^^^
Will add that to the list too, thank you.

Some Mendoza Recommendations
 

FYI, I just returned from a 4 day visit to the Mendoza area, and am an experienced wine tourist, so I thought I'd give some recommendations and observations:

For staying in Mendoza town on a budget, I can highly recommend the Argentino Hotel, which is around the corner from the Park Hyatt, along the plaza and quite pleasant, with small but nice rooms, and excellent service from the staff, at 1/3 the price of the Hyatt. Not a 5* like the Hyatt, but a high quality 3-3.5* place. It was easily booked on Travelocity. I paid $70 US a night after taxes for their cheapest room in late April. They have free internet PCs in the lobby for guests to use - which proved very useful for arranging some of my winery visits.

To explore the wine region on my own, I rented a car from Hertz downtown office, which was about 20 meters from the Argentino's front door on Espejo. An economy VW Golf with manual transmission cost me about $49 US/day with my #1 Club discount for 3 days with 200KM per day included. I've heard that this may have been an unusually good rate - I made the reservation on the Hertz website a couple of weeks in advance. The Argentino rate included free parking in a lot around the corner.

Around 100 meters from either the Hyatt or the Argentino, on Espejo, is a for fee tasting room called the Vines of Mendoza, which is a good spot to get a brief education and orientation of the vineyards in the region, some maps, and winery recommendations, as well as a chance to imbibe a bit of several different Argentine wines within walking distance to your hotel.

I spent my first day exploring Mendoza City, and 3 days touring the wine regions, 2 days in Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo, and 1 day in the Uco Valley. It is important to note that when touring on one's own, most wineries required advance appointments. Many of these were arranged by phone earlier on the same day, while a few were set up by e-mail the day before.

Noteworthy wineries I visited:
Zuccardi (one of the few that allows walk-ins - I got a great personal tour & tasting)
Achaval-Ferrer (a superb boutique winery with, IMHO, the best wines I tasted on the trip)
VistAlba (spectacular, serious new winery with a superb lunch at La Bourgogne)
Luigi Bosca (medium sized winery with a broad range of offerings)
Chandon (Argentine outpost of the famed French Champagne producer)
Ruca Malen (They apply the tour fee to a bottle purchase - so I bought a nice Malbec)
Catena (Breathtaking physical plant & fine wines - but an arrogant attitude that shows)
Bodegas Norton - wines are widely distributed in the U.S.

I was disappointed that I couldn't book a visit with Pulenta Estate, as they told me that they were fully booked all of the time I was there.

In the Valle de Uco:
Salentein (very good wines, spectacular winery - obvious evidence that some folks on earth have too much money to know what to do with it)
Andeluna (I was more impressed with the restaurant than the merely very good wines)
O.Fournier (fine wines and a serious attitude to producing them)
J&F Lurton (solid wines across the board)

The drive to the Valle de Uco is spectacular, especially the stretch over the ridge into Tupungato.

One observation that I would make is that, although I schlepped 4 bottles of wine in my luggage back to the U.S. (3 of which were Achaval Ferrer's superb 2005 Quimera) most of the Argentine wines that ARE imported into the U.S. are available for the same price or even slightly cheaper HERE, than in Argentina. In general, I found that several wines that retailed for 60 to 80 pesos a bottle in Buenos Aires, could be found for slightly under $20 in California. So, before one buys wine in Argentina to lug back to the U.S., do a quick internet search and find out if that wine retails in the U.S. - If it's available, you may as well wait and buy it back home.

Thanks for a great report D1andonlyDman :) but I am shocked at the price for the Hotel Argentino , boy have they gone up. I too love the hotel and have stayed there several times. The first time I had a suite for $80 usd and other times only paid $45 usd a night for one of those great rooms on the front with a terrace overlooking the Plaza. You can send booking requests on their web site http://www.argentino-hotel.com/site.html

Sam

The website quoted rooms from $190 to $280. How do you get room rates as low as $45?

