We visited Mendoza in Argentina for four days in April 2022. Four days was too short!! Highlights included vineyards, a food and wine experience at Casa Vigil (El Enemigo), a day tour and an amazing Thacks Awards-winning wine bar in the town.
A short flight from Buenos Aires on Jetsmart and we arrived in Mendoza in the heart of Argentina’s wine country – known for their Malbecs and red wines. The city reminded me of Stellenbosch in South Africa with leafy lined streets: though the Andes Mountains were far in the distance compared to Stellenbosch Mountain.
We started our trip on a high with a magnificent food and wine experience at Case Vigil at the El Enemigo bodega on the outskirts of Mendoza town. The evening started with sundowner drinks and a tour of the cellar and artworks, before you get seated in the luxurious restaurant – behind a row of sparkly wine glasses. Each course was beautifully paired and we had a brilliant meal.
The following day we had an early start to visit some wineries and we enjoyed informative tours at a contrasting large producer, Trapiche, which ended in us tasting some premium products there, then we moved on to a small family-run vineyard (where a harvest was being concluded with thousands of bees buzzing around that we first thought were flies!) before we had a sumptuous lunch at Pan & Oliva in the Mendoza countryside. Although Pan & Oliva is set between the vineyards we also had an interesting tour of their olive oil factory and enjoyed an olive oil tasting.
We spent the next 2 days exploring Mendoza town and stumbled upon the 2022 Thacks Awards winning winebar, Vinobien. They have award-winning coravin wines and offer a dozen Argentinian ‘Iconic Wines from North to South’. We went back to Vinobien twice as we had to ensure that their small fillet steak (a tapas portion described on the menu as ‘Roasted fillet, mushrooms, small potatoes’), at €3 ($850) wasn’t a mistake! In fact, they offer 12 tapas ‘Platitos’ all for the same price. And when you’re wined out, they have refreshing (and huge) gin and tonics.
We found a few other great food and wine establishments though you do need to spend at least 2 days in Mendoza town; and 2 to 3 days in the surrounding area to make the most of a visit.
Magical Mendoza written by John T – one of the international Thacks Awards panelists, living in Spain. When not traveling and wine-tasting, John is an iGaming specialist reporting into director level in the sports betting industry with a degree in Information Technology.
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