What to expect!
A very detailed review of the evening that included the optional (extra $) wine tasting.
Let’s start with the wine tasting. We tasted three wines. One white and three reds. The pours were generous. We each had our own plates of cheese to pair with the wines along with two other small veggie bites including a veggie croquette. Yucca fries were available to share. I would’ve liked to have tasted one more wine. They were generous pours, but again, it was a sampling of three. It would be nice if they added a sparkling. Our guide, Bruno, was very knowledgeable about the wines and the wine maker and the region. He spoke in English and Spanish. We were about 15 minutes late for the tasting, and we really truly felt terrible, but our cab never showed up. But they waited for us. Thank you!
I would give the wine tasting experience 4 out of 5 stars. Again, it was very good, but a fourth glass really seems like more of a true tasting.
Let’s move on to the main event! The dinner. This was excellent from start to finish. The servers, the food, the drinks, the atmosphere and the laughing. Bruno was again our guide, but he seemed to be really invested during the dinner experience. He was informative at the wine tasting, but he was quite the interesting guide and performer during the dinner, and his sense of humor really shone! I really enjoyed how interactive the experience was. There were two elements that were interactive. The first was when we made our own wine cocktail. The second was the empanada making. Empanada making was surprisingly easy! Note that each guest only makes one empanada. But, as others have noted, there is a gracious plenty of food. You will not go hungry!
What to expect: When you arrive there will be a champagne-ginger cocktail at the table. While you are finishing that, the other guests arrive. Then, together, you all make a red wine cocktail. This was a highlight, and listening to all the guests shake their cocktail shakers all art once was really fun. See video. Then the courses come out and wine is paired with the courses.
In addition to the empanadas, there was chorizo and chicken and an amuse bouche that included fish, also bread and salsas plus steak and plenty of roasted ‘gaucho’ vegetables. There was dessert, and we all received an education in mate and prepared our own.
The dinner includes unlimited wine. Tip: be sure to ask for the type that you wish to be refilled. Bruno is the ‘Emcee’ of the night, but there is also a server rotating. It is the server that you need to ask for refills.
This dinner began with white wines which paired with the appetizers and then moved to the reds with the meats and cheeses.
Bruno remained full of good humor throughout the evening, and the server was efficient to pick up dishes and replace plates. The entire experience ended at about 1030. The room where the tasting and the dinner was held was beautiful and warmly lit.
This was truly a highlight of our time in Iguaza.