This blog page will be devoted to my wonderful trip back twelve years ago to Argentina's wine country ( Mendoza ) and to Buenos Aires with the Billington Wines Import group led by the very capable and talented Nora Favelukes. There were perhaps fifteen of us total on this trip, a handful compared to the fifty or more that go these years. It was the maximum size for a group that I like. Really I prefer now to go to different countries in smaller groups so as to maximize my time with the principals at the wineries that we visit. I really like more of a one-on-one contact and it's more difficult when there are more people present and involved. Nora was wonderful and gave one hundred and twenty percent of herself, maybe more to make this trip the success that it was.
I worked at the wholesale level at the time of this trip. I was employed by Marvin Stirman and Alfio Mariconi at the time at Wines Limited imports. It was a small company with my immediate boss being Serge Reveille. I was the only one from the company going on this particular trip. I had sold enough cases of the Billington Argentina selections to qualify. They represented both Catena and Valentin Bianchi wineries and I had to sell a certain amount of both to qualify for this trip. It was my first time back to South America since growing up there in Brazil from the years of two to eight years of age. This was really thrilling to me. I had no idea quite what to expect and I did have two Argentinian friends that I had met in Paris, Christina and Maria. In the back of my mind I had visions of perhaps seeing them again and living some of our old artist/etcher days from back in Paris, France in 1978-80.
As it turned out this was probably one of the finest trips that I have ever taken. It was memorable on so many levels and I have so many different memories and pictures to have much of it come back to me. We did land in Santiago, Chile and I did see the airport there in Chile. I'm sorry I did not really see anything of Chile but at least I landed on it's soil for awhile. The flight took a grueling nineteen hours and I was a mess from such cramped seats for such a long stretch of time. Being in Miami, too was quite the shock as at the airport there it seemed that everyone spoke Spanish and it was almost impossible to hear any English at all!
The trip took us to both the north and the south of Mendoza ( Catena in the north and Valentin Bianchi in San Rafael in the south ). From Mendoza we flew to Buenos Aires and enjoyed that city for a couple of days. That's where I met up with both my friends Christina and Maria. It was the more social part of the trip, Mendoza was the more intense wine-part of the trip. That was okay with me. Nora our guide was the one that helped me reconnect with both Christina and Maria. It took a call from our hotel.
Christina's number was not listed. The operator did not want o give it out. Nora was patient and persistent and explained in fluent Spanish to the operator who I was and our prior connection in Paris, France. Somehow she got the number and before we walked out of the hotel to visit some art galleries close by Nora left a message. The message basically said that if Christina was the person that had lived in Paris back in the late 1970's and had been etching and worked with a Tony Quinn that I was now in Buenos Aires and would love to see her. There were lots of " ifs " and holes in this and nothing was certain in the least. I was still really hopeful. I'm an optimist and don't like to see the negative side of things first. I was just hoping that we had the right number and that I would be able to see my old friend once again. You never know?
We went out to visit the galleries and upon our return perhaps two hours later we were sitting at lunch when we received a call someone came to get me. I was floored! It was Christina on the other end of the phone line, she was thrilled to hear from me. We both talked a mile a minute. Yes, she could see me, how about today, now? I said how about a bit later and we meet for dinner and some shopping? She said " fine "; Nora also agreed to let me break away from the group for the evening and it was all set. Christina would come meet me at the hotel a bit later and my head was racing ahead with so many thoughts and emotions. I could barely contain my excitement!
Christian showed up a couple of hours later and met me downstairs in the lobby and smiling we raced to each other and embraced/kissed and said our " bonjours ". We spoke the whole time in French because that was the common language that we used when we knew each other in Paris. I will continue this story in my next entry. Let it suffice to say that it was an amazing evening that included Maria and the three of us had a blast together. What are the odds?!? It was a milagro, really. Thrilling. Cheers, TONY
