San Martín, Valle Calchaquí, Argentina.
March 21st, 2022.
Dear Reader,
Today is the first day of Fall, and we’ve just arrived back in San Martín after a delightful overnight stay with our friends and fellow winemakers, Alicia and Ovidio.
Their place is very different from ours, as they live right next to their vines outside (or inside, as the name suggests) of the pueblo of Seclantás.
People pass by on foot, motorcycles hum along and the neighbors’ dogs hang around hoping for scraps. Behind the house a mountain extends to the sky with a cross on top - a Via Cruces - Stations of the Cross.
We set out around mid morning. As usual we drove my car up to the hanging bridge and crossed by foot, bags, and Ramona, in hand. On the other side, Adrien’s truck was parked a little further away because the road had become one big swamp. I took my socks and boots off and waded through the murky water. I got into the car barefoot and hosed my feet off at the spicket by the galpón. Then I put my socks and boots back on and off we went.
We were looking forward to paying a call on our friends; the couple lives in Paris, and comes to Argentina a few weeks a year to tend to their vines and catch up with life in the Valley. Both are doctors - Ovidio is Romanian, and Alicia is Argentinian. Together, we spoke Spanish, English and French!
Their winemaker is also Raúl Davolós of Tacuil and the wine they produce from four hectares of vineyards, called Seclantás Adentro, is one of my favourites of the Valles Calchaquí.
We pulled up just about one o’clock and were greeted with the customary French kiss on each cheek. Alicia had a few steaks sizzling on the stove top, and a salad on the table.
We were shown to our room, and offered a glass of wine. After lunch we were invited to rest for a couple of hours – heaven – and meet around mid afternoon for a tour of the vines.
Even though we hadn’t traveled far – only an hour and a half - it felt like a whole new world, so very different from the bustle of farm life in San Martín and the isolation of “Legendary Gualfín”.
I even had the sense of being in a town in Sicily…from the one time I was there I recalled the dry, rocky roads, savage mountains, vineyards, and stray dogs.
Following nap time we had coffee, and began the tour, walking through the four hectares, the equivalent of about ten acres, of Tannat, Cabernet, Malbec and Grenache vines.
Ramona followed, along with the neighbour’s three dogs whom she had quickly befriended. They scampered and sniffed and played, occasionally catching a thorn in their foot which had to be removed. Ramona got carried for a good bit of the walk.
We returned to the house, a somewhat modern structure rebuilt on the ruins of the former house and painted a pale pink.
“How about a glass of wine on the patio?”, asked our host.
And so we sat, discussing life in the Valley, our families, and our lives, over a light Grenache.
Soon it was dinner time and we all got together to help set the table. Adrien made a potato purée, while Alicia cooked up milanesas from the local butcher shop.
In the morning, I woke early, refreshed from my slumber. Ramona and I ventured down, her pals tagging behind, to the Rio Calchaquí - the Calchaquí river - at the bottom of the hill. There was a bridge. I crossed it. On the other side was a pasture, closed in with a wooden fence.
I turned back. At the house, the gentle clatter of cutlery and plates, the smell of coffee and toast…Alicia was in the kitchen having breakfast. I joined her. She had to get to work shortly. While in Argentina, she continues to see patients remotely.
Soon Ovidio and Adrien appeared and sat down to breakfast too. Then it was time for the Via Cruces. We hiked up slowly, stopping every so often to take a photo, or a video of the landscape stretching out behind us.
We took our leave about noon, feeling refreshed and invigorated from our small vacation. Tomorrow, we leave early for Salta.
More to come.
Abrazos,
Mariah
I'm not the first to write this, but Oh to be young again...
And from a quote from Joe Namath in Playboy eons ago, "If you're going to go, why not go all the way?" hmm
Great friends in wonderful landscape is like a vacation to the soul !