The Vines of Mendoza offers a great publication called the Insiders Guide to Mendoza which you can pick up around town, in hotels, and tourist pamphlet type racks. It lists great vineyards (Bodegas in Spanish) to tour and also has a handy list of tips which are very important to follow. In bold are their tips from their small article called General Bodega Tips, following that are my comments.
1. Reservations are required at most bodegas. Most places we visited would not even let you through the gate unless you were on the list, part of this is security, and I think part of it is capacity. They cant have people standing around, or worse doing their own self guided walks through their wineries, if they dont have the staff to chaperone the visitors.
2. Tours generally last between 45 minutes and 1 hour. This held true on all of our stops.
3. Most wine tours are free and include a tasting. All were free we visited, and all included tastings, some right out of the barrel! In the larger places you dont feel too bad not buying something, but in smaller operations you feel like you shouldn't leave without buying at least a bottle.
4. Many wineries only accept cash (Argentine Pesos) for wine purchases. From my experience, the big bodegas are all set up for credit cards, and the smaller ones are cash only.
5. Most bodegas are closed Sundays.
6. If you are driving on your own, bring a good map & a sense of adventure. We used a driver to take us around for an all day excursion to 4 bodegas and a great place for lunch. The afternoon before our excursion he helped us plan a route and that gave me time to call ahead for reservations. The next day it went off without a hitch. I am a good map reader but I would say its nearly impossible to do that kind of back country road driving on your own. You certainly will get lost & not be able to keep your schedule which could limit what you are able to see. The driver was cheap enough too that is was a hassle free way to enjoy the day, plus there was no drinking and driving issues to worry about for those who choose to sample the wares!
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