Sunday Lunch

We awoke Sunday morning to a brisk 50 degrees and bright spring sunshine at our campsite on the bluffs.

We spent an hour zig zagging across country to our  lunch date at a  winery we visited on our last trip in Uruguay. Layne had discovered they were having a lamb luncheon on Sunday afternoon so off we went… .

As we drove they were getting lunch grilled…

The route Google Maps picked zigged and zagged across country from Kiyú to Progresso where the winery is located, an hour’s drive which we did in 80 minutes. From the red dot to the blue, you pick the route…

Narrow back roads all the way.

Grape country. 

We knew we were getting close when the back roads became dirt. Oh well.

Lunch was at 12:30 and there were a few of us. But first a tour of the winery by Omar the owner. 

Omar:

This is the fourth generation of a Northern Italian family that emigrated here.

The winery opened in 1954 and made massive amounts of wine, 750,000 bottles but Omar wanted to reduce production to make better quality wines.

Lunch was lamb. Empanadas to start. 

With a peach and Chardonnay spritzer. 

And grilled lamb sausage with root vegetables. 

Tannat is the national wine of Uruguay, full bodied and not too dry and tannic I enjoyed the bottomless glass. 

Layne fearlessly broke the ice rounding up leftovers for Rusty whom we had left aboard GANNET2. 

He was kind of pissed off as he had been enjoying the grounds. 

I figured he needed to be penned in while we ate as the dining room was open to the fresh air and it didn’t seem appropriate to have him wander in.

Deserves flan and the conversation turned to what we liked about Uruguay. One guy spoke up saying Uruguay is different as the country supports social advancement. He said in Uruguay a young kid from the countryside can if s/he has the inclination, get free education through university with government support including board and  lodging and this change social status. Thats not easy or encouraged in other South American countries. Then he described the completely free health care and no one at the middle class table demurred.

Our lunch with two bottles of wine to go and a chunk of cooked lamb for the fridge came to about one hundred bucks. Thats a very reasonable price in this expensive country. 

We needed a nap after all that. Rusty kept watch. 

Inevitably all that napping got Rusty exhausted and he asked to go to bed early where he had dinner…kibbles and lamb. 

And so to bed.

Tomorrow Montevideo and another lunch and friendship.