Yesterday marked a momentous occasion. I went on my very first bike and wine tour.

Tasting gorgeous wines. Photo by Mr. Gnome

I also officially graduated with my Masters degree of music in collaborative piano yesterday. Can I get a what what? Instead of donning a nylon robe with my fellow classmates in the ceremony back home, I was sweating out my arm pits and drinking copious amounts of malbec on a 30K bikesandwine tour in Mendoza, Argentina. And I wouldn’t have traded my saddle sore bum for anything.

Despite some advice to go with Mr. Hugo’s bike tour, we ended up going with the popular Bikes and Wine tour out of laziness. Bikesandwine offered transfer to and from the next town, instead of taking the bus or a 100 pesos taxi ride. During the jeep transfer, Mr. Gnome and I ended up making friends with the people we were squished up against and hung with them the rest of the day and night.

By 10:30am a Scottish girl, British girl, Dutch guy, and us two Americanos were off. We came up with a logical (or so we thought) plan to ride to the furthest winery (a good 12k away) first. I idiotically forgot to wear sunscreen. Although I applied at the first winery the damage had been done. My burn is epic, but that’s what I get for not heeding my own advice.

Our plan to work backwards was great in theory, but we encountered problems when one of the wineries didn’t open till the afternoon and lunch was booked for us at the midway point. So, we ended up having to backtrack after lunch. At least we biked off the many glasses of wine and big lunch. My advice? Don’t add lunch to your tour package and work your way forwards through the wineries. There will be plenty of places to stop and eat lunch and you’ll have more flexibility with time and energy if you work forwards.

Did I mention I hadn’t ridden a bike since 2003? Surprisingly, my biking skills improved exponentially the more I drank…

We sampled lots of great malbecs, cabernets, and malbec rosés. The rosés were perfect in the 90+ degree Fahrenheit heat. The trip got considerably more fun and challenging as it went on. You get to know people’s lives stories pretty well after drinking and sweating with them for 14 hours. But the biking got harder as the heat of the sun and weight of the wine made me want to take a siesta in a cool wine cellar.

I was thankful to have a Dutchman biking with us too; at one point the chain came off my bike. The Nederlandser dismounted and reattached the chain for me in one swift motion. I would probably still be sitting in some deserted vineyard plucking grapes for survival without him.

Overall, I had one of my favorite days in Argentina and learned a lot about wine and the wine-making process. Some wineries used French oak casks, some used both French and American, some used a double process to smooth the wine. By the end of the day I felt like Paul Giamatti in the movie Sideways. A great way to celebrate finishing my seeming endless quest for this masters degree.

Some of my performances to celebrate graduating.

Schumann A minor concerto (photo: Jamie Moncrief)

Solo performance (Photo by: Mary Pond Estes)

Collaborative performance (photo: Lisa Grkman)

Debussy Pour Le Piano (photo: Jamie Moncrief)