Estancia Colome

Truly in the middle of nowhere! but definitly worth it. The drive from Cafayate is not that far in terms of distance but it's 4 to 5 hours of a very difficult drive on dirt roads in mediocre condition but the scenery is definitely worth the effort: stunning and beautiful. A fair part of the Argentinian road system (this is a National Road!) reminds me of my travels in Central Africa... Estancia Colome is a beautiful place and the rooms are most spacious and comfortable, perfectly equipped (the only hotel in our Argentinian tour providing a Nespresso machine in the rooms!), with a door to the beautiful garden with a very nice swimming pool hidden in the middle of the garden. Beautiful spacious bathroom, very well equipped (the only thing missing is a bathtub). The wine tour and the museum visit were done with a very charming young lady, Sabrina, who is amazingly knowledgeable about wines and considering I have teached wine I can judge. Sabrina was also overlooking our dinner which proved to be a very pleasant experience. The museum has nothing to do with wine but is quite impressing. We just regretted our stay was for one night only and would recommend this place to anybody. I will only point I regret on the wine side: the tasting is only on 4 wines when the estate produces wines from approximately 10 varietals and there is no possibility to taste anything else but Torrontes or Malbec: it would definitely be a good idea to be equipped with a Coravin type of sytem allowing connaisseurs to sample more varietals.

A very luxurious retreat. Very serene and peaceful atmosphere “at the edge of the world”. The rooms are spacious, tastefully decorated and well appointed. They are partly situated around a cosy patio. The public areas are immaculately clean and beautiful. Dinner and breakfast are excellent and so is the wine tasting. The James Turrell museum that is part of the complex is beyond imagination. It can rival with a Guggenheim! Beautiful pool on the winery grounds between the vineyards. Very very highly recommended. An extraordinary place. How lucky that we could be guests here for two nights.

This is a beautiful hotel located in a stunning setting. The rooms are of a high standard, well appointed, spacious and all with lovely views. Other amenities include a library, sitting room, pool table, table tennis room, gymnasium and a large swimming pool set amongst the vines. Food, service, and of course, the wine is of a high standard. So why did we not give this a score of 5 ? This is one of Argentina's pre-eminent wineries and a "must visit" wine tourism destination in the North of the country. Its location makes it difficult to get to and necessitates a drive of several hours along remote dirt roads. In fact, this was our third attempt at getting to Colome, having previously been defeated by a broken down hire car and Covid. Simply put, any visitor to Colome is almost certain to have more than a passing interest in the wine. Any booking now includes a wine tour and tasting followed by a visit to the James Turrell museum and then a welcome drink and canapés followed by dinner. A great sounding package. Unfortunately, this is organised literally as a "package" experience for all guests present at the hotel. We all dutifully gathered as requested at reception and were then asked to choose our menu selections for dinner. With only two copies of the menu, and 8 couples this all proved rather confusing and chaotic. Menus chosen, we embarked on a tour of the estate and the vines whilst our guide explained the history of the vineyards and viticulture. Unfortunately, this explanation was given, in 2 languages, whilst we were all walking down the gravel paths. With a party of 16 it was simply not possible to hear all that was said, and it all felt unnecessarily rushed. We arrived at the tasting room (no tour of the winery itself and little discussion of the winemakers methods), which was set out for our tasting, overlooking the vineyards and peaks of the Andes in the distance. The guided tasting itself consisted of 3 wines, which were all well explained to us. However, there was no discussion of other wines produced in the Colome range and no time to look at the material on display as we were herded off to the James Turrell museum. The museum itself is quite an experience, and as someone who would not generally go out of their way to visit an art gallery, I was very impressed and would recommend it. However, packaging it in this way as part of the wine tour / art / dinner experience creates an unnecessarily "herded" feeling. The final exhibit at the museum requires it to occur at dusk and we then made our way back to the hotel, through the vineyards in the dark across uneven terrain. Ok for those with sure footing and night vision, but not easy for some. It was then straight on to the next part of the package- no time to return to the room. The welcome drink, canapés, dinner and wine were all excellent and beautifully served by the hospitality team. But why is it necessary for everyone to dine at the same time? Even with individ