Argentina's Wine Country

There are places you cant help but fall in love with at first sight and return to year after year. We've chosen some of Argentina's most beloved destinations and, with the help of the best travel specialists in the business, ferreted out their secrets, their treasures, their unmissable experiences. Let the romance begin:

Day 1 -Mendoza's Primera Zone

You arrived in Argentina's most storied wine country yesterday and were whisked past the outskirts of Mendoza city to the Cavas Wine Lodge, your base in the region. The architecture is bold and angular, and the 14 abode-style cabaña buildings spacious: at 90 square metres they feel like houses rather than suites. Heavenly boutique hotel and glorious spa designed in charming modern style, in the heart of Mendoza wine country. 

Nestled in a 35 acre vineyard, Cavas Wine Lodge is strategically located between the best known wineries and the magnificent Andes Mountain range. There are wine references everywhere, from the twisted grapevine chandelier in the lobby to the Moorish spa offering wine baths, grapeseed exfoliations and treatments using wine-infused massage oil. 

At Cavas Wine Lodge’s we are convinced that the best-tasting food is organically grown and harvested in ways that are ecologically sound. The menu changes every 3 months, designed to be appropriate to the season and composed to show off the finest ingredients obtainable. Mendoza enjoys round-the-year sunshine, but if it does cool down in the evening you can sit by the fireplace in your living room, looking out at the vineyards and the peaks of the Andes, with a glass of Malbec.

WINE was among the first if a great many influences the Europeans had on the land that would later become Argentina. The earliest vines were planted here in the 16th century by Jesuit priests, who followed the conquistadots to the New World, bringing sacramental wine wth them. The fermented juice is heartily slurped by the Argentines, who barely trail French and Italians in consumption. 

Today's visits are all in the vicinity, in what's known as the Primera Zona. First stop is Bodega Tapiz. You'll walk from vineyard to production line to cellar and get a blow-by-blow account of exactly how grapes become wine. The high altitude of Argentina's vineyards is an asset; strong sun and large temperature shifts from night to day make for thicker grape skins, the fruit's attempt to protect its seeds. And skin just happens to be where much of the tannins are found, polyphenols that add mouth0feel and colour to wine and may act as cancer-inhibiting antioxidants. Tapiz was started by Californian mass-marklet behemoth Kendall-Jackon on the '90s, then sold to an Argentinian family after the country's financial collapse. The Tapiz label tends toward bold flavours; the lighter Zolo line is more popular. 

Next up: Melipal Vina & Bodega, another family-run winery devoted to the iconic, full-bodied Malbec grape of Argentina. Here' you'll get a sense of how this varietal can run from fruity to smoky, always with its signature purplish hue, and later enjoy a 5-course tasting menu with dishes like grilled beef tenderloin, paired with a Malbec Reserve, aged for 18 months in French Oak. 

At Cavas, ask the front desk for a car at 6.30pm this evening to take you to the city's Vines of Mendoza wine bar, which carries a rotating selection of wines. Its just a few blocks to your 9pm table of Azafran, a place as noteworthy for its walk-in wine library - instead of a wine list, there's a room full of bottles and a helpful sommelier - as for its inventive cuisine.

Day 2 - Uco Valley

Uco Valley has both altitude and attitude and is certainly one of the most interesting and stunning areas to do a wine tour in Mendoza. Situated in the foothills of the Andes, this new frontier in Argentine winemaking is attracting winemakers from all over the world. State of the art technology and gold medal terroir means the wine from this area is the future of Argentine wine.

One fusion of new and old is Bodega Atamisque, a 17th-century estancia purchased five years ago by a former executive of the French hotel operator Accor, who kept the orchards and trout farm but made the vineyards the centre of the operation. Your guide will pick you up at 9am. Make sure to try the rare Catalpa Pinot Noir after the tour.

Driving farther south, you'll soon spot the unmistakable O Fournier. You'll tour its production facilities from top to bottom, just as the grapes do: here they use the gentler force of gravity rather than pumps to move from pressing to fermentation. Sample the Tempranillo; owner Jose Manuel Ortega was one of the first to bring the grape from La Rioja, Spain. The final stop os the winery's Urban Restaurant, where the Basque-influenced tasting menus - featuring dishes such as baked Brie with Malbec sauce - come with a spectacular view of the Andes. At sunset, clamber up to your roof at Cavas Wine Lodge and watch the sky turn champagne and rose.

Day 3 - Outdoors in Mendoza

It's time to take a break from the sybaritic life and burn off some of that steak and wine. Depending on your preferences, your guide will take you for a meander in the Andean foothills, a vigorous climb above 10,000ft, or a trek along a trail. You can also go mountain biking, rafting, horseback riding. Have a picnic lunch in the mountains and then return to the valley via Bodega Benegas. With straw protruding from its adobe walls and dusty bottles in the cellar, Benegas reminds you that Mendoza's wine industry is no flash in the pan. Note all the antique tools of the trade, and the fine collection of Andean ponchos that recall the days when gauchos ruled these plains. Fancy a beer after all that wine? Your hike can end at the Jerome Brewing Company. One of Argentina's finest microbreweries, it produces a range of beers; bottlings are aged in wine barrels. 

Back at Cavas, take an alfresco shower, and arrange for a car to pick you up at 8.15pm for dinner at Siete Cocinas de Argentina, where the best cuisine from seven Argentinean regions is served. 

