April 18, 2024 La Chiravia Experience
I awakened at 7:00 and finished my blog for last night and then lay down at 10:30 to rest for 15 minutes.
We left at 11:15 and picked up Billy and Elaine across the street from the Brod Bakery and I drove us to the location for the Chiravia Experience at a reservoir located high up on the road to Chile.
The last 7 km. was on an unimproved dirt and rocky road.
When we arrived at 1:10 at the pavilion near the reservoir many people were already there, mostly fashionably dressed young people from BA.
We were handed a glass filled with red vermouth, Malbec, and Sprite as a welcoming cocktail. Soon food and wine began to be served. The first wine was an ultra dry Semillon (Solita Va) that was so tart to be almost undrinkable. I would call it an experimental wine.
A series of appetizers were served on wooden planks, such as a mushroom mousse on fried toast, a carrot mousse and a beet mousse served on a slice of bread, a slice of vinegary ham on toast, and cubed beets, vegetable mousse, green peas, and flower petals on a round of dehydrated carrot.
I really liked the second wine, a Chardonnay and Viognier blend named Bobmo Monticello that I drank two glasses of with a Coquille St. Jacques of bay scallops with melted cheese in a scallop shell.
We drank a glass of Chiravia’s brand of rose with the scallops that was pleasant but not a keeper.
The next plank was filled with Edamame sautéed in butter and salt.
Next we started drinking reds. The first was a 100% Malbec from the Uco Valley named Sofa King Bueno that was quite nice, especially with a cream of butternut squash soup with a slice of camembert cheese and a drop of a reduction of soy.
After the soup that helped warm us came my favorite appetizer, a quail egg on a mushroom duxelles served in a small cup made of mushroom.
Then I tried one of the two merlots, Road and El Cabrito. I rather liked Nitro but gave it up when offered several high end Malbecs and a Cabernet Sauvignon that I did not take a picture of the wine or several of the last four entrees, grilled octopus with fried onions and stewed cabbage, plump succulent shrimp on a saffron corn mush, grilled flank steak served with a butternut squash purée dipping sauce, and a squash risotto.
In the middle of the meal after the shrimp and octopus and before the salad there was a break of about thirty minutes during which many people including Billy and Elaine walked down to the reservoir.
Then there was an experience in which all the participants gathered in the covered shed and most danced as Cesar and his son assembled the salads of burrata, sautéed zucchini, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, sautéed cauliflower, and large thin slices of radish with a simple olive oil and balsamic dressing on a counter that reached from one side of the covered area to another near a corner behind which there were grills where chefs were cooking.
Next to the counter in the pavilion was the wine bar where Karla, the wine expert, and her helper stood ready to pour any of the ten or eleven wines being offered upon request, when they were not moving through the area pouring wines at individual tables with each new food course. We gave Karla a small tip when we left for her excellent assistance with the wines.
During the meal Cesar’s wife came by to sell local beauty products and collect the fees for the meal. It took a few minutes to prove we had paid a deposit of $174.00 and then we discovered that the fee in dollars had gone down from $145.00 in February to $121.00 today due to the devaluation of the peso.
I gave the wife $70.00 and received 3,000 pesos back for a generous exchange rate of 1,500 pesos to the dollar. Billy gave her $250.00 and got a handful of pesos back.
I should have asked her if she would exchange dollars for pesos but did not. There were 60 participants, so at $121.00 times 60 that comes to a gross revenue for the five hour experience of $7260.00 or 10,890,000 pesos, a lot of pesos. No wonder the quality of the food and service and wine was so liberally offered in the open air dining experience.
In defense of the experience, the views of the Andes when the thick cloud cover broke into spotty sunlight later in the afternoon was spectacular. I think I got a picture of Anconcagua that is 6960.8 meters or 22,625 feet above sea level that was only 20 miles from the reservoir on the Argentinian side of the border with Chile and the ridge of mountains we saw on the other side of the reservoir was the main Andean mastif with over six peaks of over 6700 meters. So the site beside the reservoir was a perfect setting for an al fresco dinner with a view of the tallest mountain range in the Americas. How can you beat that for atmosphere.
To complete the geography, the very busy two lane Hwy. 7 we drove from Lujan de Cuyo to the reservoir on is the main highway through the Andes linking Mendoza to Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile, so we were near the highest mountains.
What an experience to file in the memory bank.
After the salad, the two additional entrees, grilled flank steak served with a butternut squash purée and a squash risotto were served.
Then around 5:30 the last course was dessert which was Dulce de Leche, a warm crepe filled and covered with fresh strawberries and a warm caramel sauce. It was delicious and was served with Argentinian Chandon demi-sec Rose champagne. What a finish.
Elaine, who had drunk less than the rest of us and was the designated driver, drove us back to the Air BNB with a stop at Jumbo Supermarket so Billy could buy batteries and I could buy a milk chocolate and peanut bar.
When we arrived we were stuffed and tired. Suzette and I drank a cup of herbal tea spiked with grappa and I ate chocolate and we then went to bed around 9:30.
On balance I thought the Chiravia Experience was as well executed a meal as any I have had in a long time and worth every penny.
I believe there was a camaraderie among the participants based on the tough 7 km. drive to the site over an unimproved road as well as their largely common age, the abundance of excellent wines, and a lighter more vegetarian oriented cuisine.
Bon Appetit
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