This is a four and a half star review because I just can't give them five stars because we've eaten…read moreat other places in Argentina that tasted a smidge better. The prices are higher than most but they do age their beef. These people are vertical - they grow their own cattle, the bottle their own wine and they have a restaurant. So you know that they are controlling their costs very well. All that being said the staff was very friendly, the bread basket, olive oil and balsamic brought out at the beginning were very tasty with three different types of bread. They offer 2, 3 and 6 course tasting menus. Some of the items were not the most expensive or nicest so we decided to go a la carte. We started with the salmon ceviche and the beef carpaccio. Both were excellent. The salmon was tender with very bright acidity and large leaves of frisée. The carpaccio was the most tender I have ever had in my life. The beef had very good flavor, it had nice large shards of grana padano, a couple of very large leaves of arugula which perfectly balanced the yogurt dressing and the aged balsamic drizzle around the plate. For our entrées we had a 450 g ribeye - ojo de bife- which was cooked perfectly and had amazing flavor. It was a little strange because it was bone in on two sides and we have not seen that before in the US. We also had the skirt steak with smashed potatoes. Potatoes had a crispy skin and creamy texture in the center. The skirt steak had to be close to 12 or 14 ounces of skirt steak folded over itself like a snake on the plate. It was cooked perfectly to medium/medium rare and had good flavor. On the table they have three different kinds of coarse salts. One looked like a pink Himalayan salt, the other one looked like a Hawaiian black salt, regular course table salt and then coarse ground black pepper.

Had a chance to visit this winery while in Mendoza, Argentina. Janina helped me with wine tasting…read more & explaining the differences between Malbec, Chardonnay & Moscatino, This winery is an awesome place to hold parties & weddings & basically any gatherings. There is also a restaurant inside the winery where you can make reservations. I enjoyed my time here.

This was our last stop on our wine tour and was the first time I've ever been on a wine tour where…read moreyou actually did the tasting as you walked. I wasn't a huge fan of this. It was very quick, maybe 20 minutes or so? She gave us a quick tour of the storage and processing facilities as well as a quick step into the basement to look at aging areas. We then went upstairs to a conference room with the view of the Andes for the last tasting. Not really your typical tasting, for sure.

Casarena was the perfect spot for my final wine tasting experience in the Mendoza region. Casarena…read moreoriginated in 1937. The vineyards and winery are a century old and are now American owned. The owner fully renovated and brought new life back into the winery while keeping its historic past intact. I like how they maintained the skeleton of the old production building and recreated the space and updated it using state of the art winery technology innovations. Caserena is one of four vineyard estates. Each estate offers different geological and geographical differences. This provides diverse growing influences for the grapes, thus yielding amazing wines of the same varietal with unique nuances and flavor profiles. On the wine tour, they showed us the different climate and soil mixes for each estate. Fascinating! When touring the wineries of Mendoza it is necessary to book a reservation in advance. They don't take walk-ins like in the states. In Argentina from my experience, the wine culture is about providing an inclusive experience. Most tours start with a walk through the vineyards, a tour through the production facility, and then ends in a tasting room or if they have a restaurant, with a wine-paired lunch. Winery visits can at a minimum last 1 1/2 hours. It's time to slow down life here and enjoy. Take it all in. We found it ideal to visit only 2 wineries in a day as a result. At Casarena, like the other wineries, you first need to check in with the gate guard. My limited Spanish came in very handy here. They confirm your reservation with the tasting room manager and then they allow you to pass through the gate. The guard will then direct you where to park and meet for the start of your tour. At Casarena we met with our lovely lady tour guide. She poured us a glass of Rose to enjoy outside while we waited for other members of the group. Like all the other wineries. The view of the Andes mountains behind the rows of vines is stunning. The tour was very informative. We went through the vines and production facility. We got to peek into the old wine vats that they turned into a cellar for their wine library. They let me hold one of the largest bottles that they make!! Man that bottle was heavy. Definitely took some muscle to pick that up. After our tour, we walked to their restaurant at the back of the building for our wine-paired lunch. The restaurant is located in a beautiful modern building with all glass windows. Every table had a stunning view of the vineyard and mountains. The windows opened up onto their outdoor patio so you had an indoor-outdoor dining experience. The chef was busily cooking the meat on a BBQ right in front of us. They recently hired a new chef here, and this was their first tasting of their spring seasonal menu. It was a six-course lunch paired with wine. The food and wine here were incredible. The portions were larger than expected. The pairings were spot on. The food was artfully plated. Their wine was well structured. There wasn't anything I didn't like. We had an incredible time at Casarena. Delicious food and wine experience.

If you go to Maipu you need to visit Bodega Lopez... the tours are free, the wine tasting is free…read moreand the staff is great, they are among the best in all the region. Any tour may cost you lots of money. Well here they do it for free and with a smile. The wine is pretty good. The food is good too. We went in a Sunday. Be aware many bodegas and tours don't work or operate sundays in Maipu. We took a train from Mendoza to Maipu and just walk from the train station to the bodega. Is pretty close. You can rent a bike... when we went the bike rental site was closed --_-- However, we discover that we didn't need to spend $200-400 dollars to get to experience some good wine and bodegas. Check my other reviews and you will see that we explore the bodegas without spending hundreds of dollars. For me Bodegas Lopez was a first great experience.

Sophisticated tour about Lopez' wine production process; friendly staff; the wine tasting was so-so…read morebut it's such a personal thing. Strongly recommend to come. Our guide, Dani, was knowledgeable about the winery as well as about the wine making terminologies. Her English is good too! The wine is a bit softer to my pallet: the reds seem to be young/watered down IMO. The 2000 Federico Lopez was reasonable but it would cost 1,200 Pesos/bottle.