Planning your Trip to Mendoza – Important Considerations

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Planning your Trip to Mendoza – Important Considerations

Mendoza’s Wine Regions

Mendoza’s wine region is over 350,000 acres (144,000 hectares) of planted vineyards, and produces nearly two-thirds of the country’s wine. Argentina’s most highly rated Malbec wines originate from Mendoza’s high altitude wine regions of Lujan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley. These areas are in the foothills of the Andes mountains, with elevations of between 2,800 and 5,000 feet.

MAIPU

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LUJÁN DE CUYO

With vineyards planted in sandy soil at an altitude of 2,640–3,630 feet, Lujan de Cuyo is known as the land of Malbec. It is part of Mendoza River's high region. Most of the vines here are planted with red wines, but Malbec is not the only grape thriving here. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Torrontes also thrive well.

About 40 minutes south of Mendoza city, this region is considered the place where Argentina's wine movement began - pushing the country from the common table to international production. Luján de Cuyo was the first region to institute the AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlée) for Malbec in 1993. This has caused continual increase in the quality and quantity of the wines, and increased global recognition.

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UCO VALLEY (VALLE DE UCO)

Approximately 75 minutes south of the city of Mendoza, the Uco Valley (Valle de Uco) is Mendoza's newest wine region, and the one getting the most attention internationally right now. It is known especially for Malbec, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Semillon and Torrontes production. The breathtaking natural scenery makes it one of the most picturesque regions in Mendoza.

The Uco Valley has received much global acclaim in 2012, although it has been producing top quality wines for well over a decade. The area is known for its high altitude, with the Tupungato region having vineyards planted almost 4,000 feet above sea level. Uco Valley is in fact one of the world’s highest wine growing regions, with over 80,000 hectares planted between 3,000-3,900 feet.

In addition to producing award-winning Malbecs and blends, the area is also emerging as a source for premium quality white wine varietals such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and even Torrontes.

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MAIPU

The region of Maipu, south and east of Mendoza city, has over 30 wineries.
Some of the best are La Rural, Familia Zuccardi and Finca Flichman. While you won’t need as much time in Maipu as the other regions, it is not a region to skip, and the additional olive oil tasting and biking opportunities provide a diversion from the Lujan de Cuyo and Uco Valley tourist experiences.

PLANNING TRAVEL TIME

Remember, with all of Mendoza’s gorgeous winery regions, wineries can be a bit far away from each other, making reservations and booking a driver for the day are critical to be sure you can taste as much wine and visit as many wineries as possible. While making arrangements might seem a bit inconvenient now, once you’re in the big open spaces in these wine regions you'll be grateful.

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Important Tips that are game changers for your

• Make reservations for all wineries and restaurants with time in advance to help ensure availability.
• Plan on visiting only three wineries per day – three at maximum if you are having a winery lunch!
• Plan your trip by region – Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo or Uco Valley - as there is significant distance in between.
• If you go on your own, bring cash as many wineries do not accept credit cards.
• Bear in mind the duration of each wine visit: each one generally lasts 60-90 minutes.
• Some wineries are closed Saturday and Sunday, as well as national holidays. Call the wineries in advance and check their opening days and hours.
• Use a recommended tour agency (like Ideas South America LLC!) -which make planning effortless.

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1884 Restaurant by Francis Mallmann. One of our favorite restaurants in Mendoza, Argentina

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1884 Restaurant by Francis Mallmann

ONE OF OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS IN MENDOZA, ARGENTINA .

Francis Mallmann is Argentina’s most identifiable chefs. Mallmann was featured in the first episode of Chef's Table, a Netflix original series ( We strongly recommend watching the episode and learning about this Argentine celebrity chef and his methods of barbecuing meats). His signature restaurant, 1884, in Mendoza is the preeminent restaurant for meat in the world’s most preeminent meat country. His book, Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, is basically the bible of cooking Argentine meat. The emphasis on the food here is rustic. Many dishes are cooked over an open fire or in a clay oven. Mallmann gravitates not toward the European influenced kitchens of Buenos Aires, but the gaucho ways of Patagonia and beyond.

