Recommended Boutique Wineries in Luján de Cuyo

25 Jan Recommended Boutique Wineries in Luján de Cuyo

Are you in the midst of planning a wine tourism trip to Mendoza, Argentina? If so, I am excited for you as I loved the region, especially the district of Luján de Cuyo, and think you will too! In fact, I’m currently planning a return trip.

We know the planning and advance reservations can seem a little overwhelming. Some people choose to do a tour for this reason, and I agree that is a very convenient method. Although, I usually find that wine tours either focus on the larger producers and miss the uniqueness of the boutique wineries and/or they are very expensive.

In late November/early December 2017, we visited several boutique wineries on our own self-guided wine tour in Mendoza and would highly recommend them to anyone that loves quality wine and gaining knowledge of the grape growing and wine-making process.

Planning a Self-Guided Wine Tour in Luján de Cuyo

In this post, we’ve gathered essential details on recommended boutique wineries in Luján de Cuyo and Lunlunta districts of Mendoza. These are based on our visit as well as input from Chilean wine professionals and local professionals. Additionally, we’ve provided our thoughts on suggested itinerary approaches.

Please note that advance reservations are required in order to visit wineries and most sit-down restaurants in this region. From our experience, each tour/tasting took around 1.5 hours. Maybe factor 2 hours to have some breathing room, or even a little more if you want some leisure time at the facilities to enjoy the views.

A word of caution, the wineries in the Luján de Cuyo area are NOT open on Sundays. If you are visiting Mendoza on a Sunday and want to go to wineries, you should focus on Uco Valley which is further south.

Itinerary Approaches

Here are some itinerary approaches you could take to plan your self-guided wine tour in Luján de Cuyo:

a) 2 wineries in the morning (9:30am, 11:00am/11:30a) + multi-course lunch with or without wine pairing around 1:30pm/2:00pm

b) 1 winery in the morning (9:30am) + multi-course lunch with or without wine pairing around 12:00/12:30pm + 1 winery in the afternoon (3:00p)

c) 1 winery in the morning (10:30am/11:00a) + multi-course lunch with wine pairing around 1:30pm

To learn more about Mendoza + Malbec and how to plan transportation, accommodation, meals, and budget, check out our post, Mendoza: what you need to know to plan a wine trip.

 

Boutique Wineries in Luján de Cuyo

We thoroughly enjoyed doing multiple tours during our time in and around the Luján de Cuyo district of Mendoza. Each tour provided a different learning experience, enhancing our knowledge of the process, leading us to further appreciate our tastings.

Best of all, the tour/tastings are a good value – the costs we encountered were between AR $160-$250 per person (USD ~$9-15) for the tour and tasting. The Argentinian Pesos fluctuates a lot, so USD conversion will vary. We suggest downloading the XE Currency mobile app to aid you in determining the currency conversions.

These are the boutique wineries we visited on our self-guided wine tour and would recommend to you too:

 

Achaval-Ferrer

Founded in 1998, awarded with distinction in 2000, it’s since become a Malbec powerhouse with consistently top-rated wines.

Winemaker: Roberto Cipresso

Website: www.achaval-ferrer.com

Tour Experience: They offer a unique tasting format, where you can try some of the new vintages in the barrel as they ferment and then try the same wines in an older vintage after they have matured and are bottled. All while learning about the history, lines of wines, and successes.

Tour Times: 9:30am, 11:00am, 12:30pm, 3:00pm (15:00); days of week are unlisted

Tour Languages: (known) Spanish, English

Price: AR $250 per person

Contact for Reservation: www.achaval-ferrer.com/visitenos#

Nearby: Bodega Matervini, Bodega Renacer, Bodega Cruzat, Viña Cobos, Bodega Melipal, Bodega Bressia

 

Bodega Matias Riccitelli

Matías and his sister, Veronica began a boutique wine project, working to shake-up the Mendoza wine industry with their dynamic, non-traditional reds and hip label artwork.

Winemaker: Matías Riccitelli, a 4th generation winemaker

Website: www.matiasriccitelli.com

Tour Experience: Our visit focused on the winemaking process and how it varied for the different grapes and entry-level versus the iconic brand.

