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| Entrance to Patios de Cafayate Wine Hotel |
After the splendid tours and tasting of Bodegas Piattelli and San Pedro, I checked in the luxurious Patios de Cafayate Wine Hotel. This is a spacious old hacienda built of white stucco with a bell tower. The approach is magnificent as you enter a gated vineyard and traverse a long driveway to see the long white resort glowing in the sun and backlit by the red mountains rising behind.
The resort is also part of a working winery, Bodega El Esteco. I spent 3 delightful nights here and enjoyed waking up every morning to the sound of birds calling, and watching the llamas graze on the green lawn near the swimming pool. Breakfasts were delicious and service was attentive.
After resting for a couple of hours in my spacious room with tiled floors and 4 foot thick adobe walls, we were off again for dinner at another famous resort – Vinas de Cafayate. This is on the far side of the charming village of Cafayate with its spacious plaza and quaint shops.
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| Delicious Argentine Empanada |
We drove up a long road towards the mountains, and then turned into the resort. Also designed in the Spanish mission style with stucco and large wooden vegas, this resort was very welcoming and is highly rated. We had an excellent dinner in the candlelight dining room, but I was so full from lunch at Piattelli that all I could manage was a large salad with the excellent local goat cheese. Of course we did manage to taste another bottle of local Torrontes and malbec, and no Argentine dinner would be complete without empanadas. So even though I tried to resist, I couldn’t stop myself from trying two different types filled with meats and cheeses. Definitely eating too many empanadas on this trip, but they are so hard to say no to!