March 04, 2019
A delayed Day 2 weblog from Chris’s South America journey, which technically is Day 1 as they’ve solely simply arrived in Chile…
Sunday morning and the Insignificant Seven are in considerably higher spirits. Our unscheduled 36 hours in Madrid offered ample alternative to bury ourselves in a cultural tour of the town’s heritage, taking in church buildings, museums, palaces, extra church buildings, civic buildings, nonetheless extra church buildings ( I imply actually, what number of church buildings does one metropolis want?) and a bar……..and a restaurant…… and one other actually good craft beer bar (Kalla Beer manufacturing facility) ….. and Kuoco 360 Restaurant, advisable to us by the bar, which was simply amazingly good and never outrageously dear and we love with a ardour that’s onerous to specific however, in all seriousness, I feel we’d all counsel that you just arrive with out having spent 2 hours within the very fantastic Kalla Beer manufacturing facility.Â
Friday morning dawned a bit sooner than we should always all have wished (about 2 days earlier after the excesses of Thursday night) and the airport and Santiago beckoned. The whole lot was effective if a bit blurry as we boarded one other Iberia flight (you already know the place that is heading don’t you?) for the 13 hour flight to South America. Little to be mentioned in regards to the flight other than JJ engineering a seat swap which left me within the firm of a troubled 18 month outdated and his mother and father – luckily Toy Story on repeat appeared to supply some kind of panacea as yours actually caught up on 6 months price of viewing pleasure. (For the report, Can You Ever Forgive Me – 7/10, Black Klansman- 9/10, Johnny English (forgive me, I used to be fading at this level) 6/10, it did comprise some comedy gems, The Favorite – 8/10, Bohemian Rhapsody – 7/10, A Personal Warfare – 6/10).Â
10.00 p.m. landed in Santiago as did the bags of 4 of the occasion. You may guess the remainder – as I write on Sunday night, 3 of our quantity stay bagless and are quickly shedding confidence within the phrases of consolation provided by a crew in Madrid whose competence ranges are someplace beneath zero on the Chris Grayling scale.Â
Winery visits to our Chilean hosts had already been kicked into the lengthy grass by our prolonged keep in Spain so a final minute tasting was scheduled within the considerably much less spectacular surroundings of Vina Requingua’s Santiago workplace. Requingua’s European export supervisor Nicolas and Bouchon Household Vineyard’s in-house sommelier Natalia offered a formidable double act, taking us by means of a mixed vary of some 30 wines while multi-tasking on the telephone to Iberia’s hapless baggage handlers, earlier than we headed again to Santiago airport for the shuttle to Mendoza.
 Private highlights from the tasting included from Requingua a splendidly drinkable, off-dry Moscato, the actually scrumptious Toro de Piedra Carignan and the fabulous Patria Nueva Chardonnay while Bouchon pulled out the stops with the gorgeous Block Collection Malbec, the eminently toothsome Canto Norte and the jaw-droppingly fantastic pair of Granito Semillon and Carmenere/Cabernet mix.
 After which Argentina beckoned…..
