Atamisque Finca and Vineyards, Valle de Uco, Tupungato (Mendoza, Argentina)

Atamisque Finca and Vineyards, #1, Tupungato, Argentina, 2019

This ranch and bodega is a nice, not-so-little, gem and very much worth a few hours of your time if you happen to be traveling through Mendoza Province’s famous Valle de Uco wine country. You’ll find the entrance to Atamisque on Route 86, 68 kilometers south of the city of Mendoza.

This grand finca has it all–vineyards, wine tasting, fruit and nut trees, beehives, a trout farm, a nice restaurant (with grilled trout and wine sampling, of course!), a golf course (!?), and a comfortable lodge. At the nearby Atamisque Estancia, if you would like to settle down and live the gaucho life here on a more permanent basis, you could even buy a lot and build your very own dream house.

Turning off of the Route 86 pavement and in to the finca, you can park and enjoy a high class meal at the restaurant, or just simply sign in with the gate guard and explore in your vehicle–or do both, as we did.

There are lots of nice little hidden spots along the dirt tracks of the property to park, sit awhile, enjoy a picnic… or even a bit of photography. The two small lakes and the tangle of roads are all lined with regiments of willows, poplars, and sycamores, the trees that make of the arid Mendoza province such an iconic landscape–the hands of many human beans (sic), once more, pushing away the harsh extremes of Mother Nature’s original environment–the scrub desert in this case–and building yet another shady, comforting oasis…a cool refuge from the harsh summer sun of the Argentine precordillera.

Apparently, Atamisque is now French-owned, purchased some 15 years ago by the the Dumonceau family, and they have really built up quite a business and a name for themselves with their quality wines and rural tourism services. The design of the finca, the layout, the irrigation plan, the vineyards–all is impeccable and well engineered.

Here are some images from Atamisque on what would turn out to be one of the last warm-weather days of autumn in the Mendoza Province…

Looking up toward the high Andes, Cerro Tupungato (6,570 meters, or 21,560′) dominates the cordillera in this area of Valle de Uco. (It’s a tough four-day walk just to get to basecamp, so it isn’t climbed very often.) This photo was made not far from the new and very exclusive Atamisque Ranch housing development: