Where there is plenty of time for wine
City’s gastronomic scene, tasting rooms are growing in leaps and bounds
The reliably clear blue skies of Mendoza, with the Andes lined up in the distance and vines everywhere you look, create driving conditions so perfect the wine can seem almost secondary.
To fully explore the area’s wineries, you’ll have to travel south and east of the city to the wineproducing regions of the Uco Valley and Maipu.
But making the urban centre your base means easier access to nightlife and great restaurants — the city’s gastronomic scene has been growing in leaps and bounds, along with tasting rooms where you can sample not just the mighty malbec, but other varietals like bonarda and torrontes. FRIDAY 3 p.m. Up the Mountain It’s tempting to see Mendoza though the bottom of a wine glass, but you’ll be missing out on some spectacular scenery. Pre-emptively burn a few calories with a quick hike up Cerro de la Gloria.
The hill’s switchback trail takes just 15 minutes (or you can run up like some fit locals) and ends in a spectacular monument commemorating Gen. Jose de San Martin, who led Argentina, Peru and Chile in a revolution against Spain.
The fabulous views of the city to the east include the stadium; to the west is a sprawling mountain range.
The surrounding park is popular with Mendocinos playing soccer and picnicking, and makes a great spot for a walk or run. 5:30 p.m. First Tasting Prep your palate for sampling wines at Mendoza’s bodegas (wineries) with a tasting at Wine Not?, in the city centre. Despite the cheesy décor — such as cork table sculptures and “save water drink wine” signs — the owner Matias Roca specializes in serious and outof-the-ordinary vintages from small producers; you might get an unlabeled bottle from a garagista (someone who makes wine in their garage) who produces just 1,200 to 1,500 bottles a year; or an unusual chardonnay without mineral notes or too much acidity. 8 p.m. Grandma’s Cooking A local favourite, serving food like your abuela used to make, Fuente y Fonda serves enormous enamel dishes with entrées designed for two, including fresh pastas and a milanesa (breaded steak) topped with melted cheese, fresh tomatoes and ham.
The appetizer of beef tongue, sliced thin and doused in olive oil, vinegar and garlic, is meltingly good, and the wine list does justice to Mendoza’s offerings; on a recent visit a blend of malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and bonarda from Matias Michelini, a Mendoza wine star, was on offer.
Save room for dessert, which is free, and don’t miss the moist, dense bread pudding (budin de pan) if it’s available; it comes with a healthy dollop of dulce de leche. SATURDAY 10 a.m. Drive, Then Drink Reserve a spot at Bodega la Azul’s11:30 a.m. tour and tasting before embarking on the stunning drive (about an hour and 15 minutes) down Route 40 to the Uco Valley, where some of the country’s most lauded bodegas grow their grapes.
The drive south, with the Andes to your right, showing clear lines of demarcation where the snow stops, and fields of vines on either side, is breathtaking. Arrive at the tiny, charming bodega, which is the only 100 per cent Argentine-owned winery in the area.
Ezequiel Fadel Hinojosa, the owner and a third-generation winemaker, introduces visitors to his small-production sauvignon blanc (acidic because of the high altitude) and blends of malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a stop in the small winery at the back where wine is produced in eight steel vats. The sofas in the garden restaurant make the perfect place to sit with a glass when you’re finished. 1:30 p.m. Leisurely Lunch Just five minutes’ drive up the road brings you to Tupungato Divino, a small hotel with a restaurant and a garden that offers a spectacular view of the Andes, extensive fields and a babbling, man-made irrigating stream that runs right by tables shaded by grape-laden vines.
The impressive wine collection of 150 vintages is sourced from nearby wineries, and the seasonal menu is fixed price, with a degustation of starters and desserts.
From the list of entrees, opt for the lomo — the steak is served with a malbec reduction and cooked exactly to order; it’s an Argentine classic.
4 p.m. Andes and Architecture Zuccardi is a name to be reckoned with in Argentina; the moniker of the winemaking dynasty appears on bottles in restaurants around the country. Their Valle de Uco winery, which opened in 2016, is a stunner, thanks to the sleek and uber-modern architecture that was designed to emulate the line of the Andes that serves as a backdrop to this state-of-theart complex (alluvial rock and other native materials went into the building as well). Tastings include a tour that goes from vines to vats to a gorgeous tasting room (note the innovative concrete amphorae). 5:30 p.m. Afternoon Snack Dinners in Argentina are eaten late, so assuage your hunger with a stop at a shabby white food truck with “jamon crudo” inelegantly scrawled along the side. It’s parked by the side of the highway where Route 7 intersects Calle Cobos, in full view of the mountains. The owner bakes yard-long loaves of bread and cures Spanish ham himself; then slices it to order, making salty, flavourful sandwiches that are the perfect late afternoon snack. Pull up a white plastic chair, open one of the bottles you picked up on the day’s tours and enjoy the view under the bright blue sky. 7:30 p.m. Shopping Mendoza Mendoza’s liveliest shopping and nightlife street is the fourblock stretch of Aristides Villanueva that runs from Belgrano to Paso de los Andes. Packed with busy restaurants, shops, cafes and craft beer bars with outdoor seating, this is where you can pick up trendy pieces by Argentine designers and get a sense of local life at the same time. At Cosset, a combination bookshop and clothing boutique, you’ll find jeans and soft knits for women from the trendy Buenos Aires brand Rie, slinky dresses from Allo Martinez, and chunky jewelry from Cuatromusas as well as art supplies and books on film and graphic novels. Moht has Isabel O. slip-on shoes in colourful patterns and Lazaro handbags. Finally, at Espacio Aristides, pick up a pair of jeans from the hip Argentine label Ay Not Dead. 10 p.m. Wine Pairing Reserve a table in advance for dinner at Azafran, which has some of the city’s most sophisticated food and a wine cellar to match. The six-course tasting menu departs from the usual Argentine fare, with dishes like tender grilled Patagonian prawns accompanied by a cold almond soup, and pork tenderloin with a sweet potato and coffee purée. Service is thoughtful and friendly. Don’t forget the wine pairing, which includes wines from the creative Maal label (which shares an owner with the restaurant) as well as some of the most interesting bottles in Mendoza. Afterward, if you still have room, stroll across the street to Helados Ferruccio Soppelsa, one of the top ice-cream spots in a city that loves the stuff almost as much as wine. Try the vanilla or cherry flavours, both infused with malbec. SUNDAY 9 a.m. Food and Wine The sunny courtyard at Brod, a small bakery with the best medialunas (small croissants) in town, is the ideal place for planning your next winery visits. The laid-back spot has heartier options, too, such as poached eggs, house-made granola and sandwiches. Across the courtyard is Winery (closed on Sundays, but stop by another time), an extensive wine store with entire rooms dedicated to single varietals.
If you’ve still got a crevice left in your suitcase for another bottle, buy it here (they’ll also ship bottles for you if you don’t). 11 a.m. Torrontes Tasting The first female winemaker in Argentina, Susana Balbo has her bodega in Lujan de Cuyo, a 30-minute drive from the city, and offers an informative tour of the fermentation rooms, which are filled with enormous steel vats, concrete amphorae and the newfangled, teardropshaped barrels the winemaker is experimenting with. The bodega has its own restaurant; post-tour tastings are held in its basement tasting room or an outdoor patio where you’ll be introduced to, among other wines, a bright and fruity torrontes, and Balbo’s BenMarco Expresivo, a complex blend of malbec and cabernet franc. 1p.m. Sunday Lunch The Club Tapiz restaurant, part of a small hotel, has an elegant dining room where the chef Soledad Nardelli constructs a prix fixe lunch menu of three courses, offering sophisticated platings of vacio (flank steak) slowcooked in milk; pink trout on a bed of mixed quinoa; and cheeses with house-made marmalade and candied walnuts. The wine list is long and mostly from the Tapiz bodega, which also produces good olive oils (ask the server if you want to sample them). On warm days, dine on the patio in front of the enormous tree that’s home to dozens of noisy parakeets.