If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD839.20), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
As soon as you realize the initials in SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites stand for Susana Balbo, the trailblazer behind Argentina’s women-led wine brand, you’ll want to raise a glass to the heavens. Together with her daughter Ana, Susana has opened up the family’s vine-clad country pad to relaxation-seeking oenophiles – with a free-flowing selection of their signature wines to sample throughout your soothing stay. Pebble-like concrete bath tubs and steps-from-the-bed saunas set the scene for in-suite spa treatments, and heated furniture on your garden-fringed deck makes lounging utterly indulgent. Adventures in the nearby Andes Mountains might draw you away for the day, but you’ll soon be back toasting to your (infinitely improved) good health by the fire-lit pool.
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £672.01 ($839).
More details
Rates include a local breakfast spread of clay oven-baked bread and pastries, seasonal fruit, and farm-fresh savouries.
Also
The property is entirely set on the ground floor, and one of the suites is wheelchair accessible.
At the hotel
Wine-tasting room, library, terrace, fitness equipment to borrow (including yoga mats, kettlebells, dumbbells, resistance bands, and jump ropes), charged laundry service, plug adaptors, and free WiFi. In rooms: TV, minibar (with free sparkling wine), Nespresso machine, tea-making kit, air-conditioning, underfloor heating, and Ethicus Laboratory bath products.
Our favourite rooms
These glass-walled spaces of serenity all come with private gardens (plus fire pit), giant soaking tubs, steam rooms, sensory showers, and heated lounge chairs – but we’d go for one of the four suites which also boast a dry sauna (within touching distance of your king-sized bed).
Poolside
Most of us plan to spend sun-soaked (and wine-drenched) days poolside, but the hotel’s outdoor unheated pool (open daily from 7am to 11pm) really comes alive at night. Flickering lights and a crackling fire pit create a soft, amber glow around sunset – so you can top up your tan during the day and work on your wine palette after dark, all from the comfort of the stone-grey loungers and sofas.
Spa
Wellness and privacy are perfectly paired here, as your suite becomes an intimate space for wine-based treatments inspired by the Mendoza steppe. Argentinian herbs picked from the hotel’s gardens are incorporated into aromatherapy rituals, grape seeds serve as natural antioxidants in exfoliating body scrubs, and red-wine must (freshly pressed grape juice) used in the 60-minute mud wrap leaves you with a mineral-rich, hydrated glow. Parisian-based brand Yon-Ka (known for its phyto-aromatic treatments) completes the all-natural, plant-based picture of health.
Packing tips
A locally-made poncho is a must-purchase – not just for those chilly nights by the fire pit (or the air-conditioned flight home), but as a clink-and-smash-proof wrap for all the wine bottles you’ll inevitably want to return with.
Also
Feeling a little bit rouged? Instead of slapping on the aftersun, try the aloe-and-cucumber-packed post-solar facial (available in 30-minute and 50-minute soothing sessions).
Children
Over-15s are welcome, but we think the wine and wellness scene here is best left for grown-ups to enjoy.
Sustainability efforts
Energy-efficient equipment and water-saving measures are in place throughout, and the bathrooms are stocked with refillable amenities – the soap itself is biodegradable, and its wrapper is fully compostable. The hotel only plants native flora in its gardens, and takes care to preserve local tree species through various re-greening projects – even the front desk is an upcycled (fallen) olive tree.
Watch chef Flavia Amad Di Leo work her magic from the chef’s table, seated next to the semi-open kitchen.
Dress Code
It might be tempting to stay in your fluffy spa-style robes, but evenings are an elegant affair so it’s worth smartening up.
Hotel restaurant
Inspired by the Tree of Life (an ubiquitous symbol in South American art and folklore), La Vida is a rustic yet refined dining space serving Argentinian à la carte dishes beneath a wood-beamed ceiling, alongside a 14-course chef’s table tasting menu paired with Susana Balbo wines. Each course draws on different parts of the Tree of Life, like the floral plate of hibiscus petals, hops, and citrus-infused duck. Specially selected slabs of Argentinian meats are also cooked over the grill (flavored with different types of firewood), rounded off with classic empanadas and artisan charcuterie boards.
Hotel bar
Seven signature cocktails (again, inspired by the seven levels of the Tree of Life) are crafted and served on the statement alabaster bar (open between 7pm and 11pm), with a steady flow of Susana Balbo wines by the glass and bottle. There are also homemade tapas dishes to tuck into as you sip, such as blue cheese and beetroot croquettes (best dipped into the house aioli).
Last orders
Wine-and-dine options are available all-day long.
Room service
Wine-accompanying bites and palette-cleansers can be delivered to your suite between 7am and 11pm.
