yummy Carmelo

“Great restaurants are, of course, nothing but mouth-brothels. 

There is no point in going to them if one intends to keep one’s belt buckled.”

Frederic Raphael

Carmelo is about a five hour drive from Punta del Este up the estuary of the River Plate.  This fertile, rolling scenery is wine country and what better place to head to for Kit's birthday.  Convoying out of Punta, we meandered along the empty roads for a couple of hours or so following the Rambla road along the coast.  Conveniently we rolled  into Montevideo around midday and decided to stop for lunch.

"When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish.” – Winnie the Pooh

As cities go, Montevideo really is charming with European architecture, Latin American flare and southern hemisphere population numbers.  Voted the city with the best standard of living in South America, Montevideo is a wonderful mix of ornate, old Euro style buildings littered with the glass and concrete of modern sky scrapers.   This capital city historically evolved as a strategical naval position from the Spanish colonial days.  Which means the modern city skyline contours along the beautiful beaches of the South Atlantic before stretches north past the port and into the Estuary of the River Plate.

Injection into the fast pace of the city centre broke us out of our rustic reverie.      In jeans and trainers, my inner rural hick pricked with self consciousness amongst all the urban vanity of the black pinstripe city slickers.  The office types crowded our parilla (bbq) restaurant, tucked down a narrow cobbled street.  The worn wooden floors and large glass windows smacked of a bygone era and a Parisienne cafe lifestyle.  The amount of meat that arrived on every plate was enough to start a food program in a small African nation.  I guess the meat feeding frenzy was something we would need to get used to.  After Carmelo, we would be headed across the River Plate from Colonia over to Buenos Aries and into true carnivore country.  Revived by food, we headed off for a couple more hours of driving following the river north through farming country.

"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, 

under whose shade you do not expect to sit."

Nelson Henderson

It was late afternoon as we followed the signs into Carmello proper.  A tall tunnel of trees heralded us into the outskirts.  A single lane, iron bridge introduced us into the town while we played chicken with a semitrailer heading out.  The small settlement lined the river until the quaint old buildings petered out as we headed out of town in the vague direction of the Four Seasons Hotel. Several Spanglish encounters with flat capped locals left us confused and lost, so we decided to pull out the Iphone translator and get technically fluent with our request for directions.  Finally a gentleman about to climb into a manhole steered us right and we pulled through the wooden entrance gates of the resort as the sun started to fall below the tree line.  

The wood chipping under the car hire tires made little sound as the pine forest closed in around us.  A large wooden carved head totem welcomed us to the front entrance of a low slung log house that reminisced of a ski lodge.  Stretching, we unloaded and were presented with hot apple cider as we were ushered through the doors.  The five star service had really begun in earnest by the time we wandered through the eclectic decor of the lobby.  A mix of Balinese style and mountain retreat furniture glowed warmly in the light of the log fires dotted throughout.  Wooden panelling mixed with wrought iron framed the massive view out over the gargantuan swimming pool which dropped, in illusion, into the brown waters of the River Plate.  The two story rooms were more like an upscale Swiss chalet and my inner rural hick self was starting to look for the goats.  The downstairs lounge converted into two beds for the kids and upstairs the four poster bed was a few slippered, robed footsteps from a bathtub that would provide ample water for the afore mentioned small African Nation.  

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

George Bernard ShawI

Supper in the dining room overlooking the river was a laidback affair with few others sharing our space.  Over the coming weekend the hotel had been totally booked out by an Argentinian who wanted to celebrate his birthday in privacy.  After discovering the indoor pool and spa I could totally see why.  

"Chess is intellectual gymnastics." 

Wilhelm Steinitz

We awoke the next morning to a sumptuous feast, buffet style breakfast and a plan to leave the kids in the Kid's Club and head off to the winery Narbona.  Many happy returns to Kit who, as usual, returned the happiness to everyone happy around her.

"Some people care too much, I think it's called love."

Winnie the Pooh

Winding up the narrow roads was a twist back in time.  Pulling into the forecourt of the Winery next to vintage cars and geranium laden ox carts.  Squinting from the bright sunlight we stepped inside to an age old world of wine.

"We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine."

Eduardo Galeano

Rich soils and warm river breezes have made the area a historic haven for winemakers. Dating back to 1909 the Narbona legacy is Italian.  The original winemaker brought Tannat vines from the old country and created his Uraguayan estancia.  Unfortunately none of his four daughters had wanted to continue his tradition.  An Argentinian businessman recently bought the property and revived the old vines and planted new ones.  

However, it still felt like stepping back into old world Italy as we toured the original winery and descended into the cellars to discover home cured hams and farm fresh cheeses.

“A meal without some cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye”.

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Our guide Valerie, a beautiful young Uruguayan vitner, had spent time in Napa and was to be credited with crafting the new wines of Narbona.  It was a fascinating walk from the hold cellars over to the stainless steel production area. Overflowing with passion, Valerie explained the scientific process of wine making and the huge copper vat distillery for the delicate honey grappa. 

"Wine is bottled poetry" Robert Louis Stevenson

Honey Grappa, home made biscotti and pasta! This was serious gastronomy heaven.  We sat down to a lunch that paired Narbonna Rose, Pinot Noir and Tannat with their parmesan, colonia and mozzerella  and finished with the salty home cured hams.

While we were in our own duodenal delirium the kids were in cookie contentment with the Chef back at the Four Seasons.

"There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles." Anonymous

Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." 

John W. Whitehead"

Spending so much time with compadres, sharing birthdays and special moments turns  the friends into family.  Which is fortunate because you can never say goodbye to family merely hasta leugo.  To have been included in the Groner family was truly a privilege and to have them show us Uruguay through their eyes a much appreciated blessing. With love and gratitude (and of course tears) it was time to say our farewell.

Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.
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