Dining at the Wineries of Mendoza – Ruca Malen

Now to be completely honest, when we went to Ruca Malén it was purely for a tasting, and didn’t even know they did lunch. Unfortunately for us, we arrived just after lunch, and boy did we regret not having come two hours earlier.

We arrived to a small room of happy diners, groaning with pleasure and surrounded by a sea of empty wine glasses and plates. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive response, Ruca Malen’s wine-paired lunch is well worth the visit; Vines of Mendoza rates it as one of their picks for winery lunches. Also there with us was a family that had ridden bikes from their nearby B&B. We coveted their proximity, while they gazed longingly at our list of far-flung visits and trunk laden with bottles. Both transportation methods obviously have their charms.

In any case, Ruca Malén is a charming winery to visit, with a compact tour, pristine new buildings, a beautiful view of the snowy Andes, and a gorgeous open-walled tasting pavilion from which to admire the view. Plus really superb wines to make it all worthwhile.

Our picks: the Kinen Malbec 04 and Petit Verdot 06 were our firt-off favourites, but the more we tried the more we liked; the winery offers quite a wide range for a relatively small operation. Their Merlot was one of the best I tried in Mendoza—naturally more of a Malbec territory.

Make this one a visit on a nice clear day—we has just enough haze to see what we were missing!

Guided visits
Mon-Fri
English at 10am and 3pm
Spanish at 11am and 4pm

Sat English at 10am and Spanish at 11am

Lunch is served 7 days a week, with staggered times
English at 12 noon and 2pm
Spanish at 1pm and 2:30pm

For reservations contact
Mariela Espinola
mespinola@bodegarucamalen.com