If you are fan of elegant wines then Argentina's Domaine Bousquet, with its award winning organic wines, is a must. Uco Valley (Valle de Uco), Mendoza's newest wine region, is home to Domaine Bousquet. This wine region has been attracting international attention in recent years. One of the highest wine growing regions, the Uco valley, is known for its Malbec, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Semillon and Torrontes. Domaine Bousquet's winery restaurant was Spaswinefood’s first stop in Mendoza Province.
Lunch at Domaine Bousquet with its Award Winning Organic Wines
It
was a pleasant drive to Domaine Bousquet in Gualtallary, Tupungato from Mendoza city. After we passed the guard station the expansive estate vineyard came into view. The Bousquet family, with four generations of wine making history in France, acquired this 110 hectare estate in 1997. Their vineyard at 1200 meters (4000 feet) is organically farmed. Domaine Bousquet is one of the world's most awarded organic wine producers.
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Domaine Bousquet Estate Vineyard © Spaswinefood
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| Estate Vineyard, Domaine Bousquet © Spaswinefood |
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When we
arrived at the winery we decided to taste their wines over lunch at the Gaia Restaurant. It was the perfect indoor escape on a hot summer's day in February.
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| Gaia Restaurant, Domaine Bousquet © Spaswinefood |
The
restaurant offers four and six course lunch options with wines. During lunch we were introduced to Domaine Bousquet Premium, Reserve, Grand Reserve, Fortified Malbec, and Sparkling wines.
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| Wine Tasting, Domaine Bousquet © Spaswinefood |
The menu for that day started with an appetizer.
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| Appetizer, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
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| First Course, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
The first course was paired with a Torrontes Chardonnay.
Domaine Bousquet, Torrontes Chardonnay 2016
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| Torrontes Chardonnay © Spaswinefood |
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| Domaine Bousquet, Torrontes Chardonnay 2016 © Spaswinefood |
Second course was paired with a Malbec Cabernet Rosé.
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| Second Course, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
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| Second Course (Vegetarian Option), Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
The Malbec Cabernet Rosé wine is a dry rosé.
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| Malbec Cabernet Rosé © Spaswinefood |
Domaine Bousquet, Malbec Cabernet Rosé 2016
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| Domaine Bousquet, Malbec Cabernet Rosé 2016 © Spaswinefood |
Again the third course was offered in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options.
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| Third Course, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
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| Third Course (Vegetarian Option), Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
This course was paired with Pinot Noir.
Domaine Bousquet, Pinot Noir 2014
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| Domaine Bousquet, Pinot Noir 2014 © Spaswinefood |
The fourth course was also offered in vegetarian and non-vegetarian options.
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| Fourth Course, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
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| Fourth Course (Vegetarian), Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
I so loved how the chef accommodate this vegetarian.
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| Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
During the fourth course we were also served two grand reserve wines.
Domaine Bousquet, Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2014
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| Domaine Bousquet, Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2014 © Spaswinefood |
Domaine Bousquet, Grand Reserve Malbec 2013
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| Domaine Bousquet, Grand Reserve Malbec 2013 © Spaswinefood |
Later in our Argentine travels we would enjoy a Domaine Bousquet wines, such as Malbec 2016.
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| Domaine Bousquet © Spaswinefood |
Then moving onto the sweet wines paired with cheese for the fifth course.
Domaine Bousquet, Malbec-Dulce 2015
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| Domaine Bousquet, Malbec-Dulce 2015 © Spaswinefood |
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| Cheese with Fruit and Nuts, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
But of course there was a finale, or sixth course. Sparkling wine with desert was the most delightful way to end lunch.
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| Finale, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
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| Desert, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
The last wine was a Sparkling wine.
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| Domaine Bousquet, Sparkling Wine © Spaswinefood |
One
of the pleasures for this Spaswinefood enthusiast is to
meet the chef. Indeed such was the case the day we dined at the Gaia
Restaurant.
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| Chef, Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
Yes, it
was an amazing lunch at the Gaia Restaurant.
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| Gaia Restaurant, Tupungato © Spaswinefood |
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| Gaia Restaurant © Spaswinefood |
We very much enjoyed getting to
know Domaine Bousquet's naturally elegant wines over lunch. Their wines are available from US
Distributors. This means that we can easily do lunch with Domaine Bousquet wines.
Scenic Uco Valley
After
lunch at Domaine Bousquet we took the scenic route 89 back towards Mendoza. It
took us along the eastern Andean Mountain foothills. The Uco Valley is known
for its spectacular scenery. Fortunately we got to experience some of its beauty.
Even though it rained and the clouds move in it was a pleasant drive from Tupungato
to Luyán de Cuyo on route 89. We passed by vineyards, through ranch lands and
mountains as we travelled along this route.
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| Ranch Lands, Tupungato, Mendoza Province © Spaswinefood |
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| Mountains, Luyán de Cuyo, Mendoza Province © Spaswinefood |
This rural gravel road (Ruta 89) is quite a beautiful drive on in the summer. Moreover, seeing the mountains through
the mist was special for sure. These are the moments that you remember. When
we reached Luyán de Cuyo we then took the main highway to the city.
We began our Mendoza wine country explorations in Uco Valley. Starting in the Uco Valley was our strategy for touring Mendoza's
wine regions, the largest wine-producing province, accounting for approximately two
thirds of Argentina’s wine production. Traveling time from the city to Mendoza’s three wine
regions is approximately 75 minutes to the Valle de Uco, Luyán de Cuyo (40 minutes), and
Maipu (15-20 minutes). While in Mendoza we had a number of winery lunches. In
fact I would highly recommend it. You can check out my travels in Argentina and
elsewhere at Spaswinefood.
Sharon
February
2017
Mendoza,
Argentina
©
Spaswinefood
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| Domaine Bousquet "Naturally Elegant Wines" © Spaswinefood |
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