AnuvaBlog

Many English speaking expatriates have flocked to Buenos Aires in recent years, and many are looking for work. Some are content with bar tending or waiting tables, which does not pay well here. If this is the type of work you pursue, you can expect to barely get by here and make maybe 2000 pesos per month.

Another popular alternative is teaching English. This market, however, is saturated and again does not pay much money. The English teaching agencies here will charge their clients about 40-60 pesos per hour and pay the teacher somewhere between 20 and 30. But keep in mind that this does not include transit time or transit costs which can be very high especially if your clients are not centralized.

The best thing for a fully biligual expat to do is get involved in networking groups like BAIN, lean startups, Internations, and to get involved in the expat “scene” here. This way you can meet local business owners who are in need of fluent English speakers which by the way, is the biggest single advantage that a native English speaker has in the job market in Buenos Aires. If you have other skills that compliment your fluent English, like programming, marketing, sales and so forth, then you can end up making a decent salary here, which would be maybe 4000-8000 pesos per month or more.

Learn Argentine Wine in Buenos Aires

Everybody who comes to Argentina has to have the beef. It is a given. It’s like  going to China and seeing the Great Wall. But a big problem that English speaking foreigners have when ordering beef, especially in non-touristy restaurants, is communicating how to cook that beef, and which cut of meat it is.

If you want steak (which by the way, is NOT what Argentines traditionally eat) you want a “bife” (pronounced “BEE-fay”). Three classic cuts are bife de lomo (filet mignon), bife de chorizo (sirloin or porterhouse),  and ojo de bife (ribeye). Be careful with that middle one, as if you say “chorizo” by itself, you will get a sausage and not a steak!

In any event, if you order one of these three options, you will not get offal or organ meats, you will get steak. But how do you tell them how to cook it?

I always encourage people to be very emphatic when asking for their steaks cooked blue or rare. This for Argentines is extremely odd as they cook their meat almost always well done. Here is a list:

Blue = “vuelta y vuelta”. Even if you ask for it this way it will most likely come medium rare.

Rare = “jugoso (hoo-GO-so)”. Better to say “Bien jugoso” if you want it less cooked!

Medium = “A punto”. This will most likely come medium-well.

Well done = “Cocido”.

Learn Mendoza Wines in Buenos Aires

Don’t we all love Top 5 lists?

Number one Malbec has to be Cavagnaro Reserve Malbec 2004. Full, lusious, supple and complex, this micro production (4000 bottles only!) was first imported by Anuva in 2007 and continues to be our favorite in house wine.

Two: San Gimignano Malbec Roble. This is another limited production (9000 bottles) Malbec from a winery that also does an incredible Syrah of the same name. This Malbec is like my Grandmother’s plum tart: vanilla crust, toast, tart plum and hints of smoke.

Three: Carinae Grand Reserve Malbec. Did we mention our wines are limited production. This one is 5700 bottles. With 15 months in oak and 18 months in the bottle, this wine, with its power house ratings, is a sure pleasure: velvety blackberry and black cherry with an aroma of leather and clove.

Four: Serrera Gran Guarda Malbec. This Malbec is like eating a dark chocolate bar with chunks of black fruits. Plenty of expression and length are fantastic here as this Malbec has a very distinct personality for an Argentine wine. We have received many emails about it.

Five. San Gimignano Malbec Reservado. I thought we should at least go down in price once. This 9.99 special is, in our opinion, the best Malbec you can get for less than 10 dollars. Ripe and fruity with nice aromas of cherry and baking spices, this wine is not the power house that the previous four might be, but it is certainly a steal.

Learn Malbec Wine in Buenos Aires

The thing about a lot of value wines is that they tend to all taste the same. Even if they are different varietals from different regions. There is really no true expression of the varietal or the terroir, and the wines, even if they have some nose and some flavor, are really hard to distinguish.

A notable exception to this rule is San Gimignano Malbec Reservado. At a retail price of less than 10 usd, you get a nose that opens into a nice clove accented dark fruit array, a medium-full body, nice acidity and good drinkability, and some lingering on the palate.

This is a wine that is great for everyday drinking with red sauce pastas, grilled fishes, foul and even things like a chicken salad.It is a very flexible wine because it has the fruit qualities in the nose and mouth but enough acid and tannin to balance out without being overpowering.

Malbec Wine Tasting in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Obviously, Argentina is known for beef and Don Julio, on the corner of Guatemala and Gurruchaga in Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires, has been talked about for some time. So it was high time to check it out.With our 25% debit card discount given to us by our bank for using it at any restaurant on Friday nights, we were set to spend money. Thankfully, Don Julio is not terribly overpriced.

