Food & culture
Mendoza at harvest
Late February to April is when the wine region stops being scenery and starts being work. It is the best time to be there.
Mendoza is beautiful all year, vines, poplars, the Andes standing behind everything. But for six weeks between late February and early April the region is doing the thing it exists to do, and visiting during the harvest is a fundamentally different experience from visiting outside it.
What changes
The wineries are busy, which means they are open in a way they are not the rest of the year. You see fruit arriving, sorting tables running, tanks being filled. Tastings during harvest tend to include things that are not for sale, juice mid-ferment, a barrel sample, whatever the winemaker is thinking about that week.
The town changes too. The Vendimia festival at the start of March is the largest event in the provincial calendar, and the city fills accordingly. It is worth seeing once and worth avoiding if crowds are not your thing; the harvest continues either side of it.
Where to spend your days
Luján de Cuyo is the closest of the three main areas to the city and the easiest to do without much planning. Maipú is flatter, closer still, and the one people cycle. The Uco Valley is an hour further south, considerably higher, and the most spectacular: it is where the mountains stop being a backdrop and start being the reason the wine tastes the way it does.
One area a day is the correct pace. Two is a mistake you make once.
A practical note
Book winery visits in advance during harvest, especially in the Uco Valley, several of the best receive by appointment only and fill weeks out in March. And do not drive yourself between tastings. A remise or a driver for the day costs less than you would expect and removes the only genuinely difficult decision of the trip.
