Mendoza: Oasis City Grid, Wine Regions & High Andes

At first glance on a relief map, Mendoza lies in the middle of a sun-baked continental desert receiving less than 240 millimetres of rain a year. Yet stepping onto its streets reveals a cool, green canopy of towering plane trees (plátanos), white poplars, and tipas fed by hundreds of kilometres of stone-lined irrigation channels called acequias. Inherited from the pre-Columbian Huarpe people and expanded after the 20 March 1861 earthquake, this hydraulic network channels snowmelt from the Mendoza and Tunuyán rivers into both the city's avenues and the surrounding oasis that produces over seventy per cent of Argentina's wine.

How Mendoza & Its Wine Regions Are Organised

• The 1861 Five-Plaza City Centre & Parque General San Martín: Rebuilt after the 1861 earthquake to a seismic-resistant plan by French surveyor Julio Balloffet, downtown Mendoza centres on the four-block expanse of Plaza Independencia, framed symmetrically at its four corners by Plaza España, Plaza Italia, Plaza Chile, and Plaza San Martín. Immediately west rises the 394-hectare Parque General San Martín, while one kilometre north-east lies the original 1561 colonial site at the Área Fundacional.
• Luján de Cuyo & Maipú (Primera Zona, 15 to 30 km South): Starting at the southern edge of the metropolitan area (650 to 1,100 metres elevation), Luján de Cuyo and Maipú form the historic cradle of Argentine Malbec and Arauco olive oil, home to century-old estates and leafy Chacras de Coria.
• The Uco Valley (Valle de Uco, 75 to 110 km South-West): Climbing from 900 to 1,700 metres directly beneath the 6,570-metre Tupungato volcano across Tupungato, Tunuyán, and San Carlos, the Valle de Uco is South America's premier frontier for high-altitude viticulture and contemporary winery architecture.
• Alta Montaña (The High Andes Corridor on Ruta 7): Winding west along the Río Mendoza gorge past Cacheuta and Potrerillos, Ruta Nacional 7 climbs to Puente del Inca and Aconcagua Provincial Park on the border with Santiago, Chile.

Watch Your Step: The Famous Mendocino Acequias

Every pavement in Mendoza is flanked by deep, uncovered stone irrigation ditches (acequias) crossed by small concrete footbridges at street corners; locals joke that no visitor truly knows Mendoza until they have carefully navigated the acequias after a Malbec dinner.