Mendoza Wine Tours: Private Tastings in the Uco Valley & Luján de Cuyo

Welcome to Mendoza. Meet your driver on arrival at El Plumerillo International Airport for a private transfer to Hualta Hotel Mendoza in the heart of the city, one block from San Martín Avenue and Paseo Sarmiento. The hotel is surrounded by shops, pedestrian streets, and restaurants.

After settling in, the afternoon is yours to explore Mendoza’s compact city center, with its tree-lined boulevards, shaded plazas, and lively wine bar scene.

In the early evening, meet your local wine guide in the hotel garden for a welcome toast and tour introduction. This is a relaxed hour, an opportunity to meet each other, share your connection to food and wine, and hear a walkthrough of the week ahead.

Dinner tonight takes you to Bodega Artesenal L’orange, a certified biodynamic producer in Luján de Cuyo. L’orange follows the principles of regenerative viticulture, operating without synthetic inputs, according to lunar cycles, with an emphasis on soil health above all. 

Start your visit with a walk through their old vines, where you’ll be introduced to the philosophy behind biodynamic winemaking. Then relax and enjoy a traditional Argentine asado for dinner, paired with L’orange organic wines. 

Start the morning with breakfast at the hotel before meeting your private wine guide in the lobby for a morning wine tour in Luján de Cuyo, the historic heartland of Argentine Malbec. Stretching between 800 and 1,100 meters above sea level along the sunlit foothills of the Andes, Luján de Cuyo holds the distinction of being the first Designation of Origin in the Americas, a recognition of the exceptional wines that these ancient alluvial soils, shaped by centuries of glacial activity, consistently produce.

Today’s Mendoza wine tour features a private visit, wine tasting, and tasting menu lunch with wine pairings at Catena Zapata, a Hall of Fame member of World’s Best Vineyards and one of the most consequential estates in the history of Argentina wines. Born in 1902, Catena Zapata is the oldest family-owned winery in Argentina that still remains in family hands. 

Nicolás Catena Zapata was the first Argentine winemaker to demonstrate the potential of high-altitude Malbec to international critics and collectors. Bodegas Catena Zapata continues to lead Argentina’s wine industry into the future through the Catena Institute of Wine, which developed Argentina’s first sustainability protocol for wineries and conducts ongoing research into the country’s viticultural heritage. 

After your visit to the vineyards, winemaking operations, and a private tasting, enjoy a gourmet tasting lunch with coursed wine pairings at Angélica Cocina Maestra, the estate’s Michelin-starred restaurant.

In the afternoon, return to Mendoza for a private guided city tour of the city’s tree-lined avenues, historic plazas, and the architectural story of a city that entirely rebuilt itself after the 1861 earthquake. The city tour concludes with a visit to the Mendoza Handicrafts Market.

Evening is at your leisure. We will provide a curated list of wine bars, restaurants, and be happy to make reservations.

This morning, start your journey south into the Uco Valley, roughly 90 minutes from Mendoza by private car. As you leave the urban edge of the province, vineyards spread across wide alluvial fans, the Andes rise closer and sharper, and the air takes on the dryness and clarity of higher altitude. 

The Valle de Uco is home to more than 100 wineries spread across 30,000 hectares of vineyards. Shaped by intense sunlight, arid conditions, and diurnal temperature shifts that can swing by 20 degrees Celsius between day and night, the result are wines of unusual precision and freshness for an otherwise warm-climate region.

Arrive at Zuccardi Valle de Uco, a Hall of Fame member of World’s Best Vineyards and one of the most purposeful estates in contemporary Argentine wine. The winery’s architecture, constructed from concrete and local stone, echoes the Andes mountains and the limestone-rich ground of the surrounding vineyards.

Zuccardi’s approach to viticulture is equally deliberate. Each of the estate’s parcels is vinified separately to express the distinct character of specific plots, with sustainability embedded across environmental, social, and economic dimensions. 

Enjoy an immersive visit at Zuccardi during a private tour and wine tasting, followed by a tasting menu lunch in the winery’s restaurant, Piedra Infinita, with Uco Valley wine pairings. 

In the late afternoon, check into La Morada Lodge in Los Chacayes, your home in the Valle de Uco for the next two nights. The property sits in the heart of a 270-hectare vineyard estate at the foot of the Andes, with direct views of the snow-capped cordillera from every chalet. 

