Gaucho100K

Andeluna is a nice place... owned by the Lay Family, so their wines are readily available in the USA.

MIGUEL SANZ

This info is for Flaying Machine.
The place you mentioned is Tupungato Divino

Regards
Miguel

Flying Machine

Thanks Miguel, Thats it.. Nice spot to visit and have lunch..

bsaced

If you could only visit one winery for a lunch and tasting which one would it be?

Gaucho100K

Not an easy choice.... candidates include:

Familia Zuccardi
Vistalba Carlos Pulenta
Ruca Malen
Andeluna

CIVET FIVE

We are staying at La Maison for a few nights and have a day that we would like to go around tasting, probably in Lujan de Cuyo or Valle de Uco. We are considering our options for transportation - either contacting a guide to help us arrange reservations and lunch and take us around, or making the reservations ourselves and only seeking transportation options.

To everyone that did not use a guide - was it difficult to make reservations yourself? Did you find yourself wishing you had a guide to take you around? Did you rent a car or did you arrange transportation yourself via taxi or car? And do you actually save any money by doing this versus arranging with a guide?

Gaucho100K

I suggest you contact Miguel Sanz, see his post above... you will be in the best of hands with him... ^

CIVET FIVE

I wanted to share our experiences from our 3.5 day trip to Mendoza - we are leaving tomorrow morning for Iguazu.

We split the trip into 2 - 2 days at La Maison, a B&B in Vistalba, and then 2 days at the Sheraton. We settled on La Maison based on tripadvisor reviews, price, and location. We picked the Sheraton because I'm SPG Plat and I rarely pass up an opportunity to enjoy my benefits when traveling.

A quick rundown of where we visited:
Alta Vista
Pulmary (Pulmory? Polmary? A tiny winery in Chacars de Coria)
Cecchin
Dinner at 1884
Tempus Alba
8 course lunch at Zuccardi

Tempus Alba and Zuccardi were arranged ourselves (skype calling plus my barely passable spanish) but we didn't have a car so ended up getting a car service for 600 for the day. Basically, we were trying to save some money by not hiring a guide, and its still debatable if it was worth it when considering all of the stress and hassle.

I thought that both 1884 and Zuccardi were very good, easily comparable with top Napa and Sonoma wine country restaurants. I would eat at either place again without hesitation.

Anyone has any specific questions feel free to PM me

Gaucho100K

Thanks for the report... Im a big fan of meals at Zuccardi and 1884, so its good to get updated feedback and know that these places are still spot on !!! ^

janetdoe

We ran into this in Australia... tasted some wonderful wines, bought a few and decided to open one up for dinner. Blech! The problem was (in our case) that all of the Aussie wines are sealed with screwtops and get no oxygen, so it is critical to open them and either decant them or just let them sit open for a couple of hours before drinking them. Try that before deciding whether or not you were scammed. Also, remember that if you fly the wines home, you're supposed to let them rest for a week or two before you open them and drink them.

Now questions for Gaucho100k:
We are planning to spend 4-5 days in Mendoza in early September, and plan to spend most of the time tasting wine. While I am certainly not a 'pro' like you or D1andonlyDman, we usually taste wines the way Dman described - mostly dumping and spitting. If we are just tasting and not touring, are the distances reasonable to plan to see 5-6 wineries in a day? That's normally the number I can manage before my palate is shot (Assuming around 5-10 wines per location, focusing on smaller producers.)

We will probably do one vineyard/winery tour. (I keep seeing references to 'high altitude', so I'd like to understand how/if that impacts anything.) Is there one winery in particular you can recommend for an interesting / outstanding / unique tour?

Now some practical questions:
1. We usually take wine shippers with us and buy two mixed cases as we taste. Will the wineries take credit cards, or should we plan to carry pesos?
2. We we visit US vineyards, we usually buy an assortment of wines, mostly reds, a few crisp whites, maybe a sparkling wine or port. We usually end up buying a good entry level wine ($10-$25) and a reserve or single vineyard bottling ($25-$60) from most wineries. For some reason, the price seems to break that way most of the time. <shrug> What are the comparable price levels for Argentinian wines under those rough categories?
3. The wine we usually drink at home is table wine in the $5-$10 per bottle range. When we find an excellent cheap wine, we buy it by the case. How likely are we to find a great table wine in Mendoza? Something that we could get shipped back to the US and still have a total cost (with shipping and taxes) in the under $10 per bottle range? Where would be the best place to find wine like that?
4. We have tickets DFW-SCL-DFW (LAN codeshare on AA metal), and we are using a BA Avios award on LAN (4500 miles plus $15 taxes) to directly transit SCL-MDZ. We are hoping to check our bags through to MDZ and avoid the Chile immigration and reciprocity fee!
At the end of our trip, we are trying to decide if it is better to take a bus from Mendoza to Santiago, or to get another Avios award flight. Do you have any idea if there are customs or taxes due on two cases of wine if we cross the Chile/Argentina border by land? I think the drive would be nice, but considering that we should get an extra bag each on LAN as Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire, I think a cheap Avios award for 4500 miles plus $20 taxes may be the way to go... Any advice?

