Mendoza, Argentina
Malbec country under the Andes. Harvest in March; asado lunches in the vines year-round.
Best time to visit
Weather by month
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 30° | 19° | 44 mm | |
| Feb | 28° | 18° | 43 mm | |
| Mar | 25° | 15° | 54 mm | prime |
| Apr | 21° | 11° | 36 mm | prime |
| May | 16° | 7° | 28 mm | |
| Jun | 14° | 4° | 20 mm | |
| Jul | 13° | 3° | 16 mm | |
| Aug | 16° | 5° | 24 mm | |
| Sep | 19° | 7° | 24 mm | |
| Oct | 23° | 11° | 40 mm | prime |
| Nov | 27° | 15° | 38 mm | prime |
| Dec | 29° | 17° | 36 mm | prime |
30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.
Cost
Serves travellers at Backpacker→Ultra-luxury level. Typically around $100 a day on the ground.
Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.
What's on
Vendimia March
National grape harvest festival
Worth knowing
Argentina changes its currency arrangements faster than any guide can keep up with. Carry cards and some dollars, and ask locally on the week you arrive what the sensible way to pay is; the answer is different every year.
money · editorial
Bodega visits are by appointment. Turning up at the gate does not work at most of them, and the good ones are booked out weeks ahead in harvest season. The Uco vineyards sit between 1,000 and 1,500 metres, which is why the nights are cold and the wine tastes the way it does.
know before · editorial
Harvest in March is the best time and therefore the fullest. Winter is cold, the vines are bare and many smaller bodegas close their doors. January is dry heat in the high thirties.
when not to go · editorial
Mendoza city is leafy, flat and full of restaurants, with everything an hour away. Chacras de Coria is a village on the edge of Lujan de Cuyo, close to the bodegas and still walkable. The Uco Valley puts you among the vines under the Andes, remote and dependent on a car.
where to stay · editorial
The wine regions are spread out and separate. Maipu is close enough to cycle between bodegas. Lujan de Cuyo is half an hour from the city, and the Uco Valley is an hour and a half further, with nothing but vines in between. A hired driver or an organised day out is the normal solution, because the whole point is drinking.
getting around · editorial
Mendoza has its own airport, fifteen minutes from the city and about two hours flying from Buenos Aires. Santiago de Chile is closer by road, six or seven hours over the Andes, but the pass closes without warning in winter storms and buses queue for hours at the border either way.
getting there · editorial
Quests
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Plaza Independencia
The exact centre of the city, and at night there is a market.
Parque General San Martín
Go in through the iron gates. They came from Glasgow in 1907.
Cerro de la Gloria
The monument to the Army of the Andes, and the whole city below.
Maipú vineyards
By bicycle, between rows of malbec. Slowly, for obvious reasons.
Puente del Inca
Sulphur orange, and it is not paint.
The Aconcagua viewpoint at Horcones
The highest mountain in the Americas, seen from a car park.
See
See Aconcagua from the road to Chile
Eat
Eat a steak with a Malbec from a small bodega
Empanada mendocina
Baked in a clay oven, not fried. Insist on that.
High-altitude Malbec
Order one from the Valle de Uco and one from the first zone. The difference is the whole outing.
Moment
Be in Mendoza for the harvest
A long lunch at a vineyard
It starts at midday and has no finishing time.
Craft
The grape harvest
Only between February and April, and only by hand.