Mendoza, Argentina: Wine Tasting in Uco Valley
Due to my husband’s crazy work schedule, I found out we were traveling to South America just a few short weeks before the trip took place. I immediately jumped into planning mode, and was able to throw together a two-night side trip to Uco Valley in Mendoza, Argentina for some wine tasting! Here is everything I learned from trial (and some error), to help future travelers.
How to get there
The easiest way to visit Mendoza is to fly from Buenos Aires, Argentina or Santiago, Chile. We were flying from Europe on short notice and actually found it a lot cheaper to get to Chile, stay a night, and then fly to Mendoza. The flight from Santiago to Mendoza is 1 hr. The flight from Buenos Aires to Mendoza is 2 hours.
We bought tickets from Santiago to Mendoza for about $60/pp on Sky Airlines. Other airlines to check out are LATAM Airlines and Aerolineas Argentinas.
Where to stay in Mendoza
There are three main wine regions in Mendoza. Heading south from Mendoza city you have: Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo, and then Uco Valley. After reading Sol Salute’s blog, I decided we MUST stay in Uco Valley.
Essentially Uco Valley has 1) the most world-renowned wineries/highest quality wines, and 2) the best views, as it is the closest to the foot of the Andes. Unfortunately, it is also the furthest from the city and airport (about an 1-1.5hr drive), but I decided if I was getting just two nights in Mendoza, I wanted it to be the best two nights possible.
If you want to stay in Uco Valley, essentially you want to find lodging somewhere between the towns of Tupungato and San Carlos.
We ended up staying at Auberge du Vin, which is a Marriott property located among the vineyards southwest of Tupungato. The hotel is located down a long, gravel/dirt road and our rental car did not have great suspension. This added about 15 minutes or more to our commute to the wineries (called “bodegas” in Spanish) each day. Next time, I would try to find something along roads 89 or 94 where a lot of bodegas are located, and are nicely paved roads.
I would also consider staying at a hotel at one of the wineries for our next visit. Since Auberge du Vin is so small and remote, when we got home around 4pm each day there was really no one around and, although relaxing, it could’ve been boring if we stayed more than 2 nights.
The map below has the Uco Valley shaded in red. It also has all the wineries and restaurants we visited.
How to get around
Ahhh, the constant question when it comes to wine tasting: “who is driving?” (Answer: Garan)
After weighing the options, we ultimately felt that getting a rental car and driving ourselves was the best option. Because Uco Valley is located so far from Mendoza and the wineries are quite far apart, a car is the only option. That said, you could definitely hire transfers from the airport to your hotel, and then hire a driver to take you to the vineyards each day. We felt we weren’t planning to do enough drinking to prohibit us from driving, but perhaps if we had been with more friends we would’ve considered hiring a driver.
Wine Tasting in UCO Valley
So, now that you are in Uco Valley, and have your lodging and transportation… where to go? Nearly every bodega has a website with contact information, and I do recommend making appointments unless a website specifically says walk-ins welcome. One note on Mendoza compared to other wine regions (particular in Europe) is that there is a LOT more land, and the vineyards tend to be newer and more consolidated, so a 100-hectare (250-acre) vineyard that might be considered enormous in Burgundy would be small here. Expect more of a corporate feel in general, though the benefit is this allows some of the winemakers to have the resources available to do some really cool things, and without hundreds of years of tradition on how things are “supposed to be done”.
Here is a breakdown of our favorite spots from the trip:
Zorzal
One bodega I knew I wanted to visit was Zorzal. I spent hours and hours reading about the various bodegas and I liked that Zorzal seemed to be known as “young” and “hip”. They utilize different techniques to make their wines (including using large concrete vessels shaped like eggs), and I knew this was something I wanted to check out. Additionally, it is located in Gualtallary, which is a prized subdivision of Uco Valley, and is also close to Auberge du Vin! We made it our final stop on our first day so it would be just a short drive to our hotel.
Owned by one of the Michelini brothers (who are four Chilean brothers with several wineries in Uco Valley), we had emailed ahead of time to request a tasting appointment. I quickly received a response from winemaker, Noelia, offering us three different tasting options:
- Tour+ Wine tasting of the tanks and oak barrels: $350 per person.
- Tour+ Wine tasting of the tanks and oak barrels+ tasting of three bottles (Terroir único, Gran Terroir and Eggo): $600 per person.
- Tour+ Wine tasting of the tanks and oak barrels+ tasting of three bottles (premium line: Eggo, Piantao and Porfiado) $1500 per person. (prices in Argentinian pesos, not USD!)
We elected the last option, which at the time came out to about $35 USD/per person.
Our private tour lasted about two hours, with Noelia showing us around the facilities. She explained the winery’s mission of minimal intervention in the wine-making process to express the terrior of Gualtallary. The tour ended with a tasting of their premium wines in a quaint tasting room with views towards the Andes.
We ended up purchasing some of their higher end wines at $50/bottle to take home, although most of their wines are much more reasonably priced. They have an American importer, so many of their wines can be bought in the USA.
Zuccardi’s Piedra Infinita
The Zuccardi Family is another major wine family in Mendoza. You may have heard their name because they have won many awards, including “The World’s Best Vineyard” in 2018, and Costco carries some of their wines.