In the foothills of the Andes Mountains, SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites is wrapped up within the grape-laden vines of Chacras de Coria, a charming suburb of wine-making Mendoza.
Planes
Mendoza International is the closest airport, just a 45-minute drive from the hotel. Private transfers to and from the airport are included in your room rate.
Automobiles
We’d recommend hiring a driver to take you around the vineyards and mountain routes, so you can make the most of wine tastings without getting behind the wheel yourself. If you do decide to rent a car though, the hotel offers free private parking.
Worth getting out of bed for
Combining Mendoza wine country with the Susana Balbo label (Argentina’s first female winemaker) means sommelier-led tastings and vineyard tours are the top picks for most guests at SB Winemaker’s House. The hotel organises private tastings in its cellar and wine-paired picnics in its gardens, and is happy to point you in the direction of local bodegas to continue your oenological experience (alongside the nearby Susana Balbo vineyard, of course). Fine wine aside, the snow-capped Andes Mountains are within striking distance – perfect for head-clearing outdoor adventures like hiking, biking, horse riding, skiing, rafting, and more. Take your flightseeing to new heights by booking the hotel’s air safari, a seaplane experience which soars above Mendoza’s bottle-green vinescape, crystalline salt flats, and along the rugged Andes before landing in the desert for a private chef-prepared lunch. Back on the ground (and practically on the hotel’s doorstep), Chacras de Coria is an artist-filled suburban neighborhood brimming with studios, galleries, and locally-run boutiques selling one-off paintings, ceramics, and handicrafts. Stop by on a Sunday to browse the art market in the main square.
Local restaurants
At just about every eatery here, steak plates usually take center stage. To get your local beef fix while sampling creative takes on Argentinian classics, we’d recommend heading to Brindillas. There’s a choice of five- or seven-course tasting menus at this slick restaurant in downtown Mendoza, with an extensive wine list that’s loyal to the region. To dine among the vines, family-run bodega Clos de Chacras is an idyllic lunch spot with alfresco tables overlooking the vineyards and a lake. The menu changes with the seasons, but our current favorites include the Andean potato salad tossed with smoked-pepper chimichurri sprouts, and Malbec-soaked pears baked in a walnut crumble.
Local cafés
Everything at artisan bakery Bröd is handmade (by a former chef at an upscale wine lodge), using natural flours and high-quality raw ingredients. The all-day, everyday brunch menu is a wholesome feast of smoked salmon-stuff sourdough bagels, eggs your way on organic toast, and bowls of home-baked granola, fruit compote, and natural yoghurt. In Chacras de Coria, take your morning coffee with a buttery medialunas (Argentinian brioche-based croissant) at Jebbs, a family-run café with a large outdoor patio.
Local bars
Calle Arístides is Mendoza’s main watering hole, where buzzing bars spill onto the tree-lined sidewalks. Independent brewery Chachingo Craft Beer is shaking up the city’s wine-dominated scene with an experimental drinks menu featuring grape ales and other wine-beer hybrids. For handcrafted cocktails and a lively crowd, try Cachita’s Bar (Av. Sarmiento 784). Blend in with the locals by ordering Fernet-Branca and Coke, rumored to be a hangover cure when drunk in equal parts to alcohol.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this wine-meets-wellness mansion near Mendoza and unpacked their chupalla hats and bottles of Malbec, a full account of their grape-infused spa break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites in Argentina…
When we heard on the grapevine that Susana Balbo was putting her name (and more importantly, her fine Argentine wines) to SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites, we couldn’t resist making a celebratory toast. Nicknamed the ‘Queen of Torrontés’ for her tradition-defying take on Argentina’s well-known white grape, Susana has been shaking up the wine scene for some time – so we couldn’t wait to see how she’d infuse her first hotel with her Mendoza-born spirit – with a helping hand from daughter and marketing guru, Ana. The mother-daughter duo have created a seamless blend of wine and wellness, where a raise-your-glass without lifting a finger attitude reigns (aided by a team of wellness butlers and expert sommeliers).
The glass-box spa-style suites are an oh-so-serene ode to Mendoza’s mountainous, wine-growing palette, imbued (imbibed?) with llama-wool textiles and stone-grey furnishings. Grape-based treatments are delivered in-suite, vine-leaf cocktails appear as if by magic by the poolside fire pit, and Balbo’s eponymous wines are masterfully matched with the restaurant’s organic-led 14-course menu (or just help yourself to the bottle-packed minibar for a more rustic, robe-clad tasting). And when you’re not horizontal on your heated lounger or bedside massage table, you can peruse and ponder the Balbo-curated Argentinian art collection – a few glasses of Malbec should get the conversation flowing.
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