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Francis Mallmann. Netflix. In the first season of Netflix's culinary documentary series Chef's Table, David Gelb and Co. fixed their lens on Francis Mallmann, Argentina's most famous cook. Mallmann is a self-described romantic and one of the most prominent chefs in Latin America. 1884 is located in a corner of the Escorihuela Gascón Winery, in the Godoy Cruz neighborhood just outside of the center of Mendoza (15 minute taxi-ride). Upon entering the Romanesque building you find the narrow bar area to the right and a large garden area with a few tables to the left.

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We strongly recommend you to sit for a drink at either section while waiting for your table to open up (reservations are a must). In the garden courtyard you can watch the chefs stoke the wood fired grill and clay oven and slice up beautiful cuts of flesh. The restaurant is the most iconic Mendoza food experience. It is essential to understand the chef’s ideology. This is cuisine that can be traced to the very heart and soul of Argentina. It’s presented beautifully, but don’t expect molecular gastronomy here or tiny bite size dishes with foams. The food is earthy and seasonally based. In fact the menu changes every two weeks. It utilizes Mendoza’s rich cornucopia of produce to pair with the meat and wine.

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Where to go in February: Carnival in Montevideo

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Where to go in February: Carnival in Montevideo

For 40 days, the city of Montevideo puts the tango aside for a while and it liberates its African soul to live the longest Carnival in the world. During the parade called “Desfile de Llamadas" which takes place the first Thursday and Friday of February, more than two thousand drums are played together by local bands, evoking the meetings that black people used to have in the XIX century.

The Uruguayan Television broadcasts it all live and a jury selects the best bands, representatives for the Carnival Groups Official Competition. Just as this evening in cafés, people talk about football, at Carnival time, they discuss murgas´tunes and controversies arise about who the best or worst parodists were.

Every day there are Candombe, Murgas (street bands) and troupes performed on tablados (outdoor stages) and at the Summer theatre

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What is Candombe?

You can hear the drums in the Mercado del Puerto ( Port Market), in a terrace in Punta Carretas´neighborhood. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, 35% of the citizens were of African decedents. The candombe was born with them, in a survival attempt, a need to preserve their roots. As there were black people from different African regions, they got together according to their origin in the Salas de Nación and practiced that afro Uruguayan rhythm that combines three drums: chique, repique and piano, which together from a string. The drums are hung on the shoulder and are played with one open hand and a stick. The Candombe was banned in colonial times and during the military dictatorship the Conventillo Mediomundo was demolished, a temple of candombe and resistance.

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Live the Carnival !

For music, feelings and emotions, you have to come in February. There is still no simulator that reproduces these stimuli, such a provocation. We still need to travel. Nowadays between 6 and 9% of the Uruguayan people are afro descendants. Many live in the Sur neighborhood where on weekends there are strings of drums parading the ISLA DE FLORES street and some others. This goes on while the Desfile de las Llamadas ( popular yearly parade ) arrives and the whole city is filled with the sound of drums. For everything else, the Carnival Museum is a former port warehouse that has kept its cobblestone floors where you can see different exhibitions related to the Carnival: from models of some local street stages of the 30´s to the collection of masks, photos, costumes, drums and rag dolls.

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Carretera Austral: Explore Chilean Patagonia

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Carretera Austral: Explore Chilean Patagonia

How to Explore Chile’s Aysen Region: A land of gigantic mountains, pristine lakes and awe-inspiring glaciers. Winding for 800 miles through the Aysen region, the Carretera Austral showcases some of Chile’s most spectacular scenery. Running between the towns of Puerto Montt and Villa O Higgins, the Carretera takes you through Aysen, a little visited region of Patagonia located between the Lake District and Torres del Paine Park in the south. More than 41,000 sq miles of mountains, fjords and archipelagoes. Remote, diverse, and stunningly beautiful, Aysen is a destination for those seeking the best of Patagonia without the crowds.

