Hotel Boutique Bodega Florio

This year we wanted, as part of our week long trip to Mendoza, to experience life in one of the local bodegas of the Maipu´s wine region. The location was great because it is close to Urquiza street along which many important restaurants and bodega could be found. We came across Hotel Boutique Bodega Florio, and luckily we weren’t disappointed. The hotel is actually the old house of the founder of Bodega Florio, where Mr Florio and his family lived many years ago after they arrived from Italy. The house was recently renewed and converted to a petite hotel and it has just newly started to run the accommodation as a side business. It is located within the currently running Bodega Florio´s premises, but it has its own gate and huge private park full of old trees and flowers which was a great plus for our 6 year old boy to play and run around. There is also a small pool in the park, a feature we were not particularly looking for but it actually was nice to have, the pool had recently been constructed and we were the first lucky guests to have a splash. The accommodation and bathrooms were clean and nice while keeping the old rustic features (high ceilings, stone walls and large wooden doors); we didn’t see any sign of air-conditioning but the weather was nice and fresh with just the windows open. The house is being managed by a lovely lady called Sandra and her husband; they were very warm and hospitable and made our stay in Bodega Florio feel like we were hosted like family members in their place. The room rate includes a very nice continental breakfast and dinner cooked by its dedicated cook and house lord Sandra, this is perfect when you visit the region as after spending the whole day driving around visiting vineyards, wine museums and historic spots you are assured a fantastic homemade dinner waiting for you, which you can enjoy with any of the wines you may have picked in any of the vineyards you visited or from Bodega Florio itself, as they sell their own produce to its guests and visitors (truly great wine; strongly recommend). As part of the room rate you are also given a private tour of the Bodega, Jessica was a great tour guide and was very knowledgeable and spoke in both Spanish and English fluently. This was followed by a wine tasting session which was also fantastic. It’s worth noting that the Bodega Florio played a big role in Mendoza´s wine industry´s history and it´s an obliged stop for many of the wine route tours. The house location secluded and private comes handy when you see the non-stop parade of tour buses that bring tourist for a guided visit and wine tasting session of its produce, all this while you are enjoying a tea or a beer/wine with picada on the gallery unmolested by the beaten up tourists. Florio is a typical Italian bodega producing wine in the old traditional way, it specializes in sweet natural wines, but also produces traditional Chianti and Malbec. I particularly liked the Chianti which is made from the San Giovese grapes, not very common in the region, which the bodega produces in the traditional way in not huge quantities only for some selected Italian gourmet restaurants in Buenos Aires and cannot be bought commercially anywhere else. If you have spare space, ensure you stock few bottles of wines from this Bodega. All in all we were very happy with our few day stay in Florio and we think Sandra and her husband did a great job in making our stay special. Sebastian and Armity from Perth, Australia.