28-04-2025
An Escape In The Vineyard
The view from the vineyard from the suites.
Few places are as beautiful to walk through as a vineyard. Having a picnic or watching the sunset there can double the pleasure. However, there aren't many places you can sleep in one, unless you camp out.
Entre Cielos, a small resort outside of Mendoza Argentina, provides exactly that option with cozy bed linens and running water. The name translates to between the heavens and it is an accurate moniker. I have rarely experienced a view like this. The only thing that compares would be staring at the Pacific Coast from the window at the Inn at Newport Ranch.
The hotel is also home to a great wine cellar and tons of seductive paths that wind in and out of the vineyards. It also has reportedly the only Hamman, or Turkish bath, in Latin America. While Mendoza is close to nothing in the Northern Hemisphere, it is worth a trip.
The resort's hamman, or Turkish bath.
This region in Argentina backs up on the Andes is in the far west of the enormous country of Argentina. Flights from Buenos Aire's much-improved airports take less than an hour. This diverse region is also home to the bulk of the fine-wine production in the country. Think Malbec, but also Cabernet Sauvignon, red blends and unique whites like Semillon.
Downtown Mendoza is charming, if lacking in great restaurants. Here it is always better to eat in select hotels and at the wineries. Over the past decades the Argentines have calmed down, a bit, about their driving styles so you can probably even risk renting a car.
After a long flight and a connection, a vineyard suite can definitely cure whatever ills you. Entre Cielo's cozy rooms are scattered in the vineyard looking out directly at the Andes. I accidentally woke up at 6:30 am and got great pictures: so, I suggest you set your alarm.
Sunrise over the Andes at Entre Cielos.
The only other place I have seen—much humbler—houses in vineyards was at Gramofone Winery in the Dealu Mare in Romania. These suites are sweet at Entre Cielos. They have basket swings on the porch, lovely linens on the bed and mine had flamingo wallpaper to boot. I wish mine had had a bathtub.
There is nothing like waking up in full view of one of the most gorgeous mountain ranges in the world. I could have stayed in my room all day: but there was wine to drink, food to eat and a Turkish bath experience to be had.
It is rare to experience a truly classic and authentic Turkish bath experience outside of Turkey. However, Entre Cielos has really taken strides to provide the real deal: steam rooms so hot you can't imagine you can stay more than a minute, olive oil soap that helps you remove faded skin and completely serene pools. What experience would be complete without a red wine bath, based on Malbec grapes, in a claw-foot tub?
The Hamman is surrounded by a meditation garden where you can also do yoga. After your scrub-a-dub-dub you will also be treated to lemon water and Turkish-style sweets. All of these may leave you too relaxed for dinner, but you will rally.
The view of the pool.
The hotel's restaurant Nube features an extensive wine list and free wine tasting with the sommelier around 6pm every evening. She tries to highlight a number of local wines with a focus on Mendoza.
The menu, which can be order a la carte or prix fixe, pays homage to Argentina's astoundingly good grass-fed beef. It is lighter, and at the same time richer, than anything to be found stateside. Executive chef Martín Luchetti serves a number of cuts including filet. Make sure you specify how you want it cooked, as Argentines notoriously like their steak well done.
The restaurant serves lot's of local dishes.
Luchetti is also using a number of typically Italian products, such as Burrata cheese and bagna cauda, a butter, anchovy and garlic sauce native to Piedmonte in northern Italy. Given that reportedly 45 percent of Argentines are of Italian background it is not surprising that foods from the motherland have contributed to the depth and breadth of Argentine food. Milanesa, a fried veal cutlet, is essentially a schnitzel or Milanese as we would call it in Italy.
So some of the menu items included burrata, the oozy cheese from Puglia, and a riff on the American invention the caesar salad. As always, Argentines go over the top with dessert, they say you have a separate part of your stomach for it and Nube restaurant is no exception with its tiramisu cloud surrounded by chocolate.
