Uco Valley from Mendoza: Which Premium Winery Lunch Is Worth the Drive?
4 min read
If you are going all the way to the Uco Valley for one meal and one famous winery, the Salentein visit with lunch at La Azul is the best documented of the four premium days below, with the most reviews: it is private, lasts 7 hours, costs €237.10 per person and is rated 4.0/5 from 20 reviews. The others have far fewer reviews, so their ratings tell you little yet.
What the valley is, and what the drive costs
Argentina’s tourism board describes the Uco Valley as 80 to 130 km south of Mendoza city, with vineyards at 1,000 to 1,500 metres, and calls it the epicentre of innovative wineries and high-end wines such as Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay. Calcareous and stony soils, it says, give the wines natural acidity and minerality. The booking pages put the drive at about 1.5 hours each way for two of these tours and 105 minutes each way for a third. All four are long days. For cheaper days in the same valley, see our comparison of Mendoza wine regions.
Salentein and La Azul
The visit and tasting at Salentein with lunch at La Azul is a private group tour with guides in Spanish, English, Portuguese or Chinese. The itinerary lists a 1.5-hour tasting and tour at Salentein, a 5-minute transfer and a lunch of 2.5 hours at La Azul. The tasting is of four wines: one Reserve, two Númina and one sparkling. The page lists private transport, the winery tour and a gourmet lunch with wines in the description. It lists pregnant women, people with back problems and wheelchair users as not suited, and states a minimum drinking age of 18.
Zuccardi: one lunch, or a tasting first
The nine-course lunch at Piedra Infinita at Zuccardi costs €280.78, lasts 6.5 hours and is a private group. It has a wine pairing for each course and a 2.5-hour lunch slot, and it lists children under 12 and pregnant women as not suited. The itinerary lists the drive and the lunch, so treat it as a lunch trip.
The Alfa Crux tasting and Zuccardi lunch costs €334.26 and lasts 8 hours. It combines a 1.5-hour premium tasting at Alfa Crux with an 8-course lunch and wines at Zuccardi that the itinerary puts at 3 hours. It is a new listing (number of reviews so far: 0), so the page is all you have to go on. It names water, tips and extra drinks beside the included items without separating them clearly; confirm with the operator what the price covers.
A private sommelier day
The private sommelier tour in a premium SUV costs €392.20, lasts 9 hours and takes only your group, up to 4 people. The guide speaks English or Russian. It visits Huentala Wines for a Malbec tasting and Corazón del Sol for a tank tasting, with a lunch stop at a vineyard restaurant between them. Lunch is not included: you order and pay at the restaurant, and the page says the table is reserved.
| Tour | Length | Group | Lunch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salentein and La Azul | 7 hours | Private group | Gourmet lunch at La Azul |
| Zuccardi nine-course lunch | 6.5 hours | Private group | Nine courses with wine |
| Alfa Crux and Zuccardi | 8 hours | – | Eight courses with wine |
| Private sommelier tour | 9 hours | Up to 4 | Not included |
Our recommendation
For most visitors the Salentein day with lunch at La Azul is the safest choice: the most reviews, a winery tour and a tasting before lunch. Pick the Zuccardi lunch only if the meal itself is the reason you are going. The Zuccardi lunch lists children under 12 as not suited and the Salentein page sets a drinking age of 18; the other two list only people over 95 as not suited by age, so ask the operator about children before you book for a family. Browse all wine tours from Mendoza or the things to do in Mendoza if a long day does not suit you.
