Mendoza
Photographers in Valle de Uco
The Valle de Uco is a high wine valley in Mendoza Province, spread across the departments of Tupungato, Tunuyán and San Carlos at the foot of the Cordón del Plata and the Cordillera Frontal, roughly an hour to an hour and a half south of the city of Mendoza. It is where Argentina's newer high-altitude vineyards were planted, and the wine institute has followed the plantings with names: beyond the older department-level names such as Tupungato and San Carlos, the Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura (INV) recognised Vista Flores in 2012, Paraje Altamira in 2013, La Consulta in 2014, Los Chacayes in 2017, and Pampa El Cepillo and San Pablo in 2019 as geographic indications.
The landscape is bigger and emptier than around the city. Wineries stand alone among their rows, often kilometres apart, with the mountains filling the whole western horizon and almost no buildings in between. Zuccardi Valle de Uco in Paraje Altamira, built of river stone and rock from its own ground, receives visitors only by reservation at 9:30, 11:00, 12:30 and 15:00. The Vines of Mendoza, a resort of 33 villas at km 11 of Ruta Provincial 94 in Los Chacayes, sits 90 minutes from Mendoza airport. Each property is private and sets its own terms for an outside photographer.
Above the vineyards the valley climbs into protected land. The Manzano Histórico reserve, declared in 1994 and lying at 1,700 m about 40 km from the town of Tunuyán, marks the place where José de San Martín returned to the country through the Portillo pass. Further south, the Reserva Natural Laguna del Diamante holds a lake at 3,250 m under the 5,323 m Volcán Maipo, reached only in summer. Commercial photography in either reserve is applied for through the province.
Most clients here are couples: destination weddings at a single winery for a whole weekend, elopements in the vines, and engagement sessions on the way to the mountains. Distances decide the plan. Guests sleep at the venue or nearby, the photographer stays in the valley the night before, and nothing is timed so tightly that a drive between two wineries breaks it.
