Argentinian Wine

Opposite from Santiago on the Argentinian side lies the city of Mendoza and just like in Chile, at this latitude is the main wine producing region of the country. Where they grow Carménère West of the Andes, they grow world-renowned Malbec East of it. We already tried lots of Malbec on our journey through Argentina. We found it to be consistently great and with its deep and intense flavor, a perfect companion to a good steak at a parrilla (steakhouse). Unlike in Europe, where Malbec is often marketed as a premium wine with a premium price, it is extremely cheap in Argentina. A good bottle at a restaurant usually costs around 8$ and a glass costs 2$. When ordering a glass of wine, you can expect it to be filled to the top, usually it is listed as 185ml.

There are many different valleys around Mendoza where Malbec is grown. For our first night in this region, we stayed at a winery in Tupungato in the Valle de Uco. After two nights in the tent it was great to stay at a nice hotel, swim in the pool and watch the sun set over the surrounding vineyard and the Andean peaks in the West.

Vineyard around our accommodation in Tupungato

Malbec grapes almost ready for harvest

Vineyard with Andean peaks in the background

For the next two nights we stayed in Mendoza itself. The city has some amazing restaurants and we spoiled ourselves with some fantastic gourmet meals (with wine of course). We also visited the Basílica de San Francisco, Mendoza’s main church. There is a large statue of Polish Pope John Paul II and a chair where he sat on his visit to the city in 1987. On the other hand, no sign of Argentinian Pope Francis can be found. We got the impression that the Argentinians don’t actually like their Pope so much. For some, he is way too liberal and progressive. But more importantly, he has not yet visited his home country as the Pope, despite visiting Latin America four times.

Chair where the Polish Pope John Paul II sat, on display in the Basílica de San Francisco in Mendoza

We also wanted to visit some vineyards from Mendoza, but due to the difficulty of navigating the bus system, we only managed to visit one. Sadly, this vineyard also had one of the least tasty Malbec we have tried. More successful was our wine tasting in the city, where we discovered another grape from this region which is not quite as famous. Torrontés is a white wine grape that we liked very much. The wines from this grape are smooth, aromatic and very refreshing on a hot Mendoza day.

Barrels of Malbec

To return our rental car, we had to cross back to Chile. The easiest connection between Mendoza and Santiago is over the 3200 meter high Paso Los Libertadores. Along this beautiful mountain road there is a lot to see, but the most important sight is Cerro Aconcagua (6962m), the highest peak of the Americas. A short hike from the road brought us to a great viewpoint for this mountain. Somehow, however, the high Andean peaks in this area did not seem quite as imposing as what we saw in the Himalayas.

Puente del Inca

Marta in front of Cerro Aconcagua (6962m)

Cerro Aconcagua (6962m)

Mountain of the Andes near the border crossing Paso Los Libertadores

After driving down from the pass, we spent one night in the town Los Andes. It was a big effort to repack all we had lying around in the car for the flight the next morning. We returned our car at the airport in Santiago after 59 days and 11’600 kilometers of driving. We are very happy that we did not have any of the common problems along the way. We did not puncture any tire on the gravel roads, nor did our windshield crack due to a stone from a passing car. Most importantly, we did not hit any wildlife along the way. From the airport, we flew to Buenos Aires for a small break from travelling.