Valley of the 6K Peaks
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ISSN 1853-9610 Nº91 - WINTER 2018 - July / August / September Catamarca Valley of the 6K Peaks Mendoza Restaurants Winery Guide Maps Wine Tours in Uruguay wine-republic.com 1 2 3 CONTENTS News Republic Out & About When the Sugar Turns to Alcohol...................... 5 Bars............................................................................... 22 Volcanic Wines.......................................................... 5 Dining out.................................................................. 24 Fracking Hell............................................................... 5 Winery Guide........................................................... 26 The land of the 6 k Peaks Maps & More The desolate beauty of la Puna, Catamarca in Useful information.................................................. north west Argentina................................................ 6 Map of Mendoza City Center............................... 23 Tango Map of Maipú............................................................ 30 The private dance.................................................................. 10 Map of Chacras de Coria........................................ 32 Uruguay Map of San Martín Park......................................... 34 Step up to the Plate...................................................... 14 34 The land of the 6 Peaks Montevideo Tango CREDITS Issue Winter 2018,- July / August / September. ISSN 1853-9610. 10,000 Copies. Published by Seven Colors S.A. Address: Espejo 266, Planta baja. Departamento 3. Mendoza, Argentina - Tel. +54 (261) 425-5613 Editor: Charlie O’Malley Publicity and Publisher: Mariana Gómez Rus: [email protected], [email protected] Design: Circlan.com . Jona Conti: [email protected]. Contributors: Mariana Gómez Rus - Gilda Isoardi Photo Contributors: Miguel Andrade, Emilie Giraud y Mariana Gómez Rus Printer: Artes Gráficas UNION Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily the editorial opinions of Wine Republic www.wine-republic.com 4 NEWS REPUBLIC When the Sugar Turns to Alcohol Budeguer is one of Argentina’s biggest sugar cane producers and is based in Tucuman, North West Argentina. In 2005 the Company moved into wine with the purchase of vineyards in Mendoza and has since built a modern, high tech winery in Lujan de Cuyo. Here you can try one of Mendoza’s most elegant Chardonnays – Tucumen Reserva, in bucolic surroundings with great views of the vineyards and Andes. The winery is also the proud producer of Petit Verdot which is used in the blend of its top label 4000 Black Blend – 4000 refers to the postal code of Tucuman. The 2016 vintage has recently been released and is a delicious mix of Malbec, Montevideo Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. And to prove that this winery is forever looking forward, Budeguer has recently purchased Rotta Winery in Paso Roble, California. Open every day for visits, contact turismo@budeguer. com or (0261)4762020. Volcanic Wines Fracking Hell Tupungato volcano is one of the highest volcanoes in Fracking, the controversial method of extracting the World and is easily visible from Mendoza city. In petroleum, has finally come to Mendoza. Recent the distant past it once spurted a large lick of lava that is government approval has breathed new life into the now a 2.5 hectare lump of basalt in Uco Valley and part of oil fields of Malargue where it was once presumed the the newly planted Casa Petrini winery vineyards. From oil reserves were exhausted. Now the industry hopes the lava now flows wine as the winery has produced to attract one billion dollars in foreign investment. wine from the volcanic grapes – Malbec Roca Volcanica. Environmentalists have mobilised the population If this does not spur your interest to visit well maybe however with popular protests springing up in towns the 8-bedroom luxury lodge might tempt you to go across the province and many mayors declaring south. Or the gourmet restaurant with stunning views they would not allow the practice in their backyards. of the mountains. Still not sure? Surely the opulent spa Alarming audio recordings predicting environmental and sauna seals the deal. Open everyday. Armageddon have gone viral and inflamed the www.casapetrini.com protestors. Road blocks have sprung up, detaining oil company supply trucks and provincial media is jammed with commentators arguing for and against the practice. The main argument for the anti-fracking lobby is the great danger of contaminated ground water – an essential resource in semi-desert Mendoza. The pro-fracking parties counter that a province with 30% poverty needs to exploit every resource it has to revive the economy and provide employment. Perhaps lost in the argument is the fact that days of fossil fuels are over and that Mendoza should be looking beyond the horizon, to the sun. A province with endless sunny skies is perfect for solar power, in much the same way as breezy Patagonia is perfect for wind power. 