AnuvaBlog

An often asked question by visitors to Buenos Aires, Argentina, is what to tip for, and how much to tip. In the United States, we have a culture of tipping often and generously, that is rivaled nowhere else in the world (that I know of).

Here is a fairly comprehensive list of different locations where you will feel the need to tip, but probably not want to due to the poor service (in another entry we can go over the “why” to these tipping rules and tipping culture):

Restaurants: 10% is standard, but, if you can imagine, is actually discretionary! It’s not like in the U.S. where if you don’t tip you will be looked at strange when you come back in the restaurant. Be aware that many restaurants charge for “cubiertos” (cutlery) which is their way of charging you more, without charging you. This money goes to the restaurant, not the server. Expect this to cost about5-9 pesos per person at a restaurant.

Taxis: TIPPING NOT NECESSARY. So many people think that it’s like the U.S., where a cab driver is like a waiter in that they make most of their money on tips. Not true. Local Argentines (portenos) will wait to get their monedas (coins) back from the driver before exiting the vehicle. If the driver doesn’t have change, which is often the case, he will simply waive the fraction of the peso that you owe him in order to give you change in paper money.

Doormen / porteros: If you have rented a temporary apartment, with a doorman, my advice would be only to tip him if you have developed a relationship with him, and feel like it would be a nice gift. Doormen at apartment buildings almost never get tips, but do often receive holiday gifts. Doormen / porteros at hotels are a different story. They expect tips. This is totally discretionary.

Baggage handlers at the airport: These guys are savvy. Tip them. They often run scams where if you are not paying attention to your luggage, it will dissappear. 2 pesos, 5 pesos, whatever the smallest bill on you you have is what they expect. Not that they earn this money, usually.

“Car Parkers”. I put this in quotations because this is a complete scam. In Buenos Aires, I am very much against owning a car or driving anywhere. But if you have rented or bought a car for your travels around Argentina and South America, keep your eyes open for someone who “helps” you park your car and offers to “take care” of it. This will usually be a young male, anywhere from 13 or 14 years old, to maybe 30 years old. As you are parking he will start giving you indications of how much room you have, when to turn, etc. Sometimes this is useful, but usually not. In any case what I recommend is that you tip them! Again, 1 or 2 pesos. But these guys are going to stand there and literally watch your car all night while you are dining and having fun. And they are the ones who will call their friends to come steal your car if they don’t like you, or think that you won’t tip them. It’s worth 2 pesos to keep them happy. Especially if you plan on parking in this vicinity again.

Wine Tasting in Buenos Aires

Having been in the United States for the last month, during summertime here, I have eaten quite a few summer fruits with whipped cream for desserts. I hadn’t actually whipped the cream (and man did I whip it!) till today.

With a hand mixer, in Argentina, normally cream takes about 3-4 min to become whipped. Here in the States, it took about 30 seconds. This is an amazing and massive difference. Several things could account for this:

1. The speed of the mixer. I use max speed on both, always, and highly doubt that hand mixers in Argentina go slower than hand mixers in the U.S. Let’s assume we can rule this out.

2. There is something inherently different about the cream.

I have always noticed a distinctly different flavor in all dairy products in the rest of the world as compared to the U.S. I am assuming that due to our freakishly rigorous laws that require you to tell people that coffee is hot and so forth, that there is some vital component that is removed from dairy products in the U.S., making them taste more bland.

But could this account for how cream whips faster in the U.S.? Now I am thinking of additives. I know that most milk cows in the U.S. are given immense amounts of rBST (a hormone that makes cows product ungodly amounts of milk), and I am guessing it could be attributed to this.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Please share.

Taste Wine in Buenos Aires

I got a call from the gentleman who wrote the article yesterday asking me bizarre questions about “pouring wine backwards” for Argentines somehow indicating hostility. This practice was evidently on the list of “taboo” things to do during the 2012 London Games according to the British government.

I’m thinking that there has to have been some sort of backlash due to the sordid history between the UK and Argentina left over from the many disagreements these countries have had, from railroads, to the Falklands, to the Hand of God.

Did the Hand of God go in back handed? Is this how the Queen came up with the idea that pouring wine backhanded would be offensive to an Argentine. In a word, “bollucks!”.

Best Wine Tasting in Argentina

Ok, for those of you who read this blog to find out more about wine, Argentina and Anuva, I have been a little selfish lately. But I have to promote! http://www.consultingrehab.com/2010/07/22/anuva-wine-tasting-in-buenos-aires-do-it-youll-thank-us/I left in the whole link because I found the title funny.