Get hands-on for dinner this evening, during an empanada-making class where regional technique and open-fire cooking come together in an outdoor setting in the foothills of the Andes. Your cooking class is paired with a curated selection of wines from across Argentina, reaching beyond Mendoza to include the Calchaquí Valley and Patagonia, offering a broader view of the country’s viticultural range.

Today, your private Mendoza wine tour ascends to the highest altitude yet, as you discover the Gualtallary geographical indication (GI), one of Argentina’s most prestigious wine-producing zones. At elevations above 1,200 meters, with limestone-rich alluvial soils and a consistently cool growing season, Gualtallary produces wines of particular purity and structure. Its Malbecs are leaner and more mineral than its lower-altitude counterparts, and we find some of Argentina’s most compelling Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay.

Your first experience this morning will be at Finca Sophenia, one of the pioneering estates of Gualtallary and a certified organic, sustainable family-owned winery. After a visit to the estate and a tasting across Finca Sophenia’s different lines, participate in a hands-on blending session to explore the characteristics of different grape varieties. A friendly competition follows with each blend evaluated by the winery’s manager and a prize for the winning blend. 

After the morning’s wine tasting and blending workshop, continue to Trinchera, one of Mendoza’s most elevated vineyard estates at 1,600 meters above sea level. This intimate restaurant on a working family farm combines vineyards, native parkland, orchards, and a kitchen garden with a private cellar of 5,000 bottles built into the Uco Valley landscape. 

Meet Trinchera’s owners who will welcome you for a relaxed lunch with local charcuterie, a seasonal main course, artisanal cheeses and desserts, paired with nine estate wines.

In the late afternoon, return to La Morada Lodge. The evening is yours to relax at the lodge and enjoy the beautiful vineyard and mountain scenery all around.

Today, depart the Uco Valley and return to Mendoza, stopping along the way for a private sailing excursion at 1,300 meters above sea level in the turquoise waters of Lake Potrerillos, a mountain reservoir formed by the Potrerillos Dam on the Mendoza River. 

Led by an expert sailor, board a private sailboat and cruise the lake with the panorama of the Andes as an uninterrupted horizon. You’ll learn some basic sailing maneuvers while your guide points out local wildlife and explains the area’s history.  Enjoy snacks and sparkling wines served on board. 

After your sail, stop into a traditional mountain restaurant in Potrerillos for a generous three-course lunch with wine pairings overlooking the Andean landscape.

In the late afternoon, return with your private driver-guide to Mendoza city and check in for a second stay at the urban winery Hualta Hotel Mendoza. The evening is at leisure to explore the city at your own pace. We will provide a curated list of wine bars, restaurants, and be happy to make reservations.

Discover another side of Mendoza’s agriculture production this morning with visits to both an acetaia and an olive mill to learn about making balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil in Luján de Cuyo. Your specialist guides will reveal the craft behind extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars from this part of the Mendoza valley. 

The experience ends with a tasting of extra virgin oils and aged vinegars paired with regional breads, cheese with grape jam, fresh fruits, and sun-dried tomatoes with a glass of Malbec or Sauvignon Blanc. This is a sensory morning that demonstrates the difference between commodity and craft production.

After your tastings, continue to Chacras de Coria, a charming residential enclave and one of Mendoza’s most refined settings. Enjoy free time to stroll the arts and crafts market, take a coffee in the small central square, and browse the boutiques.

In the afternoon, visit Casarena, a restored historic wine estate dating to 1937 with four vineyards sited across the Agrelo geographical indication (GI). All Casarena wines are vegan, certified sustainable, and the winery is in the process of obtaining full organic certification. Casarena’s focus is producing multiple expressions of a single terroir through its Single Vineyard program, using only their own estate-grown fruit. 

Your visit includes a private tour of the estate, tasting across their four distinct vineyards, and a picnic lunch.

Bid a reluctant farewell to Mendoza this evening with a tango show and dinner at a contemporary club in the heart of the city. With a cellar of over 7,000 bottles and live performances, the venue captures something of Mendoza’s evolving identity — a city that has moved beyond its reputation as a wine tour stopover and into its own as a cultural destination.

Savor a final breakfast at Hualta Winery Hotel before check out and private transfer to Mendoza airport for your journey home.