downstairs in a room filled with wine.

This winery was more high tech. It's actually only been open since 2001 and a year after opening the owner (Susana Balbo) was crowned most influential female wine maker. Not bad after only starting a year earlier... The winery was beautiful! Views of the snowy Andes, peaceful patios and a beautiful lake. And all surrounded by the vineyard.

They were using a relatively new tank. It's egg shaped. Something that originated in France about 3 years ago.

Lunch at Bodega Vistalba Was amazing. Another stunning location, with views of the mountains. We had a different wine with each course. By this point I had stopped taking notes on what we were drinking. I just know we had a Chardonnay, a Malbec rose and 3 reds. I went for the steak, what with being in Argentina and all... They are amazing here! On the first night at my hostel they had an asado (Argentinian BBQ) and that was really tasty, really tender meat. That I thought would be over-cooked because it took them 2 hours, but it was perfectly medium in the middle.

I've wanted to come to Argentina for a long time, although I never really knew why... Now that I am here i get it. Great steak and great wine! Oh and beautiful scenery and perfect weather. There is a very good chance that I may not leave...