My first wish when I arrived in Mendoza was to taste the Argentinian wine. When I heard I can book a bike and move to the different wineries by myself, I jumped on the occasion. Let’s taste some wines!

Get Your Bike

I took my bike at Mr. Hugo Bike rental located in the Maipu valley. I chose this one as I got an offer from my hostel Lagares. If I book at least 4 nights, the renting of the bike is for free! The shop is around 1h from the center of Mendoza with public bus.

During the summer, temperature is really high. Take enough water and sun cream!

The bike is good and the welcome in the shop is great. I got a glass of juice, a map of the valley with the wineries and a free WiFi

Wineries

I arrived at 12 at the rental shop. That let me 6 hours to visit the wineries as they close around 6pm. I have selected three wineries that looked to be the best. Unfortunately, they are often the furthest one, thus you will have to bike. However, it is worth doing it!

CarinaE

The first winery I did and the furthest one. The winery is 10 kms South from the rental shop. Created and owned by a french couple, I got the occasion to speak French with the owner. The place is quiet as far from the center and offered many tastings. You can taste from the low quality to the high quality with a price from 60AR$ to 150AR$.

I chose the premium tasting that counted 5 wines from the medium quality to the high quality. You start with a white wine, then 3 red wines and you finish with a sweet one. A good tasting except that the glasses are not the standard one for tasting. Furthermore, the girl that served me was shaking my glass before I can smell it.

Smelling the wine before shaking it is good for having an idea about the evolution of the wine. Of course, you smell it also after shaking it.

Cecchin

I discovered this winery while bicycling with a sign saying that it was an organic winery. As the previous winery confirmed me that it is the only winery here officially approved organic, I was curious to discover it. The winery is not on the map provided by the rental shop. On top of that, it is 5kms away from the wine road. However, if you are enough motivated and want to taste interesting wines, don’t hesitate. For reaching it, follow the signs on the road.

The premium tasting included  6 wines for 180ARS. The more original ones are a Malbec rosé, a malbec without sulfite and a malbec from 2005 without barrels.

The only drawbacks of that winery were that they were cleaning it for the next harvest and my host was tired. During the cleaning, there were a lot of noise and a bit of extra unpleasant smell. Nevertheless, without this, it would have been greater.

First I wanted to stop at the winery Familia di Tomaso. Finerly after looking at the place, it sounds not that amazing. They got an offer for another offer with another bike rental shop. Thus, I felt like put aside.

Tempus Alba

While going back to the shop, this winery is located 200 meters close to the main road. I arrived around 5pm and they were already on the way to close. Fortunately, I can do my last tasting of the day. The premium one was not available so I took the one below. It is a tasting of 3 wines for 90AR$. Nothing extraordinary, but a nice tasting on a terrace.