Our Friends The Sommeliers

At the wedding, we were lucky enough to reconnect with Ines and Santiago, a pair of true Argentine epicureans. They are both sommeliers, and they both love food. Matt first met them when they ran a restaurant in Granada, Nicaragua, for a few years. Below is a photo of (left to right) Matt, Ines and Santiago at the wedding.


Ines and Santiago now live in a gorgeous 1920s home in the Palermo Viejo neighborhood of Buenos Aires and host private wine tasting events (often with meals designed to complement the selected labels) in their customized wine salon. We stopped by and checked out the place recently, and it would be an understatement to say that we're in awe. We're talking 20-foot ceilings, beautiful original tile, marble staircase, wood and iron French doors, a central atrium filled with plants, etc. The memory card in the camera ran out before I could really capture the place, but here is a shot of Ines in the atrium.

Thanks to the explosion of wine production in Argentina, Ines and Santiago have found themselves in the right place at the right time. As Santiago explained to us, a 30-peso bottle of wine in Argentina is the equivalent of a $30 bottle of wine in the States in quality, but thanks to the exchange rate, it costs an American only $10 to purchase. Needless to say, we plan to hang out with Ines and Santiago as much as possible because they are fonts of information and some of the most interesting people you could ever meet. They also speak English fluently. We're having them over tonight for drinks on the balcony, but of course, we've given up hope of offering a wine that could impress them.

Visit http://www.casacoupage.com.ar for more photos of their home and wine salon - you'll find them within the section entitled "La Casa."