An hour and a half south of the city the vineyards climb to more than a thousand metres and the Andes stop being a backdrop and become the landscape. Two wineries, two tastings, and a lunch by courses with a glass paired to each one, all of it private. This is the wine day people remember.
The Uco Valley is the newest of Mendoza’s three wine districts and the highest, with vineyards between roughly 1,000 and 1,500 metres at the foot of the mountains. The cold nights and the altitude give the wines their character, and the setting gives the day its: the snow line is right there, above the vines.
The day is private, in a vehicle with a driver and guide for your group alone. Two wineries, each with a visit and a tasting, and at the second a long lunch by courses, each course paired with one of the winery’s wines, at a table facing the mountains.
Out of Mendoza at eight, south along the foot of the mountains for an hour and a half. The valley opens up with the Andes along the whole western horizon, and the vineyards start.
A visit to the winery — the vineyards, the cellar, how the wine is made at this altitude — and a tasting of its wines with the person who makes them or knows them well.
A second winery, a second tasting, and then the table: a lunch by courses among the vines, each course paired with a wine, and the mountains in front of you. Back in Mendoza at about six.
The wineries visited vary with the day of the week and the season, because the wineries themselves change their visiting days and their availability, and the operator pairs the two so that the visits and the lunch do not repeat each other. If there is one you particularly want to visit, tell us when you write and we check whether it can be booked on your dates.
It is the longest of the three wine days, and the one with the most driving. If you have two wine days, pair it with Luján de Cuyo or the Maipú bike day, which stay close to the city.
No. It is a day we add to your Mendoza package if you stay a little longer. 01Argentina arranges the whole trip — flights or bus, hotel, transfers and the days you choose — and this is one of the days you can choose.
Yes. The vehicle and the guide are for your group alone, and the visits are arranged for you.
Luján is the historic district next to the city: older wineries, less driving, the classic names. The Uco Valley is further, higher and newer, with bigger landscapes and a different style of wine. If you only have one wine day and want the landscape, choose Uco; if you want the shortest day, choose Luján.
Yes. The lunch is a proper meal by courses, and the wines are poured alongside; nobody has to drink them. Tell us about any dietary needs when you write and we pass them on.
March and April, during the harvest, with the vines full and the first colour in the leaves. October to December the vineyards are green and the peaks still white. In winter the vines are bare, but the mountains are at their most dramatic and the wineries are quiet.
Tell us when you are travelling and how many days you have in Mendoza, and we will come back within 24 hours with the whole trip laid out — this day included if it fits.
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Flights or bus, hotel, transfers and the days you choose, quoted as one price.
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