The province of Mendoza is the Sonoma and Napa Valley of Argentina combined. It’s an unlikely place to find acres upon acres of lush vineyards on account of the fact that the entire region is technically a desert; however you’d never know it. When the first Italian immigrants moved to the area in the 19th century, with their favourite grape seeds in their pockets, they adopted the thousand year old Incan irrigation system to divert the melt water from the Andes through to their vineyards. The result is Mendoza, the heartland of South American wine that’s consistently turning out impressive Malbecs, Bonardas, and Torrontes amongst others (just ask Robert Parker). No trip to Argentina would be complete without a trip to the region to witness first-hand the exciting viticulture taking place that’s changing the face of fine wines around the world.
A wine tasting tour can be done in many different ways, but first you have to make some hard decisions to guide your trip. First of all, to spit or swallow? Unlike many vineyards in France, the proprietors of Argentine vineyards actually want you to drink and be merry, so unless you’ve decided to rent a car and drive yourself around (and really, where’s the fun in that?) you needn’t feel condemned for shunning the spit jar to your left.
So if you’ve decided to swallow, congratulations! Now you just have to be realistic about how much you can drink, because the last thing you want to do is stumble into bed, makeup and dress askew, and not remember what you’ve been up to all day long. Starting at around 10:00 am, with lunch at midday-ish and ending at about 4:00 you can expect to pack in three good wine tours. Typically these tours include a walk through the vineyard to talk about enlightening new methods of viticulture that starts on the vine, then a walk through the building where the wine is fermented and swished and swilled around. The fun of these mandatory pre-drinking walk-throughs are the surprising little nuggets of knowledge you can pick up to impress your friends at home with (for instance, the difference between red and white wine is only the amount of time the skins of the grapes are allowed to stay in the fermenting tanks- red wines have had the skins in the tank far longer than the white wines). If you pick a good selection of vineyards, which is discussed below, you’ll soon realize that there are a thousand different ways to make good wine, and only one way to enjoy them, which brings us to the tasting.
Usually you’ll have anywhere between three and five different wines to taste at any one sitting, maybe two if you go to a smaller vineyard. However, if you’re having a good time and want to try more don’t be bashful, ask and you shall receive. Most winemakers are all too happy to show off what they’ve done and there’s nothing they enjoy more than an appreciative crowd. However, good form dictates that you should buy something at the end, so don’t clean them out if you have no intention of buying a bottle. And while we’re on the subject, you really should be your bottles from the vineyards because the difference in price is amazing, more than half price in some cases because they save costs by not having to ship them anywhere.
So now that you know what to expect, you have to decide whether to go with a rented bike, a tour company or a hired driver. The rented bike option is for the hard core traveller who is intent on saving costs no matter the physical hardship. Most of these vineyards sit on a lot of acres of land, which means that they are far apart from one another, which means that biking with a buzz is something you’ll be doing a lot of if you go for this option. If you’re okay with this then you’ll find no shortage of seriously affordable bike rentals in Mendoza City, and in most cases they’ll even drop you off closer to where you want to go and pick you up again later. A tour company is great for the traveller who doesn’t know specific vineyards in the area and wants someone else to work out the details. The only problem with the tour operators is that you have to be mindful of rip-offs. Generally, wait until you’ve actually arrived in Mendoza and go to a local tour operator in the city because they won’t charge exorbitant prices and they will know more of the area and the specific vineyards and can cater to what it is that your specifically would like. Some reputable companies are Ampora Wine Tours, Trout and Wine, and The Grapevine Wine Tours Limited, and all are located centrally in Mendoza City.
The third and final option is to hire a driver for the day, and in my opinion, this is the best value for your money. For 100 pesos, equivalent to about U$33, you have a personal driver to pick you up when you’re ready to go, drop you off wherever you want to go and someone who is highly familiar with the area and will undoubtedly give you suggestions on the best places for lunch. As for where he’s going to take you I highly suggest these three vineyards: Dominio Del Plata, Mendel and Catena Zapata. The first is owned by a couple who are proof that opposites attract. Susanna Balbo is the winemaker/scientist who advocates toasted French oak barrels, percentages and temperatures and Pedro Marchevsky is the viticulturist who can be found out in the field calculating the amount of sunlight each grape is getting at different points in the day. Both have their own lines of boutique wines which are superb and encapsulate their own approaches to winemaking, and they also have their commercial line Crios, which combines the best aspects from both. Mendel is a boutique vineyard owned in part by the LVMH group and makes for a very intimate experience. It’s very small production, using only the highest quality barrels and hard labour to make its Robert Parker endorsed line of Malbec and Malbec-Cabernet wines. On a not so busy day it’s not uncommon for the head winemaker to come join you for a tasting. Finally, Catena Zapata is the big name vineyard, producing wines that ship out all over the world and are popularly known everywhere. It has a long history in the area and an extensive line of fine wines; however I do suggest seeing them first because after the more intimate experiences you get at the other two it could feel a little cold on account of it being such a major operation, giving tours to hundreds of people every day. And the last thing you want when you’re finishing up a great day of boozing is to feel like just one in the crowd.
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