Argentina Wine Country Vacation

Visitors who can’t make it out of Buenos Aires will find numerous wine bars where they can sample the country’s best, and restaurants around the country carry a broad selection.

But true aficionados should spend at least a week in and around Mendoza—a region that’s making it easy to sample its production—but that’s not nearly enough to visit all the 100-plus wineries around the provincial capital. The vineyards of San Rafael, two hours to the south, and San Juan, two hours north, are also worth trying.

In the Andean northwest, the vineyards of Cafayate (Salta Province) and Chilecito (La Rioja Province) produce distinctive high-altitude wines. While the wineries are not so numerous, they are interesting enough to justify at least two or three days in the area.
Before recent developments in New Zealand, the Río Negro Valley of northern Patagonia boasted of producing the world’s most southerly wines (around 39° S latitude). Wine tourism here, though, is in its infancy.

Day 1
Arrive at Aeropuerto Internacional Ministro Pistarini (Ezeiza) and transfer to a Buenos Aires hotel. In the afternoon, visit central historic sites like the Plaza de Mayo, the Casa Rosada presidential palace, and the Congreso Nacional.

Day 2
Full-day city tour including the colonial neighborhood of San Telmo, the colorful immigrant barrio of La Boca, and the northern barrio of Retiro. Evening visit to a lively wine bar before dinner.

Day 3
Morning flight to the provincial capital of Mendoza, center of Argentina’s largest wine-producing region. Afternoon visit to wineries of Maipú, in the city’s eastern suburbs.

Day 4
Day tour to wineries of Luján de Cuyo, in the city’s southern suburbs. Have dinner at the Dionisio Wine Bar in its fashionable Chacras de Coria neighborhood before returning to Mendoza.

Day 5
Take a breather from the wineries, with a tour or rental car excursion up the valley of the Río Mendoza, offering views of Cerro Aconcagua (the Western Hemisphere’s highest summit). Or, check out the view from the statue of Cristo Redentor, a peace monument on the Chilean border near Las Cuevas. Dinner at 1884, adjacent to Mendoza’s Escorihuela winery.

Day 6
Excursion to the provincial capital of San Juan, home to several lesser-known wineries, with a side trip to the offbeat Difunta Correa shrine.

Day 7
Travel to high-altitude wineries of the Valle de Uco, southwest of Mendoza, with special attention to the state-of-the art Bodegas Salentein. Overnight at San Rafael.

Day 8
Full-day tour of San Rafael wineries, returning to Mendoza in the afternoon.

Day 9
Morning flight to Buenos Aires and on to the city of Salta, with an afternoon city tour.

Day 10
By bus or rental car via the scenic desert canyon of the Quebrada de Cafayate, make your way to the town of Cafayate, home to the finest vintages of the white varietal Torrontés. Visit wineries and take a side trip to nearby pre-Columbian ruins at Quilmes, in Tucumán Province.

Day 11
Visit additional wineries near Cafayate and travel overland to the picturesque desert village of Cachi for an overnight.

Day 12
Return to Salta via Parque Nacional Los Cardones and the precipitously scenic Quebrada de Escoipe.

Day 13
Return flight to Buenos Aires, with the afternoon and evening free for sightseeing and perhaps a tango floor show.