Finally, if D1andonlyDman is around, can you please tell me: is there some trick to taste 80 wines without your tongue literally getting sore? I'm not sticking out my tongue at you, that's just how it feels if I get to 50 wines in one day.

Eastbay1K

http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/CL-C...ns-details.htm

You are allowed 2.5L per person. Prepare to pay tax if you bring more. Be pleasantly surprised if you don't pay an import duty. Chile is a very "by the rules" country.

As far as the rest of your post goes, I'm not going to touch it, not even with a a dozen airplane vomit bags after your day of tasting 80+ wines.

janetdoe

Awesome link, thanks! I'll probably be flying with wine checked through to the US, then.
We won't get anywhere near 80 wines. Like I said, half of that is my limit. After that, my tongue feels like this:

Even with one-ounce pours, I usually end up dumping/spitting at least half the wine, unless it is simply too good to waste. <shrug> So 40 wines with 0.5 ounces swallowed is around 20 ounces of wine (around 4 glasses) over an entire day, and I personally think that's an over-estimate. If I drank that over a single dinner, I would likely be headachey the next morning. Spaced over an entire day, I'm lucky to say that doesn't affect me in the slightest.

I have 4 days to get a feel for a huge and important wine region, and I don't know when/if I'm returning. The leisurely 3 wineries with complete tours, 'tasting' wines by drinking half-glasses (2-3 ounce pours), just doesn't suit me. If I had a few weeks in Mendoza, I would probably do it that way, but my husband and I generally are only able to take 'long weekends' for travel. As always, YMMV.

Gaucho100K

I suggest you contact Miguel Sanz (he posted on this thread) about logistics in Mendoza... he is one of the top local guides and you cant go wrong with him.

Please note that unless you want to rush things, it is going to be very very hard for you to visit more than 3 (or max 4 if you push it very hard) Bodegas in one full day. Unless you are willing to visit places solely based on their physical location, there is simply no way you can visit more producers.....

This is because the distances in Mendoza can be very important. If you want to visit one producer in the Uco Valley, if you are staying in or close to the city, you will have to drive quite a distance... and the Valley itself is also a large area so even going from one bodega to the other inside the Uco Valley is not a simple walk away. Also, unless you arrange for private tours at all locations, chances are you will be put together with other folks so even if you're not interested in getting the full lenght tour, you may have no choice.... this means that you will usually need to invest at least 45 to 60 minutes before you get to the tasting room.... so this will add to your time at each bodega making it hard to get more visits in.

If you care to make somewhat detailed and in-depth visits, with reasonable time to taste, then anything more dense than 2 visits per day will be more than you can handle, especially if you plan to eat lunch at one of the bodegas..... food service in Argentina is not exactly fast paced, and this is even more so in Mendoza, and more so at the Bodegas where the norm is a multi-course meal.

I dont mean to rain on your parade... but, in my experience, unless you have something thats surgically planned, booked & confirmed, and you take into account all the logistics, it will be impossible to jam pack multi visits in one day.

Hope this helps.... and get in touch with Miguel, he will be able to arrange something for you that makes sense.

Cheers,
Gaucho100K

Middlebeiz

If you read in any guide that says taking the 68 bus from MDZ airport to the city is easy (albeit time consuming), please consider my recent experience.


I like taking the bus in new cities as a way to dive right in with the locals and avoid the high pressure taxi drivers. I arrived in MDZ a few days ago and was told at the information desk in the airport that I could take the 68 bus until it ends and then get on either the 68 or 63 from there and I'd end up close to the city center. Newly arrived in Argentina and with only pesos (not monedas) I tried to get on the 68. The driver didn't seem to care that I couldn't pay and the bus took off. We drove through what I imagine is the roughest part of Mendoza and then the bus stopped at a terminal. Though the area was rough looking, everyone was nice and I was able to trade some pesos for monedas. I got back on the 68 when it emerged and it filled up quickly.

Thankfully my Spanish was good enough to ask some locals where the bus was going and I was told:
1) I was in the wrong bus to get to calle salta
2) the bus was going to calle salta, but it would take 25 minutes
3) the bus was going to calle salta, but after going to the university and it would take an hour.

It was confusing to say the least. One local woman was so helpful, though. She said just to follow her. We got off the bus and waited with her for another. She even went as far as to buy us passage on the next bus. She was an angel.

Eventually the bus took us past the plaza independencia. We thanked our angel and hopped off, eventually finding our accommodations.


Long story short: this gringo recommends taking a cab since the busses here are very confusing. YMMV.

HIDDY

Yes taking a taxi is always quicker and they really aren't all that expensive. A great experience for you though. ^