It’d be a sin to stop in Mendoza and not go wine tasting. Since Dad and I would do nothing of the sort, we booked the best tour in town with Trout and Wine. We were treated to an all-day private tour with a wonderful English-speaking guide who accompanied us to four unique, local vineyards that served us their top shelf and a fabulous lunch.

Mendoza is home to more than 350,000 acres of vineyards and produces two-thirds of Argentina’s wine. In the olden days, the wine was transported to Buenos Aires by train where it was bottled. Many people would steal the wine, refilling the barrels with water or grape juice, consequently tampering with the calculated chemistry behind the product. It is now law to bottle wine where it is produced.

The area is known for its Malbec, an intense violet wine made from thin-skinned grapes requiring lots of heat. It originated in France but has declined due to how susceptible it is to disease. It is thriving in Argentina’s climate, and has since become the country’s most popular variety.

 1. Mendel Wines

Mendel Wines creates six labels from 1928 Malbec vines with American roots. The grapes are hand-picked and carried over to the winery where they are then mixed by hand four times a day for three to five weeks in large tanks, allowing the skins to appropriately flavor the wine body. After the aging process in oak barrels, the staff then hand labels each of its 100,000 or so bottles that the winery produces each year. Just six people carry out this work to yield great flavors, including my favorite Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon blend, Unus. The blend is an intense, complex wine with the sweet taste of Mendel but tannic structure of Cab.

This place was a great starting point for our tour. I loved the venue and the heart each of the employees put into every bottle. They even let us taste their Semillion 2012, which is still in the aging process, and their Mendel Malbec 2012, which is also not yet on the market!

2. Viña Cobos

A much larger venue, Viña Cobos produces half a million bottles every year but does not own a vineyard. Its property is surrounded by some of its suppliers for a beautiful view from its unique modern building.

Like many wines produced in Mendoza, some of its wines come from grapes in the Luján de Cuyo. The valley’s extreme conditions and heat causes the grape skins to grow thicker, producing an intense color and aroma, as seen its Bramare Malbec 2010, which I enjoyed. “Bramare” is a fitting Italian name, meaning “to yearn for.” It was aged for 18 months in 30 percent new French and American oak.

The winery experiments with different aging processes, which you can find on its labels. Some wines are specifically aged in new barrels, while others in old. The oak barrels are never recycled for more than 5 years, after which they are made into furniture.

3. Club Tapiz

We did not tour the winery at Club Tapiz, but were instead treated to a lesson in olive-oil making, which is another popular industry in Mendoza. The olives are filtered while whole, than sent through another filtering process which rids them of their waste in squeezing out pure oil. Sipping different types of oil surely shows what differences in process can do to the product. Try a few types for yourself and notice the tingling bitter taste in the back of your throat!

The winery also has an amazing restaurant that served us a full-course meal with, of course, plenty of wine and bread with, of course, olive oil. The appetizer was richly marinated Terriyaki-ish chicken with famous Mendocinan salmon trout ceviche. Bruschetta with goat cheese, caramelized onions and a roasted tomato cleansed our palates for a huge, juicy steak. I am not a big steak eater and I hate eating meat off the bone, but this was truly the best meat I’ve ever had and I ate every last bite — down to the bone. My stomach is growling while I write this, wishing I could re-live this salivating experience.

4. Clos de Chacras

This boutique winery produces about 60,000 bottles each year. Both its venue and wine processing has remained true to its history throughout the decades, making the little place even more special.

Housed in its original 1921 building, its wines are fermented in its traditional, unique concrete tanks. Although the building has undergone renovations, it kept some of the original tanks and its underground cellar.

While I discovered that I like the Malbec wines better than my previous-favorite of Cabernet Sauvignons, Clos de Chacras stole my first-place taste test of the day with a Cabernet. Easily the best Cab I’ve tasted is this winery’s 2008 label, which has won several awards to no surprise, whatsoever. The wine is a fresh, yet intense blend of red fruits and peppery smoke flavors made in the heat of the Uco Valley. I highly suggest you get your hands on a bottle and save it for a special occasion as I am with mine.

My first experience wine tasting will be a hard one to beat. Dad and I had a wonderful day putting our palates to the test while also learning so much about winemaking, charming vineyards and Argentine history.

—JDF

P.S. Share a comment about your favorite wine, so I can add it to my list to try some day.