Tour Times: Monday-Friday; @ 9:30am, 11:00am, 3:00pm, and 4:30pm

Tour Languages: (known) Spanish, English

Price: AR $175 per person

Contact for Reservation: Veronica Riccitelli | email: veronica@matiasriccitelli.com

Nearby: Bodega Lagarde’s Restaurant Fogón

Notes: on-site restaurant coming in 2018!

 

Domaine St. Diego

The Mendoza family (no affiliation with the city) owns this micro-winery, proudly working their land to grow high-quality grapes for their wines.

Winemakers: Angel Mendoza, Lucas N. Mendoza

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/DomaineSt.Diego/

Tour Experience: Our tour focused on the training of the vines, growing of the grapes, the unique irrigation of the region and the harvest process. Allow 1.5-2 hours as you will really enjoy learning and asking questions about it!

Tour Times: unlisted; hours of operation are Monday-Friday between 8:00am-1:00pm, 2:00-4:00pm; Saturday 8:00am-1:00pm

Tour Languages: Spanish, English

Price: AR $160 per person

Contact for Reservation: Laura Mendoza | email: mlauritamza@hotmail.com

Nearby: Club Tapiz Restó, Casa El Enemigo

 

Bodega Bressia

The Bressia family produces an extensive line up of delicious whites, rosés, reds, sparkling wines and grappa.

Winemaker: Walter Bressia

Website: www.bressiabodega.com

Tour Experience: Our visit focused on the history of the winery and a full description of each wine with helpful tasting notes.

Tour Times: unlisted; for reference, we visited on a weekday at 11:00am

Tour Languages: (known) Spanish, English

Price: AR $150-$450 depending which line of wine-tasting or possibly less if selecting individual wine(s)

Contact for Reservation: turismo@bressiabodega.com

Nearby: Bodega Melipal, Viña Cobos, Bodega Cruzat, Bodega Matervini, Bodega Renacer, Achaval-Ferrer, Pulenta Estate

 

Other recommendations of wineries we haven’t personally visited, but were highly recommended to us:

 

Note: the tour/tasting costs may vary from the ones above that we personally tried.

Pulenta Estate

Recommended to us because they have great wines that are of good value.

Winemakers: Pulenta Family

Website: www.pulentaestate.com

Tour Times: unlisted; hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm; Sat 9:00am-1:00pm

Contact for Reservation: reserves@pulentaestate.com

Nearby: Bodega Bressia, Bodega Melipal, Viña Cobos

 

Bodega Cruzat

Recommended to us because they have excellent sparkling wines.

Winemakers: Pedro Rosell & Lorena Mulet

Website: http://bodegacruzat.com

Tour Times: Monday-Saturday (including holidays), @ 9:30am, 11:30am, 3:00pm (15:00)

Contact for Reservation: http://bodegacruzat.com/visits/

Nearby: Achaval-Ferrer, Bodega Matervini, Bodega Renacer, Viña Cobos, Bodega Melipal, Bodega Bressia

 

Viña Cobos

Recommended to us by another winemaker due to their extremely high-quality wines and renown American winemaker.

Winemaker: Paul Hobbs

Website: http://vinacobos.com

Tour times: 9:30am, 11:00am, 12:30pm, 3:00pm (15:00); days of week are unlisted

Tour Languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese

Contact for Reservation: http://vinacobos.com/en/visits/

Nearby: Bodega Melipal, Bodega Bressia, Bodega Cruzat, Bodega Matervini, Achaval-Ferrer, Bodega Renacer

Note: the tastings are significantly more expensive due to the high-end nature of the wines

 

Bodega Matervini

We learned of this winery during our visit to Achaval-Ferrer because it is a separate wine project (next door) by Santiago Achával and Roberto Cipresso.

Winemakers: Santiago Achával and Roberto Cipresso

Website: www.matervini.com

Tour Times: Monday-Saturday, @ 9:30am, 11:30am, 3:00pm (tours take 90 minutes)

Contact for Reservation: www.matervini.com/en/visit-us

Nearby: Achaval-Ferrer, Bodega Cruzat, Bodega Renacer, Viña Cobos, Bodega Melipal, Bodega Bressia

Note: the winery is run on 100% solar energy

 

Restaurants in the Area

 

Club Tapiz Restó

A “simple and fresh seasonal menu” of 3- and 5- courses, with products from their farm and organic garden. We enjoyed a 3-course lunch with classic wine pairing here and would highly recommend to others for its quality, service, and value.