Come on guys Argentine Peso uses $ sign
 

Perhaps if one divides by 3.1 (rough current exchange rate pesos per dollar) you will get the right price. Argentine web-site, Argentine Pesos. Hilton, Marriott, Starwood U.S. dollars.

So, the $ sign on the website actually mean peso. I got it. It was a little confusing.

In Argentina $ is Pesos and US$ or U$S is used to for Dolar pricing. However, one needs to be alert when shopping because there is sometimes the odd bad apple that will try to pull the switcheroo on the less than careful visitor and charge you Dollars for a price that is supposed to be Pesos.

FYI, the rate I paid at the Argentino was $58 US booked on Travelocity. After 21% tax, the total came to $70 US per night

Best Route to Mendoza (IAD-MDZ-EZE-IAD)
 

My fiance and I are planning our honeymoon for this October. My big challenge is getting us to Mendoza, preferably on a Star Alliance carrier for as long as possible. Neither one of us has been to South America so I would like to minimize transfers and cab rides if at all possible.

We are planning to split the time, beginning in Mendoza for a few nights at Cavas Wine Lodge, then head over to Buenos Aires for another few days.

Being based in DC, the easiest option seems IAD to EZE via United; however, getting to Mendoza appears to be the challenge from there. I'd prefer to fly LAN, but to get directly to MDZ I would would have to switch airports to AEP or stay in EZE and fly through SCL.

The other option is to make a grand route:
United IAD to YYZ
Air Canada: YYZ to SCL
LAN: SCL to MDZ
LAN: MDZ to AEP
United: EZE to IAD

My questions are as follows:
1)Is AEP a pain to fly in/out of?
2) Would I be better flying into EZE and transfering to AEP to get to MDZ direct?
3) Will we be spending a majority of our time in customs by transferring through multiple countries (US to Canada to Chile to Argentina)?
4) Am I overlooking an easier route?

Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

1. For my part AEP is no problem at all to fly in and out of.
2. It is not a big deal to fly into EZE clear customs (never a huge backup) and have a remise or taxi take you to AEP. Takes about 30 to 40 minutes in travel time depending on traffic.
3. If you fly into SCL you would stay in the transit area and not clear Chilean customs, (also avoid paying the $USD 100 plus visa fee for entering Chile) assuming that Air Canada would check your bags through to Mendoza.
4. Besides checking to see if UA has a code share with TAM via Sao Paulo I think you have the *A pretty well covered.

By the way the Cavas Lodge is outstanding, hugely expensive by Argentine standards and by mine too :D but what a way to go ^ Have you decided where you will stay in Buenos Aires? There are some great boutique hotels, The BoBo http://www.bobohotel.com/
SoHo All Suites http://www.sohoallsuites.com/ are just a couple of suggestions.

SAM

No big deal. Change airports in Buenos Aires and fly LAN from AEP to Mendoza.

I would recommend spending a day or two each way in BA - staying in either Recoleta or Palermo as well, so you are not worried about making your connections. Those areas are really nice places, with fine shopping, dining, museums and other distractions as well, and they are the most convenient neighborhoods to AEP airport.

Change airports EZE to AEP and fly LANCHILE. Easy 30-40 remise drive (35-40 US dollars aprox)
I agree with D1andonlyDman, not to miss Buenos Aires too!

We are still deciding where to stay in Buenos Aires. I'll take a look at the suggestions. I heard that Home was really nice as well http://www.homebuenosaires.com/home/

Thanks to all for the advice.

Home is very nice as well, not as upscale as the BoBo or SoHo but very nice. There are so many boutique hotels, VAIN is another that is rather nice
http://www.vainuniverse.com/

Have a great trip
Sam

Bus service Mendoza to Las Lenas?
 

Anyone has an advice on getting from Mendoza to Las Lenas for a couple days of skiing? I was hoping for bus services. Is there a regularly scheduled bus service going from Mendoza to Las Lenas?