Ruca Malen

At the Ruca Malen winery, situated in Agrelo (in the department of Luján de Cuyo) just over half an hour to the south of Mendoza, guests can enjoy a dining experience that will live long in the memory. Its eponymous restaurant (the name comes from a Mapuche legend) takes a fresh, immersive look at the world of wine, with both the chef and the young sommelier wandering around the tables to chat with diners. Here, wine takes on major importance and has always been the key to everything, hence the choice of dishes on the 7-course tasting menu which have been deliberately created with the choice of wine pairings in mind (somewhat unusually, on the menu the wine is listed first in capital letters with the accompanying dish written in lowercase). The dishes themselves are highly contemporary, delicate and influenced by the local terroir, hence the showcasing of seasonal ingredients and produce and the purity of each individual flavour (we particularly enjoyed the spinach, eggs and alubia bean dish).