Tempus Alba Able

After our friends, the Alaskans of Postcard Valet, talked so highly of the bodega Tempus Alba, and after we failed to visit it on our bike and wine tour, we decided to give it one more shot on our last day in Mendoza. Our Spanish failed us while communicating with the bus driver and we were dropped off 6 km prematurely. Our bus cards only had enough credit on them to pay for our ride back to town. So, we were going to have to work for this wine.

An hour later, we arrived sweaty, but happy at Tempus Alba. We bypassed the free self guided tour thinking, “We’ll do it after our tasting!” We headed straight to the restaurant out back and could immediately see what all the fuss was about. The patio was comfortable, the weather was perfect and the view of the Andes and the surrounding vines were beautiful. This journey was about tasting and relaxing and so we got right to it.

We decided hours earlier that this was going to be charged toward our “activity” budget. This meant, conveniently, that we were free of the restrictions of our “food” budget. This place looked safe and the menu looked promising, so we took a risk and ordered a burger. We have had a handful of burgers in South America of which the best have been made by Americans. The best burger we’ve had was at Hostal Aqui where the owner, William, actually asked the people at the market to add fat to the ground beef. He also taught his Ecuadorian staff how to cook the burgers. Ecuadorians (and everyone else in South America apparently) cook burgers to the death. With Argentina being the huge beef eaters that they are, we figured they’d be burger making masters. Unfortunately, we have yet to find any worthy of celebrating. At Tempus Alba, it was decent, but it had about a cup of mustard on it. We remember liking it, but thinking back, perhaps that was the wine talking.

We shut down the place and missed out on the tour. Wine making is wine making. Everyone does it the same, so we weren’t upset by this. In fact, we were the opposite of upset. We were in such a fantastic mood that Dusty had to show me his best handstands during our exit.

He has some work to do. ;)

Details

Viñedos y Bodega Tempus Alba
Carril Perito Moreno 572
Coquimbito – Maipu – Mendoza, Argentina CP 5513
Tel/Fax: 54.261.4813.501
[email protected]

• free self guided tour as well as pay packages
• restaurant overlooking vineyard and Andes Mountains
• tasting of 3 varietals for $20 ARS or $5 USD
• complete menu as of March 2011