Stayed at Club Tapiz which use to be a winery and is now a beautiful lodge with spa facilities, pool, etc. Has a 5 star restaurant (Argentinean stars!) and the food is quite good. But mind you, this is the land of meat and papas (spuds)! Jean is pretty much eating the same every day (since there is no variety)--high fiber cereal and fruit for brecky; salad at lunch; grilled veges & occ. fish for dinner). Stan is in heaven with meat, meat and mas meat.
Just an overview-- Mendoza is Argentina’s Napa/Sonoma valleys. They have many "bodegas" or wine cellars. There are very old ones and new, modern, state-of-the-art ones which are bought by foreigners with $$$ because the land is CHEAP, beautiful and fertile. The new ones are really impressive. It costs about $80k for 50 acres! (Just think how far the Euro goes!) If we were younger it would be very tempting to get into the game down here. We have met several winery owners from Napa visiting to scope out the purchasing possibilities--one boutique winery in Napa (Suhr la Tel) is interested and the owner's past life was as a commercial real estate developer in SF. His wife owned an antique shop in SF and we have met several antique hunters from the states because they are cheap and plentiful here. There are downsides--depending on the number of hectares you own, the government gives you a specific allotment of water for irrigation. Also in this area are the most beautiful mountains--short, medium and tall (20K + ft w/ snow on them in summer). Really spectacular scenery.
