Mendoza's vineyards are planted between about 800 and 1,500 metres, which is high enough that the grapes behave differently from anywhere else that grows malbec. Thin air means intense ultraviolet light, which thickens the skins. Wide swings between day and night temperature slow the ripening. The result is the colour and structure that made Argentine malbec what it is.
It is also, technically, a desert. Mendoza province receives around 200 millimetres of rain a year and every vine is irrigated by a system of channels that dates to pre-Hispanic engineering and was extended by the Spanish. The Andes make both facts true: they block the Pacific weather and they supply the snowmelt.
The three Mendozas
The wine region is large and the parts of it are an hour or more apart.
Mendoza city is a grid of leafy avenues with a park by the landscape architect who designed Buenos Aires's Palermo, and it is where the restaurants and the airport are. There are no vineyards in it.
Luján de Cuyo and Maipú, twenty to forty minutes south, are the historic wine districts: older vines, bigger names, and close enough to the city to be a base for both.
The Uco Valley, ninety minutes south, is the high one at 1,000 to 1,500 metres against the Andes. It has the newest wineries, the most spectacular scenery and almost nothing else, which means dinner is at your hotel.
The nine below are grouped that way.
The Uco Valley
The high country. Andes directly in front, and nowhere to go in the evening.
The Vines Resort & Spa sits on a working vineyard at 1,200 metres with villas facing the Andes, a spa and a restaurant run by a well-known Argentine chef. Guests can make their own blend in the winery. It is the most complete wine resort in South America.
Casa de Luján occupies a low concrete building among the vines with a reflecting pool aligned on the mountains, sixteen rooms and a deliberate architectural restraint. It is the most striking building in Argentine wine country.
Casa de Luján
Uco Valley · 5★ · $$$$
Reflecting pool aligned on the mountains, sixteen rooms
Check availabilityAuberge Du Vin, Tupungato, Mendoza sits in Tupungato with a small room count, a vineyard and views up to the Cordón del Plata. It is the value pick in the valley.
Auberge Du Vin, Tupungato, Mendoza
Tupungato, Uco Valley · 4★ · $$$
Small vineyard hotel below the Cordon del Plata
Check availabilityLuján de Cuyo and Chacras de Coria
The historic districts, twenty to forty minutes from the city and from most of the older wineries.
CHACRAS Lodge occupies a vineyard in Luján with adobe lodges, each with a private plunge pool and a rooftop terrace for the stars, and a cellar spa. It is the most romantic hotel in Mendoza.
CHACRAS Lodge
Lujan de Cuyo · 5★ · $$$$
Adobe lodges with plunge pools and rooftop terraces
Check availabilityEntre Cielos Wine & Wellness Hotel sits among the vines with a hammam, a wine spa and rooms including a converted railway carriage. It is the most idiosyncratic property here and the food is very good.
Entre Cielos Wine & Wellness Hotel
Lujan de Cuyo · 5★ · $$$
A hammam among the vines and a converted railway carriage
Check availabilitySusana Balbo Winemaker's House - Relais & Chateaux occupies the house of one of Argentina's best-known winemakers at Chacras de Coria, with a handful of rooms, a pool and a working cellar underneath.
Susana Balbo Winemaker's House - Relais & Chateaux
Chacras de Coria · 4★ · $$$
A leading winemaker's house with a working cellar below
Check availabilityVilla Mansa Wine Hotel sits at Chacras with a garden, a pool and a quiet residential setting fifteen minutes from the city and five from several cellar doors.
Villa Mansa Wine Hotel
Chacras de Coria · 4★ · $$$
Garden and pool between the city and the cellar doors
Check availabilityMendoza city
The grid, the restaurants and the airport. No vines.
Park Hyatt Mendoza Hotel, Casino & Spa occupies a building on the Plaza Independencia with a rooftop pool, a spa and the most consistent service in the province. It is the practical base for a first visit.
Park Hyatt Mendoza Hotel, Casino & Spa
Plaza Independencia · 5★ · $$$
Rooftop pool and the most consistent service in the province
Check availabilityDiplomatic Hotel sits a few blocks away with contemporary rooms, a good restaurant and rates below the plaza.
What we have left off
The bodega guest houses and the small posadas across Maipú are excluded. Several are lovely and inexpensive and they are guest houses rather than hotels, which is the standard applied throughout.
What to do
Book cellar doors in advance. Argentine wineries almost universally require appointments and the good ones fill, particularly in the Uco Valley where they are far apart.
Hire a driver. This is a wine region with long distances and police checks, and the cost is modest.
Eat a long lunch at a winery, which is the correct way to do Mendoza: several courses, a tasting flight and the Andes in front of you. Do one a day, not two.
Drive the Alta Montaña road toward the Chilean border past Aconcagua, which at 6,961 metres is the highest peak outside Asia. It is a full day.
Raft the Mendoza river, or in winter ski at Las Leñas, four hours south.
Practical notes
Mendoza's airport has connections through Buenos Aires and Santiago. Santiago is seven hours by road over the pass, which closes in winter storms.
The seasons are inverted. Harvest, February to April, is the best time to visit and the busiest. Spring, October and November, is green and quiet. Winter is cold at altitude with snow on the Andes and lower rates.
Currency and payment arrangements in Argentina change frequently; check the current position close to travel rather than relying on older advice.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Mendoza Hotels
Questions people actually ask
City or vineyard?
Vineyard, if the wine is the point. The city is pleasant and it has no vines in it.
Luján de Cuyo or the Uco Valley?
Luján for proximity and old vines, Uco for scenery and the new generation of wineries. Uco is ninety minutes further and worth it.
How many wineries a day?
One long lunch and one morning tasting. More than that and the day disappears.
How many nights?
Four. Two in Uco and two in Luján, or four in one with day trips.