To Buy or Not to Buy?

I have the classic traveler's dilemma at the end of my trip. All those great wines - do you just board the plane with the memories lingering on your palate or do you make an attempt to find a way to send them back to the states?

I go to some wine websites in the biz office of the hotel to do some research as to whether it's "worth it".  Some of the wines that we have tasted in Argentina are in such small production that they are not even available for sale in Argentina and only available for VIP tastings and such at the wineries themselves.

Others, we are told are only available in Argentina as, unlike Chile, the Argentines drink 75 liters of wine annually per person (compared with 11.5 in Chile) and, not being fools, want to keep a lot of this great wine to drink with their fabulous beef!

So we stuff a few bottles in a wine transporter case that we have purchased in AR and, along with gifts of olive oil that we've received at the wineries, ship a couple of these bottles home via the business office along with a ton of collateral and books that we've collected along the way. Estimated arrival - 5 days from now.

Then we proceed to the wine shop at the Hyatt in Mendoza and with the help of a charming young man who is running the place, painstakingly choose 9 bottles (which cost as much to ship as 6) to send home. Three of the bottles are from Salta and are impossible to find in the U.S. We also pick some limited production wines that are from vineyards that we have visited and to balance the $10 bottle cost to ship, choose 2 that are less expensive to try to average out the cost of the shipment (crazy logic but we convince ourselves that it makes sense).

We arrive at the airport way to early for our flight to Chile and on impulse browse  through the duty free that just happens to have the Clos de la Siecle, Michel Rolland's famous wine for only $14 a bottle and we buy two and stick them in our carry on (we'll figure out what to do with them later).

After several days in the lakes region, we decide that the warmth of Santiago is much needed and do some last minute changing of our itinerary in order to spend one more night and day at the beautiful Hyatt. Our plans are to sit by the swimming pool, eat a club sandwich, visit the home of Pablo Neruda and have a leisurely dinner in the Italian restaurant at the hotel.

We have limited expectations when dinner time arrives. We have had so much great food and wine already - and are delighted when we are greeted by our waiter who not only speaks excellent English (we've had real communications problems in Chile) but gets extremely excited when I tell him that it's our last night in Chile and I want to taste an excellent bottle of Carmenere.

Franco, it turns out, is studying for his sommelier certification and delights in our giving him free reign to choose our wine.  He returns to the table gleaming and presents us with the 2004 Coyam Carmenere, a biodynamic wine.

We are ecstatic and monopolize him for the rest of the evening. We persuade him to write down a short list for us of other wines we might like - and buy - before we return to the US the next day.

World of Wines is the place he tells us about and coincidentally, it's only a few blocks from our hotel. A charming young woman (from Belgium) who speaks English perfectly is to be our guide through this wonderful shop and we find ourselves checking out (and shipping) a case of mixed wine (including 3 bottles of the prized Coyam at $19 a bottle).

Shaking our heads at the madness of this shopping spree, we head to the airport (3 hours early is required). There is absolutely nothing to do in the Santiago international departure area and yes, we find a lovely wine shop just before we are to go through security.

This shop is amazing. They have a couple of the bottles from Franco's list that were "out" at World of Wines and get some other recommendations from the knowledgeable (yes, and English speaking) young man who tours us through this tiny shop packed with treasures. And yes, we buy ANOTHER 6 bottles of wine to send.

By this time, we realize that we have spent about $460 on shipping wine to the states and don't know if we are geniuses or jerks but we do know that there are big smiles on our faces and that we can't wait to get home to receive our booty. Already plotting the great meals ahead.

So what is the lesson in all of this? Fact: there are always going to be wines that you drink on holiday that can't be found in your local market or retailer. Fact: that opening up a bottle of wine back in the states that reminds you of the wonderful holiday that you have spent in a distant land is a feeling that cannot be replicated. Fact: that if, in fact, you do find the wine in the US (and perhaps it's even a better price), do not dismay as the best part of being on holiday is being a bit impulsive, a bit indulgent and a bit spontaneous.

If you take all of that into consideration, you certainly can't buy those feelings and the glow that traveling gives you for $460.

Home now. More later.

Julie

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