Tunuyán lies in the Uco Valley, about eighty kilometres south of the city of Mendoza, where the vineyards run in long green lines toward the wall of the Andes. The mountains here are enormous. The snowy mass of the Tupungato volcano, at more than six thousand metres, fills the western horizon, and on a clear morning the peaks glow pink above the vines. The valley sits at about a thousand metres above sea level, and the altitude gives cool nights, strong sunlight and wines of unusual freshness, particularly Malbec and Chardonnay.
The town itself is calm and a bit dusty, with a leafy plaza, low houses with their pavements shaded by plane trees, and a sleepy afternoon pace. Irrigation channels, the acequias, run along the streets, a system of water distribution that dates back to the indigenous Huarpe people and was expanded by the Spanish. Without it nothing would grow here, as the region is dry desert, with less than a few hundred millimetres of rain a year, and the whole valley is green only because snowmelt from the Andes is carried to the fields.
For a rider, the Uco Valley is a place to ride at a gentle pace between wineries, along roads lined with poplars that act as windbreaks, with the mountains always ahead. Route 94 and the side roads wander through the vineyards, with long straights, mild bends and spectacular views. At Manzano Histórico, a spot beside the road, the army of José de San Martín is said to have camped under a carob tree in 1814 on its way to liberate Chile. The surface is mostly good but can be dusty on side roads. The Zonda, a hot, dry wind, can blow in the spring, and hail is a seasonal danger in the vineyards, which is why you see nets over many of the rows.
Fuel is available in Tunuyán and nearby towns, and there are plenty of wineries serving lunch with grilled beef and empanadas. The best months are March to May, for the harvest, and October to December. Winter brings snow to the passes, and summer afternoons can be hot.