Day 4 - Salta to Cafayete

You'll catch your flight to Salta, which lands in the afternoon. Approaching Salta from above, its clear why the Spanish chose this spot to build their city back in the 16th century - fields of tobacco surround the urban sprawl, Salta being one of Argentina's fastest-growing cities. But as you ride south out of town toward Cafayete, the cultivated landscape gives way to crimson rocks. This valley area is known as Calchaqui, a name bestowed by the Diaguita Indians before the Europeans arrived.

Stop about midway at La Posta de las Cabras and order the Quesos de Cabra Variados, an antipasto platter with goat's cheese. As you thread the needle between two ranges of the Andes, the rest of the drive is an exercise in living geology. You'll pass striated cliffs uplifted to near vertical, a gorge named after seashells that is 320km from the ocean, and an amphitheatre cut into the rock by a waterfall that last flowed when dinosaurs swung by for a gulp. You may be surprised when the spiny cactuses give way to vineyards, but planting in this desert valley is no fool's game: great wine comes from seriously stressed-out grapes.

You should arrive by 6pm at your hotel, Killa Cafayete. With a long, rambling courtyard of whitewashed walls, terra-cotta tiles, wind chimes, and chunky wooden staircases, Hotel Killa has a bright Mediterranean feel. Tonight, stroll to the plaza for dinner at Restaurante el Rancho, packed with locals eating asado: barbecue steaks, ribs and sausages with starchy side dishes.

Day 5 - Cafayete

This morning is another chance to expend some gastronomic calories. Your guide can take you for a hike in the red-rock formations you drove through yesterday or along the Divisadero area just outside town. Either way, you'll have time to freshen up at Killa before an in-depth tour, tasting and lunch at San Pedro de Yocochuya. The bodega is owned by the Etchart family, one of the most respected names in the Argentine wine industry. They have an impressively outfitted production facility, given their tiny 90,000-litre capacity, and you'll be welcomed into the family's private house for a lunch that would cause a strident locavore to swoon: cheese made in-house, nuts from the property's trees, raisins dried by Mama Etchart.

Michel Rolland was first brought to Argentina and Cafayate by Arnaldo Etchart in 1988. Seduced by the remarkable potential of an old Malbec vineyard 6,700 feet above sea level, Michel and Arnaldo created a partnership to make the wines of San Pedro de Yacochuya.

From the 60-year-old vines of Finca Yacochuya in Valles Calchaquíes, the grapes are handpicked and the wines are aged in French oak barrels. Yacochuya wines were the first to be barrel-fermented in Argentina. These wines are the ultimate combination of the Finca Yacochuya vineyard, the Etchart family’s grape growing knowledge in this unique high-altitude region of Cafayate, along with the passion and expertise from one of the world’s pre-eminent winemakers, Michel Rolland. 

By dusk, Cafayete's plaza should be coming alive: this is a tourist town, but with a vibrant local spirit.  When you're ready for dinner, snag a table at Restaurant Terruno, the best place in town for a modern rendition of local dishes, and enjoy the action.

Day 6 - Colome

At 10am you start your journey north to Colome, a 180-year-old estancia and bodega enjoying a second life as a wine resort under the ownership of Swiss wine mogul Donald Hess. Even in the Salta Province, you'll see the Spanish influence, and the tiny town of Molinos is a good example: Don Nicolas Severo de Isasmendi y Echalar, the last Spanish governor of Salta, lived here after independence. Before lunch at his residence-turned-hotel, Hacienda de Molinos, glance at the 17th-century church, with its cactus-wood ceiling.

From Molinos, its a short but teeth-rattling four-wheel-drive trip to Colome. When you arrive,sign up for the museum visit this evening, and the horseback ride and winery tour tomorrow. The accommodations ring a small courtyard in the original hacienda; numbers three through eight have the best views. The high-ceilinged rooms are simply but beautifully furnished with local earth-tone textiles and ceramics. This afternoon, walk the paths around the vineyards, and don't miss the immaculately pruned garden, which supplies the restaurant.

You can make the arduous journey to Colome simply to visit the James Turrell Museum. As avid a contemporary art collector as he is a wine producer, Hess has devoted an entire museum to this artist, who used powerful light projections to create optical illusions. The climax of the visit is Turrell's Skyspace, an installation that frames the vista through a window in the ceiling. After a guided visit, float back to the main building for dinner. The produce is from Colome's garden; the dairy products, jams and breads are made in-house; and the meat comes from the farm.

Day 7 - Colome

Start your last morning in wine country with a horseback ride in the surrounding hills. Opt for a Peruvian horse if you want a smooth ride - its distinctive gait means you'll barely bounce even at a trot - or one of the strong criollos if you'd like to gallop. After the ride, join the winery tour.

Colome's main claim to fame is that it owns the highest vineyards in the world, at an elevation of more than 10,000ft. The winery tour will be your most exhaustive tasting of the trip. Colome's Estate Malbec has been highly decorated, and the Malbec from its special lot label - with aromas of black fruits and a chocolaty finish - is available only to estancia guests and some special wine shops.

After all that wine, you'll probably want to snooze the afternoon away, although there's tennis, bikes and a game area. Linger by the pool, perhaps with a book from the library's wine and art collections. Tomorrow you'll drive back to Salta but today, soak in the strong desert sun and fresh mountain air that have helped produce some superlative wine.