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Reasons to visit Carretera Austral in Chile
• The Carretera Austral is a world-famous road, perfect for a road trip or slower bicycle tour; • Get an insight into the gaucho culture and traditional warm hospitality that has dominated here for centuries; • Discover each of the three contrasting landscapes: listen to birds call in the temperate rainforest, hike peaks in the mountains, and gaze at sunset over the steppe; • Spot the wildlife: The untouched nature of the Aysen region means wildlife has flourished. • Close to Coyhaique you can visit a condor nursery, where condors fly within meters of you. • In the Chacabuco Valley, puma numbers are steadily increasing due to an abundance of guanacos, and in the Tamango area of the Patagonia National Park there is a higher density of the endangered huemul deer than almost anywhere in Patagonia.

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Carretera Austral: Plan your Next Road Trip
A number of companies offer nonstop flights from the US to Santiago. There are connections available from Santiago de Chile to Balmaceda, Aysen’s regional airport, with Latam and Jetsmart. You can rent a 4x4 at the airport (essential for tackling Aysen’s roads) or you can hire a local professional driver and/or local guide. It is essential that you bear in mind that cell-phone reception is almost nonexistent along the Carretera Austral. Remember that Carretera Austral is a 1,240-kilometre, mostly unpaved route that winds itself from the Chilean Lakes District deep into the heart of Aysén, Chile’s least populated region. The biggest challenges you face driving is the state of the road; most of the Carretera Austral are unpaved gravel, which can be dangerous to drive on if you take it too fast. Punctures are also a possibility, while flying gravel can chip and even crack windscreens. We strongly recommend that you hire the services of a local professional driver who knows the road and knows what to do in case a problem arises.

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Top Things to See and Do on Carretera Austral

Coyhaique

The regional capital is a 45-minute drive from the airport, and every visitor to Aysen will pass through it. It is worth stopping at the Museo Regional Aysen which tells you all you need to know about the region’s fascinating history and ecology. The best hotels in town are the Nomades Boutique Hotel and El Reloj.

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Queulat National Park

As well as hikes to the Hanging Glacier, there are kayaks for rent on the lagoon, and you can take boat trips to get close to the glacier. Don’t miss the Puyuhaupai Lodge and Spa, a secluded hot-springs resort on the far shore of the Puyuhuapi fjord.

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Cerro Castillo

The rugged landscape around the mountain, an easy 90-minute drive south of Coyhaique, is arguably the most dramatic in the region.

Lake General Carrera

The Carretera Austral follows the shores of the vivid blue Lake General Carretera, so as you drive south, you will have plenty of time to take in the scenery. Millin Colorado Ecolodge has beautiful wooden cabins on a hillside overlooking the lake and its own secluded stretch of shoreline for anyone brave enough to take a dip in the glacier water. The Hacienda res Lagos has rooms on Lago Negro and a private pebble each with a sauna and hot tub. You can book excursions on and around Lake General Carerra with one of several activity companies in Puerto Rio Tranquilo. You can go kayaking to the Marble Caves and hiking.

Tortel

This enchanting village, constructed from wooden boardwalks winding their way around the bay at the mouth of the Baker River, was our southernmost stop along the Carretera Austral. It is a long climb-up moss-covered steps to the Entre Hielos Lodge but it is worth it for tis stylish tranquility.

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Visit Authentic Estancias in Buenos Aires

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Visit Authentic Estancias in Buenos Aires

Just outside the city of Buenos Aires you will find the Argentine Pampas, one of the largest open grasslands areas of Argentina. This wild, untouched land of the pampas is a great place for learning about the daily lives of the gauchos, to participate in all the works carried out in the Estancias, such as cattle marking, cow milking, cattle handling, sheep shearing and horse taming, horseback riding, hunting, fishing and other sports like Polo.