5 Catamarca The land of the PeaksGilda Isoardi marvels at the desolate 6K beauty of la Puna, Catamarca in north west Argentina. Volcano Inca Huasi We take the Route 40 north of Mendoza for 700 condition but spooky and foreboding. The long stretches kilometers. The landscape changes from lush vineyards of pitch dark road bring to mind ghost stories and to dry desert plains, the Andes forever rolling along to the horror movies. There’s no light for the 180km stretch left. We finally reach the small town of Fiambalá and turn that separates Fiambalá from Las Grutas, with the one west onto the Route 60 as it starts to gain altitude. By the exception being what must be the most unusually located time we are rummaging for our passports near Las Grutas hotel in Argentina - “Cortaderas” an enormous complex international border with Chile we are already at 4,000 where some people actually choose to stay. meters above sea level. After an hour driving, we suddenly see the lights of a We are four climbers going to the land of the six thousand truck on the side of the road. We pass the vehicle with high peaks, a fabulous concentration of some the highest a sense of wariness, one of my friends remarking with mountains in the Andes, located in a desolate area known some dark irony that “on this road it is more unpleasant as La Puna, in Catamarca. Volcanoes such as Ojos del to come across people than not to”. Salado (the second highest in the Andes at 6,893m), Tres Cruces (6,749m), Walther Penck (6,658m), Incahuasi The government decided a few years ago to build a series (6,638m) and more than twenty other peaks above 6,000 of shelters alongside the road in the more remote parts. meters are found here. Our aim is to reach the summit of Between twenty and thirty km apart, these shelters have Incahuasi, a conical volcano with an impressive 700 m bright signs two kilometres before announcing them as wide crater. It´s name means “House of The Inca”, and of emergency stops. For anybody in a difficult situation and course they were the first ones to climb it in the year 1480. for climbers especially, these shelters are a luxury. They are small but very functional and are well insulated from In order to climb some of these giants, it’s necessary to fill the cold, have a small fire place and more importantly a in a form online and present a copy to the Fiambalá police. radio to ask for aid. This seemingly unimportant formality earns Fiambalá the nickname “the door to the six thousands”. If you fail At shelter number 3 the radio is broken and naturally to present a copy of this form you will risk the ire of some the scene fires up dark humour. The importance of very annoyed border guards. With no internet signal to these shelters cannot be exagerrated since the Route 60 fix the problem, you have nowhere to go but back. joins Fiambalá with Copiapó (in Chile) through the San Francisco pass at 4800 meters. This means that the 481 We took the paved road a little after sunset. Winding km stretch of barren desert road through some of the through the mountains, it was in surprisingly good highest peaks in the world has only two customs posts in the middle if you need help. 6 In winter the extreme temperatures and isolated storms make it very dangerous for the unprepared. Nevertheless there is more than one that dares to explore this silent and Hinca Huasi from Las Grutas’s thermal springs. remote land. In the shelter it is common to find testimonial graffiti from all sorts of adventurous travellers including Brazilian motorcyclists fascinated by the altitude they can get to with their bikes. The aspect of the high planes is difficult to describe. The local climber and writer Glauco Muratti once said. “In this terrain the abrupt doesn`t exists, therefore the classic terminology used to describe mountains doesn´t apply to the Puna “. It’s actually difficult to figure out which mountain is which. Altitudes blend with that of other neighbours and the perspective is very tricky. In these mountains it takes not only experience but the help of electronic devices to figure out distance and location. For the lost climber everything seems desperately the same. As you turn your head everything has the effect of being an overwhelming mirror. Most of the shapes in the Puna are chiselled by the wind and so are the clouds. The day we climb San Francisco, one of the most important 6000 meter high volcanoes, we were almost defeated by the gales. I was literally on my knees a couple of times. On the way back to the shelter we were horrified to discover that one of us had a semi- frozen nose. A landscape a way to Las Grutas. 7 Volcano San Francisco As for the water, it’s the great absentee. Concentrated only in scarce lagoons and salty plains, its elusiveness makes life almost impossible. You have to carry on your back more than 12 litres of water if not more. Next to Las Grutas, at the feet of El Escorial, a huge crown made of spongy lava extends to San Francisco.