Gaucho100K

Malbec, like most all other things you can now buy In Argentina are at amazing prices, if you know how to take advantage of the Currency situation. For wine lovers, aside from a visit to Mendoza, make sure you take back you favorite wines to enjoy back home.

If you don't visit Mendoza and are only in EZE, you can still have a "virtual" visit to Wine Country by arranging a proper wine tasting event.

daliugrey

Hello Gaucho & the board, you mentioned hte busvitivinicola svce in post #444. Wondering if you had a chance to try it out & any thought on this?

I just scored a RT to BUE on TAM's 1st class svce so will be visiting memorial day weekend. Difficulty now is scoring a flt MDZ-IGR and EZE. My friend who has visited BA said for non-portenos its extrmeley expensive and bus'ing from MDZ to IGR is just not an option. Does anyone have any advice on this? thanks

Gaucho100K

Im afraid Ive never tried the Bus you mention. Im ITB so I get taken around by the Bodegas everytime I visit Mendoza. Perhaps others can comment...??

Domestic flights are not inexpensive, but Im not sure I would say its extremely expensive. Bus to IGZ is torture... so unless you are on a shoestring budget, I would rule that out and pay the airfare.

David Beach

The vitivinticola drop-off-drop-on bus no longer goes to Valle de Uco, it instead visits the bodegas in the area around Lujan de Cuyo and is run by Turismo CATA: http://www.busvitivinicola.com/?mod=bus-textos

Also, Andesmar has a 35-hour (two nights!) bus Mendoza-Iguazu and reverse:
http://www.plataforma10.com/Servicio...9/06-03-2014/0

daliugrey

thanks David & Gaucho. So, hire a driver to do Maipu, Lujan & Uco or have you tried the Vitivinticola? I think I'm going to skip the 35 hr bus ride. Kayak shows LAN rpice about $350 USD for OW to IGR from MDZ. have to bite the bullet & do it and still have to price out the return from IGR to AEP. Any comment or advice appreciated,

Gaucho100K

I would suggest you contact Miguel Sanz... he is an excellent private driver based in Mendoza and knows all the right people/places etc. His services are well worth the investment. I regularly send clients of mine to Miguel and consistently get rave reviews.

If you need assistance contacting Miguel, please PM or email me and I will get you in touch with him.

Cheers,
Gaucho100K

alaskantraveler

I was in Mendoza 3 weeks ago with a group of 4 people. We did both routes offered by this company. The 2 routes alternated every day so we went on both a Thursday and Friday. The cost was 150 pesos per person so around $15 USD . http://www.busvitivinicola.com/

We enjoyed the wineries offered on the tour. They make it very easy for you as you do not need to make reservations for a tour and tasting. All the wineries on the tour are prepared to give you a tour and tasting.

Worth doing if you only have a couple of days. Most of the wineries they stop at have restaurants available for lunch. The food was delicious and very reasonably priced. Most of the wineries on the tour charged 50 pesos for a tour and standard tasting.

For our hotel we jumped on the Intercontinental Mendoza when it was an IHG point break so we picked it up for 5k a night. Also with our Chase IHG cc Platinum status we were given free breakfast. The hotel is located a ways from downtown, but taxis are cheap.

We loved Mendoza so much we are headed back in a couple of days for more wine tasting. This time we will be staying at the Park Hyatt for 8K points per night.

Gaucho100K

The bus is certainly an option, although I doubt you have any flexibility in terms of which places you want to visit. The price is hard to beat, so if you are ok with the "fixed menu" format and are on a budget, then perhaps it is indeed one of the best options.

For the more serious wine aficionados, hiring a private car and driver is the best way to go, even though the economics involved are quite different. However, with a private tour you will get the following advantages, just to name a few.....

a) tailor your visits to exactly where you want to go
b) skip the standard visit to see yet another stainless steel tank and go straight to what you want to do - ie. taste wine
c) get a chance to do barrel tastings
d) at some places, you may get a little time with the Winemaker or else someone from his/her team
e) request to taste the high-end wines (many times as no additional cost)
f) have access to Bodegas that are not reached by the Group Tour Operators

The bus tour option is great to have and in no way do I see it as a bad option, it is relevant however to note that for many visitors that are more serious about wine and that can do their math in US$ or another hard currency, a private tour is a far better and still reasonably priced option... especially if your party is of 2/3 people.

As Ive gone on record before, Miguel Sanz is one of the best private guides in the business.... and I would not hesitate to contact him for a quote if you are planning on visiting Mendoza.

Facundodes

Hi, sorry for my bad english.

I live in Mendoza. If you have any question, please ask me.

Greetings!

sonomawine

We are planning an 8 to 10 person "fly in" trip for our friends next April and are having a hard time finding a rental property to house us for a week that is large enough for us all. We have checked the usual websites (VRBO, Homesaway, etc.), but either the place is a couple of hours from Mendoza or just too small. Any thoughts of where to look?

Gaucho100K

Seems like you need a house that has at least 5 bedrooms.... so that wont be easy to find. One option for you may be to try to get one of the wineries to have space at their Cabania style homes. There are a couple of producers that have this.... however, your timing is not the best because April is the end of harvest and is a time when many Bodegas have their importers come in and those lodgings are used mainly for ITB purposes.

You probably don't want to hear this, but you may have to either rent 2/3 different homes or else you should consider a non chain hotel type option... have you looked at things like Lares de Chacras...?

Im ITB here in Buenos Aires and have some contacts... if you want, please PM or email me and I will see if I can help you out with a few leads.

Cheers,
Alex / Gaucho100K

MIGUEL SANZ

Hi Sonomawine, hope is not to late, I'm in Mendoza and I have a connection that can provide a house for you.. Also I can provide transportation for all of you if you need.
Pls PM direct to me if you still need any help.

Gaucho100K

Miguel... thanks for all your help during my last trip to Mendoza. Look forward to reading more from you on these forums, we can use all the help from a local expert to answer all the Mendoza questions that come up.

Cheers from EZE,
Alex / Gaucho100K

catmndu

I'm starting my third day (sadly my last) of touring Mendoza. Miguel has been my extremely able guide for this trip. He has picked the right wineries to go to and has picked some excellent lunch locations. My lunch at La Azul with some nice wine pairings was to die for.

I really can't recommend Miguel highly enough!

Time traveller

I am looking to rent a car at MDZ to drive out to Aconcagua. When checking all the major rental car companies online, none of them seem to have cars with automatic transmission. Can anyone recommend any rental car companies that have automatic transmission cars?