First to note: the ambiance. It feels authentic enough, with a lot of leather and cowhide hanging from the walls. But then there are the tons of wine bottles signed by guests that make it feel a little cheap, and the pieced together fix-ups of certain portions of their walls.

The wait wasn’t too bad and while doing so we were served a red cocktail of I don’t know what mixed with lemon and soda water. They should definitely switch to something else. Cheap champagne would have been much better. And the other guests next to us agreed, verbally.

The wine list I would have to give at least a 9 out of 10, with only very few notable Argentine wines missing from the list. In addition, they do have appropriate storage facilities for their bottles that range from 45 pesos up to 1,500. There is certainly something for everyone here.

The bread never showed up until we had already been served our meal, which was disappointing, because it was really great, freshly baked baguette. Nothing fancy, but very good quality, just very late.

Lourdes had chinchulines, her favorite, which were cooked very well, but not perfectly, and I had mollejas (sweetbreads), which left something to be desired.

This was followed by our bife de chorizo, which was appropriately cooked, and fantastic, and a matambre de cerdo (pork cut), which was also very nice.

All of this for just under 300 pesos including our wine, which was a 160 peso bottle of A Lisa from the Noemia winery in Patagonia. Lourdes and I had sampled this wine several times and loved it, but this vintage we had never tried (2008), and it was decidedly worse. I do not recommend this wine for this price.

All in all, Don Julio was a nice experience, with good food and decent service. If the price, were, say 110 pesos per person WITHOUT our bank discount, it would have been a steal.

Try Argentine Wines in Palermo Buenos Aires

While yield has turned out to be lower than expected, quality is reported to be high for whites as well as reds. Balance, color, tannin and expression are all there, in general for the country’s most recent collection and many wines are thought to be of high cellaring potential relative to other vintages.

It’s nice to go to small and intimate places to eat that have good service.Restó, while small and intimate, with very knowledgeable staff, including a top notch sommelier, has slow service and is expensive.The food was ok. The best was a grilled mushroom and goat cheese appetizer that Lourdes had. The octopus was uninteresting and the jumbo shrimp were good, not great.The mains were also good not great. 3 of us had the duck, since it is such a rarity in Buenos Aires and one of us a white fish. All were rather normal and not noteworthy.The desserts: again, same story.The wine list, however, was great. A vast selection of small wineries with interesting varietals and options and even some good vintages.Another drawback, though, was that you are forced to get 3 courses… there is no other option. This makes dinner a minumum of 150 pesos per person if you are getting a low priced wine. Too much in my opinion.

The controversy continues with HR 5034 which is a bill backed by the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, 100 congressmen who have signed on as co-sponsors, and over $11.55 million dollars worth of “free speech” which are simply campaign donations made to these congressmen.

The bill is opposed by all wineries, breweries, distilleries, and consumer groups like Free the Grapes (www.freethegrapes.org).

The bill aims to give more power to the 3 tier system and thus prevent or at least limit direct to consumer shipping of alcohol.

The simple fact is, that these two business models are not mutually exclusive. Yes there will be a give and take: with the internet, consumer direct shipping was not even possible so this model should grow as it also allows for small producers to turn a profit. This is the real key, without tasting room sales and consumer direct shipping, the small producer does not have a viable business model because distributors will not take on their product! So what are the distributors afraid of?

The first quarter numbers for 2010 are out and the news is good: value is up 29.1% and volume is up 17.7% compared with first quarter 2009. This also means that the average case price rose 9.7% to 26.43 dollars per 9 liter case.

This is fantastic news and evidence that the trend toward Argentine wine, especially Malbec is continuing on its charge into the world market.

www.anuvawines.com

One of the coolest, hippest ideas in a long time is to actually take the joke that is Spanglish, and turn it into something useful. This is what Maya May has done with Spanglish Exchange.

The concept of Spanglish Exchange basically combines English - Spanish language exchange conversations with speed dating. Attendees sign up as either native English or native Spanish speakers and then are paired with people from the opposite group for language exchange. Each pair spends 5 minutes speaking in Spanish and then 5 minutes speaking in English. It is a great way to practice for both groups as well as meet people, be social and find groups of people who are doing interesting things.

Obviously, people who attend this are going to be English speaking foreigners who want to speak better Spanish, and Spanish speaking locals of Buenos Aires who want to speak better English.

The best part is that it only costs 25 pesos and it includes a drink!

They also have events, dinners, club nights and a Spanish school called SpanishCool (pronounced “Spanish School”) that teaches Spanish to foreigners in innovative ways. There are classes on pickup lines, food and restaurants, transportation and other very useful topics to travelers and expatriates.

I highly recommend this for anyone with even the most basic level of Spanish who wants to improve.

www.anuvawines.com