Argentine, Argentinian, and Argentinean Wine Tastings

Maria Carra from BA Foodies seems to be becoming a fan of Anuva. Yay! See what she has to say here about our wine tastings:http://www.buenosairesfoodies.com/2010/07/anuva-wine-tasting-sampling-argentine.html

Taste Malbec Wine in Buenos Aires

Thanks Ian!http://www.goodairs.com/2010/07/tasting-with-anuva-wines.html

Taste Torrontes Wine in Buenos Aires

Even though I don’t think one should pick a restaurant based on its wine list, it is important to know where you can go to get great bottles within the city.

1. Cabana Las Lilas. Now, I have written before, that I really don’t like this restaurant because it is very overpriced for steak. However, if wine is what you are looking for these guys have in the neighborhood of 1000 label on their menu. Everything from vintage wine to imported (yes, non-Argentine wine!), to boutique wineries that Anuva works with, their wine list has to be considered formidable.

2. Gran Bar Danzon. Some have mistakenly called this place a wine bar. While they do have about 15 wines by the glass, this restaurant/lounge is far from a wine bar. They do not offer tastings or flights but their bottle list is very extensive. Again, nearly 1000 labels here to choose from with vintage, imported and boutique Argentine wine.

3. Urondobar. This is a Great place for eating as well as for wine. The sommelier/owner, Sebastian goes about changing his menu as well as his wine list every 90 days, so you can always expect something new! He also specializes in looking for limited production and boutique wines for his list. Really a treat here.

4. Resto. This is a tiny little restaurant that is quite clandestine in the Recoleta neighborhood with some very select treats. Palo Alto, Carinae, Las Perdices, Durigutti and others appear on this list.

5. Sirop. A gorgeous small setting in recoleta, with many of the highest rated wines coming out of Argentina. Not just the Achaval Ferrer but also the Chacra, Noemia and others.

Try Argentine Wines from Mendoza

Who has ever tried a sparkling rose of Tannat-Malbec? Or how about just a rose of Malbec?

Im sure very few of you.

Now is your chance to try both.

Perulan sparkling rose of Tannat and Malbec combines two unique varietals in the form of a bottle fermented sparkling rose. This super floral, light, dry sparkling is great with quince paste, creamy cheeses, fruit salads and fishes.

Carinae rose is a classic, simple drinking rose made from Carinae’s estate grown Mendoza Malbec grapes. These French owners wouldn’t dare make a faux-rose (which is when you combine leftover white wine with leftover red wine to make the lowest of all forms of wine), and actually do a hand selection of the grapes.

Mendoza Wines in Buenos Aires

Maria Carra of Buenos Aires Foodies (http://www.buenosairesfoodies.com/2010/07/anuva-wine-club-tasting-wine-in.html) wrote this fantastic review about our wine tastings. Thanks for that!

She and I talked for about 2 hours about food and wine. And we had to cut ourselves off. We realized that we both have a passion for flavors, preparations, cuisine, beverage, and chatting about all that stuff. And for those of you who know me, I am super chatty. And since Maria has tons of great ideas about what food is, how it should be talked about, and what to recommend… well here I go again.

Cheers to Maria! http://www.buenosairesfoodies.com/

Try Mendoza Wines in Buenos Aires

The mystery of wine, snobbery and the veil surrounding it must be done away with. Too many people think that they have to be an expert on wine to appreciate it or at least have some knowledge base to be able to talk about it.

The bottom line is simple: to become a wine expert, you just have to get in touch with your senses. Obviously your sense of taste and smell come first but also your sense of touch, as these are the primary senses that wine appeals to. Wine’s color is also important as an indicator of health, but visually wine will not do for you what a Monet will… visually at least.

So how do you get in touch with your senses? Easy. Practice. In the case of wine, that means you have to go taste a lot of wine. I know this task sounds incredibly cumbersome, but if done right, it actually does take quite a bit of attention and not as much actual imbibing of wine.

Tons of venues to taste wine are out there from festivals, to winery tasting rooms to wine bars to wine events. And if you are a DIY kind of person, you can always just talk to the wine steward at a supermarket or bottle shop and ask how to go about this.

So step 1 is taste lots of different wine: different regions, varietals, vintages, wineries, etc. This is really the easy part.

Step 2  is to ask questions about and learn about why the wine tastes how it tastes. This almost always comes down to two things: the first is the type of grape (varietal or variety) and the second is terroir (the all encompassing French term for where a grape comes from including soil type, altitude, weather, etc). This in and of itself is not particularly complex or difficult either. Just time consuming. Which leads us to the hard part….

Step 3: Remember what you tasted (brand, varietal and vintage), where it came from and how that fits into the world of wine. This is clearly the most difficult thing with 6700 wineries in the U.S. and over 1200 in Argentina and thousands more around the world, the amount of wine out there is mind blowing.

So start with step 1 and see where it takes you!

Best Trip Advisor Ranked Wine Tasting