How to choose a wine tour?

The real map of wine in Mendoza

• The dif­fer­ences between regions, land­scapes and rhythms
• How to choose wise­ly and with­out rush­ing

Men­doza is more than just one thing. Before dis­cussing wine tours, it’s help­ful to under­stand the map : the land­scapes, dis­tances, and his­to­ry explain the expe­ri­ence much bet­ter than any list of winer­ies. Sim­ply put, Men­doza is orga­nized around its rivers and val­leys , which give rise to areas with very dis­tinct iden­ti­ties.

North of the Mendoza River

His­toric and near­by Men­doza

North of the Men­doza Riv­er are the areas clos­est to the city and our estate.
Mod­ern Men­doza wine­mak­ing took root here, pri­mar­i­ly from the late 19th and ear­ly 20th cen­turies.

Maipú

The ori­gin: trains, winer­ies and mod­ern wine­mak­ing

Maipú is one of Men­doza­’s old­est wine-pro­duc­ing regions with­in the mod­ern devel­op­ment of the indus­try. Many of the first winer­ies were estab­lished here for a very spe­cif­ic rea­son: its prox­im­i­ty to the rail­way, which allowed wine to be shipped to Buenos Aires. As a
result , Maipú boasts his­toric winer­ies, tra­di­tion­al build­ings, and an iden­ti­ty deeply con­nect­ed to the ori­gins of the wine indus­try. Today, it is a more urban­ized area, inte­grat­ed into the city’s growth. The Andes Moun­tains are per­ceived quite uni­form­ly through­out the region: it is not a region defined by land­scape, but rather by his­to­ry, archi­tec­ture, and urban struc­ture .

Luján de Cuyo

The nat­ur­al shift of viti­cul­ture.

As time passed and the city grew, wine­mak­ing began to shift from Maipú towards Luján de Cuyo . First it fol­lowed the main roads , and then it sought areas with more space, bet­ter views and new devel­op­ment pos­si­bil­i­ties.

The old Route 40

In Luján, the old Route 40 rep­re­sents an inter­me­di­ate stage of this shift. The land­scape here is char­ac­ter­ized by tra­di­tion­al urban­iza­tion, old hous­es, and large groves of trees that form ver­i­ta­ble tun­nels, a very Men­doza-like fea­ture. Winer­ies and vine­yards blend into this urban-wood­ed envi­ron­ment. The Andes are ever-present, though often per­ceived through trees, gar­dens, and build­ings, more as a con­stant pres­ence than an open vista.

Vistalba and Las Compuertas

Fur­ther west, with­in Luján de Cuyo, lie Vistal­ba and Las Com­puer­tas. These areas mark a new stage in devel­op­ment: more vine­yards, less urban den­si­ty, more space, and a clear­er appre­ci­a­tion of the land­scape and the moun­tains. Here more con­tem­po­rary winer­ies begin to appear, though still in keep­ing with Luján’s tra­di­tion­al scale.

Perdriel and Agrelo

Final­ly, still with­in Luján de Cuyo, in Per­driel and Agre­lo, the land­scape opens up dra­mat­i­cal­ly. Here, expan­sive vine­yards, mod­ern winer­ies, and a direct, open, and impos­ing view . Many of these winer­ies have an archi­tec­tur­al style clos­er to that of the winer­ies in the Uco Val­ley, although they are much clos­er to the city.

A clear axis

The recent wine­mak­ing his­to­ry of Men­doza can be read almost as a jour­ney:

Maipú (train and ori­gin) → Old Route 40 (road and tran­si­tion) →
Vistal­ba and Las Com­puer­tas (open­ing) → Per­driel and Agre­lo (mod­ern winer­ies and open land­scape)

All with­in the same ter­ri­to­r­i­al axis.

Uco Valley

Closer to the mountain range, further from the city

The Uco Val­ley is locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 100–120 km south of the city of Men­doza, so a vis­it requires a full day. In its north­ern part, north of the Tunuyán Riv­er, areas like Tupun­ga­to and Tunuyán have devel­oped rapid­ly since the 2000s. Here, mod­ern winer­ies, expres­sive con­tem­po­rary archi­tec­ture, and a more rur­al, less urban envi­ron­ment pre­dom­i­nate. In the Uco Val­ley, one feels clos­er to the Andes Moun­tains, more immersed in the Andean land­scape, rather than admir­ing it from afar.

South of the Tunuyán River

La Con­sul­ta, Para­je Altami­ra and El Cepil­lo

La Con­sul­ta, Para­je Altami­ra, and El Cepil­lo belong to the depart­ment of San Car­los, south of the Tunuyán Riv­er, with­in the Uco Val­ley. Not all of San Car­los is wine-pro­duc­ing, but these areas are , and they also have a rich agri­cul­tur­al his­to­ry.

In La Con­sul­ta and Para­je Altami­ra, there are vine­yards over 100 years old, plant­ed over sev­er­al gen­er­a­tions. Many estates—including my family’s—were plant­ed in the 1940s, on land with a pri­or wine­mak­ing tra­di­tion. For me, La Con­sul­ta and Para­je Altami­ra are the most emo­tion­al part of the Uco Val­ley: more small-town life, less mass tourism, and a dai­ly con­nec­tion between wine and peo­ple.

Fur­ther south appears El Cepil­lo, the south­ern­most of the Uco Val­ley, espe­cial­ly inter­est­ing for cold cli­mate vari­eties, par­tic­u­lar­ly Pinot Noir .

There are few­er winer­ies, but a very dis­tinct char­ac­ter. This is the Uco Val­ley at its south­ern edge.

And fur­ther south? San Rafael is part of the Men­doza wine map, but due to its dis­tance it is not prac­ti­cal to vis­it it from the city of Men­doza or from our hotel on a day trip.

So… how do you choose a wine tour?

It’s not about “which win­ery has the best wine.”
Today, Men­doza has excel­lent wine in all its regions .

The key is to choose accord­ing to:

• the avail­able time,
• the dis­tances,
• the land­scape that attracts you most,
• an inter­est in his­to­ry or mod­ern archi­tec­ture,
• and the pace at which you want to trav­el.

Before choos­ing winer­ies, under­stand­ing the dif­fer­ent regions is the first step to enjoy­ing Men­doza mean­ing­ful­ly. Read the fol­low­ing post on  How to Get Around Between Winer­ies in Men­doza