A couple of weeks late, but both Gaucho and Dante deserve huge props for providing exceptional service. We visited Gaucho's shop toward the beginning of our trip (a week in BsAs, a week in Patagonia), but didn't want to drag a case through the second half. Instead, Gaucho was willing to keep the wine, packed, at his store. We coordinated with Dante to have him pick up the case before he met us at AEP and transferred us to EZE. He charged an extra $15USD, certainly more than fair for the extra driving and coordinating he had to do.

Of course, our first two flights from Bariloche (scheduled 4M, then switched to Aerolineas) were both canceled, and LAN spent a good 90 minutes in BRC rebooking us on the later EZE-MIA nonstop (original award booking was EZE-SCL-MIA), since we were going to miss the international connection. It was a few very stressful hours for us, but everything worked out in the end -- Dante was still able to pick us up at AEP, three hours later than our original itinerary, and got us to EZE about 3 hours before departure, even in the midst of horrendous rush-hour traffic.

So, thank you to Gaucho for taking the time to help us with our purchase and being willing to hold on to the case for us. Thanks to Dante for picking up the wine first and being able to readjust your own schedule due to our cancelled flights.

No problem getting the VAT refund, either. Gaucho did a great job packing the box, complete with strap and handle to make it easier to lug. Of course, TSA cut all that off when they felt the need to rummage through the box on our last MIA-ORD flight. The customs guy at MIA asked what was in the box, I told him 12 bottles of wine, to which he replied, "Dessert!"

Thanks, guys.