 |
 |
 |
 |
Fri 22 Jan: Tafi del Valle to Cafayate
Sat 23 Jan: Cafayate
Cutting short from 3 nights to 1 night at Tafi meant that we needed a hotel for the 2 nights cancelled. Our decision was to take another 2 nights at Cafayate, but to try another hotel in the town. A stop at the internet cafe at Tafi, and a bit of research on TripAdvisor, made us plump for the Wine Resort at Cafayate.
Cafayate Wine Resort on TripAdvisor and hotels own web site . The Viñas de Cafayate Wine Resort is hidden by vines and ringed by mountains. It is a mile above the village of Cafayate down a very bumpy dirt road. It is twice the price of the other hotel we stayed at in Cafayate, but still represents good value for money, and I preferred it of the two. The hotel did not have its own vineyards, but was actually set in vineyards, and from some of the rooms you could reach out and touch the vines from your balcony. It had a nice pool with the mountains rising up directly behind it.
We had dinner there the first night, which presented no problems, but, retrospectively I can not remember much about it!
|
|
|
|
Cafayate was founded in 1840 by Manuel Fernando de Aramburu, at the site of a mission. It is the main city in the district of Cafayate and has become the most important site in the Calchaquí Valleys. Located at 1,660 m above sea level , it has about 12,000 inhabitants.
Cafayate is well known because of its famous Torrontes wines. The areas combination of temperature and humidity provides the ideal environment for the growth of the deep fruit flavour of this grape.
 |
 |
| The church on the main square in Cafayate is the main photographic icon. The square itself being filled by an eclectic collection of assorted backpackers. | |
Probably the most commented on building in the town is the "llama" house below. This seems to have stalled in mid-construction, and has apparently been in this unfinished state for some years. It is being built by a local potter, who has his kilns in the back yard and lives in the house.
 |
 |
 |
 |
This ice cream shop invented "wine ice cream" and you can choose from a selection of different red and white grape flavours. Another "treat" was to buy a tortilla from one of the street vendors. Each had his own pitch, and would fire up each day at the same spot.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Vineyards are big attraction around Cafayate. The Esteco Bodega above produces Elementos, Ciclos, Don David and Altimus grades of wine. Altimus, made up by four varietals, is a signature wine, the most expensive of the winery. It features a dark red hue with violet glitters, fruit and vanilla aroma. It spends 12 months in the cask and then it is aged in the bottle. It may be kept up to 14 years before it loses its properties. They also run a seriously expensive hotel in the vineyard grounds. This was one of the ponciest of the vineyards I have ever visited. They did not have a selection of tasting wines for sale, you bought a normal sized glass and were unlikely to drink several to try the range. We took the tour of the winery. Naturally I found "Don David" whimsical, but if I wanted to buy it, we had already found that it was cheaper to buy it in the local supermarket: they were certainly overcharging at the cellar door.
 |
 |
 |
 |
A top for tasting was Finca las Nubes (El Cajón Hill; 54-3868/422-129), a boutique winery close to town, in fact so close that we could just manage to walk there from our hotel. . This small winery has over 10,000 grape vines surrounding the property. Owned by the Mounier family, the vineyard is 11 years old. They make a fairly limited amount of wine, and are a true boutique winery. I enjoyed the tour and the tasting that was given afterwards was first rate, covering all the grapes that they are using for wine.
The grapes are fermented using large sinks and then placed in oak barrels. During the stay in the oak barrels, the wine develops colour, aroma, and firmness, producing lovely varietals. Over half of the wine is Malbec while Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannet also add to the winery's success.
 |
 |
 |
 |
The next day we drove out to this hotel, Casa de la Bodega, and had lunch. It was about 12 miles out of Cafayate, and the countryside we started to pass through was so desert like that we thought that we had missed it. But we came across its entrance, and an excursion of 5 kms up their dirt track led us to the bodega/hotel. It was the same sort of price bracket as the Wine Hotel we were staying in at Cafayate - whilst our lunch was pleasant enough, I think I preferred the hotel we were in. We skipped dinner that night, settling for a tortilla off the street vendor, and a bottle of wine back in our hotel room.
The next morning we drove on past Salta to Tilcara, north of Salta