Chef: Soledad Nardelli

Website: www.club-tapiz.com.ar

Lunch Times: Monday-Sunday; 12:30pm-2:30pm (12:30-14:30)

Dinner Times: Monday-Sunday; 8:30pm-10:30pm (20:30-22:30)

Price: AR $650 – AR $990 per person depending on your choice of 3- and 5- courses with or without wine pairing

Contact for Reservation: www.club-tapiz.com.ar/restaurante-club-tapiz/recetas

Nearby: Domaine St. Diego

 

Bodega Renacer – winery + restaurant

The restaurant offers a beautiful setting and a 2-, 3-, or 6-course tasting menu using seasonal products from the region (3- and 6-course menus offer wine pairings).

Chef: Sebastian Weigandt

Website: www.bodegarenacer.com.ar/en/enotourism-restaurante

Lunch Times: Monday-Sunday; 12:00pm-~5:30pm

Price: AR $550 – AR $1,100 per person depending on your choice of 2-, 3-, and 6- courses with or without wine pairing

Contact for Reservation: resto@bodegarenacer.com.ar

Nearby: Achaval-Ferrer, Bodega Matervini, Bodega Cruzat, Viña Cobos, Bodega Bressia

 

Other recommendations of restaurants we haven’t personally tried, but were highly recommended to us:

 

Casa El Enemigo (a.k.a. Casa Vigil)- winery + restaurant

An Argentinian Asado (BBQ restaurant) serving El Enemigo wines.

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/casaElEnemigo/

Meal Times: Monday-Saturday @ 9:30am-6:00pm; Sunday @ 9:30am-1:00pm

Price: they offer a tour/lunch/tasting for AR ~$890 per person

Contact for Reservation: reservas@casaelenemigo.com or +54 261 413-9178

Nearby: Domaine St. Diego

Note: the restaurant where they accept visitors is located at Videla Aranda 7008, Maipú, Mendoza 5509

 

Bodega Melipal – winery + restaurant

According to our friends ‘in the know’, this is one of the best meals in the area. Yes, it’s one of the priciest, but they say it’s totally worth it.

Chef: Lucas Bustos

Website: www.bodegamelipal.com

Hours of Operation: Monday-Saturday for lunch

Price: a 5-6 course meal with wine pairing and tour is around AR $1,200 per person

Contact for Reservation: reservas@bodegamelipal.com

Nearby: Viña Cobos, Bodega Bressia, Bodega Cruzat, Bodega Matervini, Achaval-Ferrer

 

Bodega Lagarde’s Restaurant Fogón – winery + restaurant

We’ve had a few friends and a local tourism expert recently say that Lagarde is producing a very high-quality lunch that will excite.

Website: www.lagarde.com.ar/en/visit-us/restaurant-fogon

Lunch Time: Monday-Friday @ 12:30pm TBC

Price: a 3- to 4-course lunch with wine pairing is around AR $810 per person

Contact for Reservation: restaurant@lagarde.com.ar

Nearby: Bodega Matias Riccitelli

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We built you a map for ease of use! Click to see all of our recommended spots in Luján de Cuyo on a map. 

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Read Next: For more information on Mendoza, Malbec, the tour experience, details on trip costs and how to go about planning your accommodations, transportation, and meals, visit our post ‘Mendoza: What You Need to Know to Plan a Wine Trip.’

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Do you have any excellent boutique wineries in Luján de Cuyo or Lunlunta districts of Mendoza to add to this list? Please comment below!

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We have no affiliation with the wineries or restaurants included in this post. This is a collection of places we either visited ourselves or were highly recommended to us by friends, Mendoza locals, and wine experts. (hence our title!) 

We will always disclose if a post includes affiliate links. When it does, it is thoughtful — a product or service we use and recommend — and the commission earned will help keep this site up and running.