Mendoza: The South America Wine Mecca

After the BA revelry; we enjoyed fine wine, great food, polo matches and golf in Mendoza's Valle de Uco.

Checking-in to the Park Hyatt Mendoza this week and enjoying several days with friends and foreign investors has proven to be the perfect transition point between two asset classes which are proving to be both increasingly attractive and profitable for first-time foreign investors in Argentina: Buenos Aires hotels and Mendoza vineyards.

The fact that 97% of the group who purchased condominium-hotel units in Palermo Place, the first IncomeBA property, were from the US, the UK, Mexico and Australia speaks volumes about the new face of foreign investment in Argentina. The fact that they’ve seen appreciation on the order of 45-60% since their purchase one year ago is nothing short of spectacular.

Understandably pleased with their new porteno pied-a -terres and coming off four days of celebration, sightseeing and fine dining, it was time to look west toward Mendoza and the opportunities awaiting at the base of the snow-capped Andes. The past several days spent soaking up the natural beauty, polo matches and premium wines of Mendoza has our group already contemplating the lifestyle advantages of one foot firmly planted in the Calles de Palermo and the other in the Valle de Uco.

Contemplation is one thing…third-party validation is another, especially when that third-party happens to be the newspaper of record for Napa Valley. “Mendoza is the new Mecca of South American Wine,” writes the Napa Valley Register’s Dominick Merle in a piece that extols the quality of life and investment opportunities that drew us here in the first place.

Coincidentally, after a week of indulgencia mendocina, Merle’s group capped off their trip using a Palermo Hollywood hotel as their base camp for the best of BA. Apparently we’re not the only ones tempted by the Calle y Valle lifestyle combination. (Full Story)