Besides having the already stunning backdrop of the Andes (they are closer to the mountains than most), the winery itself is literally a piece of art. It is rock, metal, glass, sleek lines and really makes you feel that you are in some awesome art gallery rather than a winery.
The winery was recommended to us by our concierge at Auberge du Vin, but you can easily schedule a tour online. It is located at the far end of Uco Valley and was a 1 hour drive from our hotel.
Piedra Infinita (Zuccardi) offers a tour in English everyday at 12:30pm (in addition to 2 Spanish tours each day). There were only three other people in our group. At the end of the tour, they offer you a selection of wine tastings, ranging from $15 – $60 USD per person for four wines. However, you also have the choice to do a four course lunch with wine pairings (ranging from $60 – $115 per person depending on your wine selection). If we had not already had lunch plans, I 100% would’ve done the lunch with wine pairings. The dining room is so beautiful, and smelled amazing.
The Best Lunch Ever
Speaking of lunch, after Piedra Infinita we went to Bodega La Azul, which is a small restaurant/winery just 20 minutes from our hotel.
Located directly on road 89, I knew we were in for a good time when we pulled up and saw the entire lawn covered in brightly colored tables and chairs, filled with young couples drinking wine. We had a 3pm reservation, but it was clear that arriving closer to 1:30pm would be ideal, as the party was already in full swing.
Bodega La Azul offers a very reasonable wine tasting of five wines for only $10 USD. However, what everyone comes here for is their five course lunch with wine pairings for only $40 USD/per person. The lunch also concludes with a winery tour.
The lunch consists of three small appetizers, an entree, and dessert. Each course is paired with one of their wines, and they leave the bottle of wine on your table for the rest of the meal! That’s right, the wine is essentially bottomless… which turns this gorgeous lunch with a view into quite the party!
Besides the lunch being beautiful, fun, and boozy — the food is also really good! We weren’t really sure what to expect for such a reasonable price, but Bodega La Azul totally delivered. I recommend at least one person in your party order the pork (called Bandiola)
The La Azul lunch is offered from 12:30 – 2:30 Tuesday to Sunday and reservations are highly recommended. You can find more information on their website: Bodega La Azul
Our Full Uco Valley Itinerary
August 6th 2019
1910: Landed at Mendoza Airport from Santiago, Chile on SKY Airlines, cost $120 for two people (all prices in USD).
2000: Picked up rental car from Holiday Autos at airport for three days, cost ~$120 total.
2130: Arrived at Auberge du Vin, Luxury Collection Hotel in Uco Valley, three night stay cost $375 total (off-peak).
August 7th 2019
1030: Glass of wine each at Salentein tasting room (no reservation needed), each glass approximately $8.
1200: Tasting appointment at Masi Tupungato, lasted approximately 1.5 hours, tasting cost $10 per person.
1330: Lunch at Ilo Restaurant in Tupungato, 3 empanadas, steak “Ilo” and wine for $18 total.
1500: Tasting appointment at Zorzal, lasted 2 hours, cost $35 per person.
August 8th 2019
1230: Tasting appointment at Zuccardi, lasted approximately 1.5 hours, cost dependent on your wine tasting selection, ours was $50 per person.
1500: Lunch reservation at Bodega La Azul, cost $40 per person for five course lunch with wine pairings.
August 9th 2019
0820: Flight from Mendoza to Salta, Argentina on JetSmart Airlines, cost $130 for two people.
Details on our trip to Salta coming soon! Salta is known in Argentina as “Salta la linda” in Spanish, which roughly translates to “Salta the beautiful” in English… and it definitely lived up to it’s reputation (plus it’s Argentina’s other big wine region!).
Pin a photo below to remember this post for your future travels!
Click one of the photos below to see one of my other blog posts on wine tasting in different regions around the world
Another great post Brittany! Hope I can go to Mendoza someday and enjoy the wine~
Thank you! Mendoza was quite stunning and I highly recommend it!
What a lovely trip! Thanks for the great tips, I hope to visit the region someday!
Great! Let me know if you have any questions!
Looked like a nice trip and fairly reasonable! Do think it would be better to go in there in the summer months or would it be to crowded?
John
Love reading about your adventures. I would definitely go exactly where you went if I were to visit there. Sounds wonderful !
Thank you, Shannon! Mendoza was SO beautiful. It was slightly more expensive than we thought, but still much better price point than France
Hey, John! The weather was really quite pleasant during the day when we were there. I believe in their summer months (our winter months), it gets REALLY hot. So probably best to go on the shoulder seasons if you want slightly warmer temperatures than we had.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience and giving me ideas about the wineries and food in Mendoza.
Thanks, Jose! Hope you enjoy Mendoza!
Thank you for the great info! I’m planning a trip to Argentina in April and struggling to decide between Mendoza region or Salta region. If you only had to pick one, what would have your vote? I know some may say to do both but my travel style tends to be not pack too many destinations into one trip so I can really get to experience/enjoy it.
Honestly, I’d pick Salta. Is really beautiful, less touristy. Smaller vineyeards. I suppose some of it depends on things that are important to you. Salta is definitely more rustic but we were really wow-ed by it. We drove from Salta to Cafayate, to Cachi over the pass Abra del Acay (sort of scary), and then to Purmamarca and then back to Salta. Great trip, highly recommend with a good rental car and strong driver!