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Estancias play a huge part in Argentina's culture, economy and history. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the pampas, have historically been estates used to raise livestock (cattle or sheep) estate. In the early days, these establishments were responsible for making Argentina one of the biggest meat and grain producers in the world. They are large farms which are spread over extensive areas, often 10,000 hectares.
These enormous ranches dotted the entire countryside and are to this day where the best steaks in the world come from. For Argentines, superlative beef is not just a pastime but a national obsession, with more than 50 different cuts of meat that are offered in many restaurants. ( Two examples are: Cabana Las Lilas in Puerto Madero and Don Julio restaurant in Palermo Soho ).

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Estancias also give travelers a rare opportunity to stay as a guest at a working ranch and to experience the unique gaucho culture in a tranquil and beautiful setting of untamed countryside. Most estancias are over two hundred years old and still maintain a daily way of life that is firmly grounded in traditional practices and values. Many are restored colonial houses, and each is unique. Many of the estancias offer their guests all of the amenities found in luxury hotels, but in the tranquility of a rural setting. While some estancias are known more for their horseback riding activities and facilities, others are famous for their Polo exhibitions.

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Estancias and the life of the Gaucho are entwined

Estancias also are known for their excellent cooking, especially when it comes to barbeque, which usually means fresh local meats of lamb and beef with vegetables from the garden. Some chefs may even let you in on their recipes. It is also common to see a group of people at a fire playing the guitar in the evenings. If you know Spanish and can hold a tune, expect to be asked to join in! Gauchos, much like the American Cowboy, have become a national icon, their lives retold in stories and legends. However, what passes for myth in the United States is very much reality in Argentina. Today they are still very much an integral part of the working estancia. Also like the cowboys, gauchos are master horsemen. It is typical to see a jaw-dropping taming or a horse show arranged in many towns on a daily basis, as well as impromptu ones staged out in the fields during the cattle drives.

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What to Expect on your Estancia Visit
• While some are known more for their horseback riding activities and facilities, all estancias invite guests to experience their unique culture. You'll get a giant-sized taste of asado, traditional Argentine barbeque, empanadas (stuffed bread or pastry) and plenty of other local specialties, which often include dishes for which Argentina is not as well known for such as finest freshwater fish offerings.
• The typical Argentine estancia is a mansion in a combination of French, English, or colonial architectural styles, with the main residence usually having been converted to receive guests. These elegant and historic buildings overlook vast expanses of countryside where cattle, sheep, goats, and horses graze.
• Every estancia has its own special character and history; they offer several alternatives in authentic estancias to spend a day in the Pampas countryside see the vastness of the land and learn about the traditions and activities of these working.

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Specialized Estancias: Horseback Riding and Showmanship

Some estancias specialize in breeding horses and offer ideal conditions for travelers wanting the ultimate horseback riding vacation. Ranging from beginner to expert levels, these ranches usually offer guided trail rides, polo lessons, and a chance to ride along with the gauchos as they go about their daily ranch activities. There are even a few that will let small groups of guests take on roles almost to the point of being a gaucho for a week or more. At the other extreme, some ranches also have their own tack shops and will outfit a guest in gaucho apparel and equipment whether he or she ever rides a horse. Those estancias that cater more to serious riders tend to be located to the north and far south of Buenos Aires while dude ranches can be found on the outskirts of almost all major cities in Argentina. Other estancias, while offering horseback riding for guests, also have regularly scheduled events on site that demonstrate the unique skill of the estancia's gauchos. On these ranches, a visitor usually will see gauchos displaying their world-class horsemanship as they break a young horse or display showmanship of their considerable equestrian talents.

Finding an Estancia near Buenos Aires

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For many visitors, a trip to Argentina means a stay in and around Buenos Aires. For those looking for equestrian showmanship or opportunities to soak up the estancia culture without the need to test their horseback riding skills, there are dozens of locations within an hour's drive west and southeast of the city. For a more complete visit, you can stay for a number of days in the acres and acres of the rolling fields known as the Pampas, arguably the true home of Argentina's estancia traditions.

Contact our experienced Travel Advisors and share your thoughts with them. Taking your preferences into account, they will help you plan your visit to the Estancia that will meet your expectations.

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