Mendoza: Half-Day Wine Tour with Tastings

About This Experience

The story this half-day tour tells is not really about wine, it is about water. Mendoza is a desert that receives around 200 mm of rain a year, and everything green in it stands on a canal network the Huarpes dug long before the Spanish arrived. The guides open with that, because it explains why the vineyards stop dead at a line in the sand.

You visit two working cellars in Luján de Cuyo or Maipú, guided by enologists rather than general tour guides, which shows in the level the explanation is pitched at. Each stop covers the production process end to end and finishes with a tasting.

On the standard option there is a third stop at an olive oil factory — worth knowing, because that visit is the difference between the options and is not included on all of them. Check which you are booking.

At five hours this is the shortest real wine tour in the Mendoza catalogue, and at 739 reviews one of the most booked. Its 4.3 rating is honest about what it is: an efficient, well-explained introduction on a fixed rotation, not a boutique day. Travellers who want small groups and a slower pace pay three or four times as much for it.

Highlights

• Guided by working enologists, not general guides
• Two cellars in Luján de Cuyo or Maipú with a full tasting at each
• An olive oil factory with tastings on the standard option
• The Huarpe canal system explained — why a desert grows Malbec at all
• Five hours door to door, the shortest genuine wine tour in Mendoza

What's Included

• ✓ Hotel pickup and drop-off in Mendoza city
• ✓ Guide speaking English, Spanish and Portuguese
• ✓ Guided visit and wine tasting at two wineries
• ✓ Guided visit to an olive oil factory with tastings (standard option)

Not Included

• Lunch — eat before the tour
• The olive oil factory on options other than the standard one
• Bottles bought at the cellar door
• Gratuities

What to Bring

• Passport or ID card — the operator asks for it by name
• Comfortable shoes for the vineyard and cellar walks
• Sun protection

Good to Know & Caveats

• The two cellars change daily from a pool of Bodega López, Nieto Senetiner, Vistandes, Bonfanti, Florio, Dante Robino, Don Arturo and Cecchin.
• The olive oil mill is Pasrai or Laur depending on availability, and only on the regular option — confirm which option you are booking.
• Bring photo ID. This operator requires it.
• At 4.3 from 739 reviews this is a solidly-rated volume tour rather than a boutique experience. If you want a small group, look at the semi-private and private days instead.
• Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time.

Meeting Point

Hotel pickup in Mendoza city is included — there is no meeting point to find. The van collects every guest in turn, which takes roughly 45 minutes, so the first person aboard is riding for most of an hour before the last one is. Ask for a later pickup slot if you would rather not sit through the loop. Drop-off is back at your Mendoza accommodation at the end of the tour.