Well, I couldn't do it. It would be an extremely long blog post to include everything that we did from Mendoza until leaving Argentina. I decided to split it into two blog posts. This one covers Mendoza and the drive south back to Bariloche. The next and truly final Argentina post will cover our visit to El Calafate, another incredible glacier, Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina.
We spent a great Christmas 2023 as part of our nine day visit to Mendoza. This area is the most famous wine production zone in Argentina. We visited a bodega (winery) almost every day, enjoying the wine often along with a great meal.
There are several great bodegas in the city of Mendoza itself. Two other regions very nearby are Maipú and Luján de Cuyo. We were able to visit vineyards and bodegas in all three.
Our first visit, and maybe our favorite, was to Casa Vigil which was created and operated by members of the Catena family, one of the most famous and successful wine families in all of Argentina. Catena wines can be found all over the world and are popular in the U.S. Various members of the family have developed different vineyards and wineries in the area. Casa Vigil is famous for its Enemigo line of wines, especially Malbec, and the food in the restaurant was incredible. Casa Vigil is located in Maipú.
Another of our favorites was Bodega Lagarde and its restaurant, Fogón. Here we not only had a great meal but were able to walk through the vineyards. This bodega, restaurant and vineyard are located in Luján de Cuyo. All of the wineries we visited were no more than thirty minutes from where we stayed in the heart of the city of Mendoza.
The next day, we actually visited two bodegas - La Pirámide vineyard located in Luján de Cuyo and owned by Nicolás Catena and his daughter Laura (which is part of the Catena Zapata line of vineyards). Here we had a tasting of an excellent array of wines and a most interesting tour of the bodega. Later we had dinner at the Restaurante Abrasado in the Los Toneles bodega (just east of the city of Mendoza).
Some photos from Pirámide including a photo of their special grappa, as I am called by my grandchildren.
A photo of Los Toneles bodega and the largest salt shaker in the world from Restaurante Abrasado.
On the following day, we were looking forward to our visit to Achaval Ferrer vineyards and bodega since we were fans of the the malbecs from this line. We were not disappointed. This bodega is located a little farther from Mendoza, south of Luján de Cuyo and south of the Mendoza River. We visited here for a tasting and a tour of the bodega. Achaval had a unique methods of dispensing its wine for tasting.
We saved the largest winery for last. Trapiche exports more wine than any other winery in Argentina. Its primary bodega is located in the Maipú neighborhood of Mendoza. Interestingly, the bodega is not particularly interesting with a bit too much of an industrial touch. Still many of the Trapiche wines are excellent and we enjoying closing out our tastings there.
On December 26, we began the last leg of our drive south on ruta 40 back toward Bariloche. Again, the scenery was breathtaking. We had been warned that even though this was part of the famous Pan-American Highway, there was a stretch of an unpaved rocky road. It was more than we anticipated. Over 80 miles of unpaved road that varied from dirt to gravel to rock. Not a particularly fun drive.
We stopped three nights on the way staying in towns we had never heard of before this adventure: Malargüe, Chos Malal (our favorite name) and Zapala. On the last day, we could see the Andes to our west as we followed the long line of lakes to the end of our thirty-day drive in Bariloche. It was a great adventure and a great way to see the country but definitely not for everyone.
After Bariloche, we flew further south to El Calafate and one last, yet incredible, glacier visit.
Photos and a video in the next blog post.
Reminds me of the vineyards we visited in Chile about 10 years ago. Quite an epic journey you two were making. Great post!