these past few weeks in canelones & nearby have been busy, but so good. we’ve seen close to 20 bodegas, have gotten to hear their stories & spend time with the winemakers & families at each one. i’ve held back a little on sharing, only because david will share quite a bit soon, but we’ve loved getting to know these people & see a small glimpse of who they are & how they love what they do. the winemakers could not be more hilarious or different…all either 3rd or 4th generation from france, italy, or spain. some loud, all passionate, some really deep & too philosophical for us to follow (in spanish anyway), and all the happiest in the dirt, near their vines…they love what they do.

we’ve been living on peaches & butternut squash. and eggs…alot of eggs. for the first couple weeks, we didn’t know where to buy meat, so we bought eggs at the market & made them poached, scrambled, fried… we’d look at each other towards dinner & start laughing…well? want to make eggs again? ..that sounds great. how do you think we ought to cook them tonight?? oh…well, what are you feeling like?  it wasn’t too long after, we found a place for meat & fish, and haven’t made eggs again since..

david & i were laughing so hard watching this mattress hoist…i dunno…it seemed funny this morning at least. we always see the most random things, like the other day, down the middle of the freeway, a guy walking & balancing a wheelbarrow full of oversized sticks…straight down the road. i don’t think it’s a big deal here…and i never thought about what you’d have to do to move, when you live on the fifth floor of an apartment with an elevator that can only fit you and a toaster…but this would be it.

cafe brasilero is the oldest cafe in montevideo, two blocks away & is one of our favorite places to go…they have the best eggplant gnocchi & cappuccinos, cortados, and we have found all sorts of ways to kill time here…

two &  a half years ago, i can remember the day, i remember david asking me if i thought he could make it in the wine industry.  a week later, he’d bought every wine book available to man. within days he’d finished & for the next year, he read cover to cover & cover to cover, and taught himself everything he could. i’ve never seen anyone come so alive, so quickly, and the past two & a half years have been the best, to watch him be alive & learn & change. that year ended, he changed careers & we moved california, where he first tasted uruguayan wines. i won’t ever forget. he came home the day he tasted them more excited than i’d ever seen. and now, after thinking, processing, weighing our next steps, hundreds of cups of coffee, i’m sitting across from him in a tiny apartment in uruguay, overlooking a small stone street, at the end of a week meeting with winemakers, beginning to import uruguayan wine.

a week ago, i was trying to cram eight pairs of shoes into a suitcase…really i only needed two. a year ago, i could have never anticipated where we’d be. 

the view from our apartment in ciudad vieja. it’s a short walk to the ocean from here.

every evening the old man living on this corner balcony looks out over the street in his underwear.

this door is my favorite, on the way to the beach…i would like to make an offer on it.

our grocery store below us, where milk comes in bags…i have renewed appreciation for milk cartons now. on tuesdays & fridays, there’s a farmer’s market at the end of our street where we get lots of good things.

a street nearby…everything here reminds me so much of europe. the architecture, old trees, shaded streets, the markets…but more chill.. & people drinking mate everywhere.

so far we love it. we have a full week of meetings again with producers this week & i will have more soon. xo

this man was playing to the music on his harmonica.

i came away inspired by the landscape, the architecture, the food & blocks of color everywhere. the sangria, even. spain in general was humbling & amazing. i always wish my days could be nothing but ridiculous inspiration. most days they’re just not. but occasionally, i have moments like this, where my fingers twitch…all day. and all i can do in response to what i’m soaking in or feeling is paint.

that was spain. it was really good. and totally compelling.

the old stone cellar was carved by hand in the 19^th century without using dynamite, in order to preserve the mountainside.

the cellar itself is thickly covered in mold, regulating humidity naturally.

the people there are creatives & passionate artisans…working extremely hard to cultivate these wines.

each barrel is racked by hand 3-4 times per year to remove sediment from the wine, and typically requires three men to operate the pulley. they do this for the benefit of the consumer, so that the consumer does not have to decant the sediment out of the wine.

each wine is aged until the winemaker feels the wine is ready to drink and from there every bottle is filled, labeled, corked, and cleaned by hand. their current release gran reserva right now is from 1991.

they say the wines can age for five to ten years more, but as they are now, they all drink beautifully. everything they do is for the best of the wine or the land…and the wines reflect the vineyard and that creativity and care.

if you ever come across one of these treasures, take the opportunity & remember the care that went in to making it.