![\"driving-mendoza-wine\"](\"https:\/\/www.drinkingargentina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/driving-mendoza-wine.jpg\")
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All you have to do is spend a few minutes on the Argentina forums of FlyerTalk or TripAdvisor before you\u00a0see all the kudos for Miguel Sanz, a driver and personal tour guide for visitors to Mendoza.\u00a0To call Miguel a “driver”\u00a0hardly does his role justice. He’s more like a concierge or chaperone. He can\u00a0make appointments with the wineries, arrange\u00a0a memorable\u00a0lunch, and make just about anything happen.\u00a0Since practically everyone’s heard about Miguel, we\u00a0thought it would be interesting for people to get to know him better.<\/p>\n
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Where is your hometown? Tell me about it.<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n You have quite the fan base on TripAdvisor. Why do you think you\u2019ve become so popular with Americans?<\/strong> <\/p>\n You worked in the wine business before you began Driving Mendoza, correct? Where did you work, and what did you do?<\/strong> <\/p>\n How did you get started driving visitors?<\/strong> <\/p>\n How many days is a good visit to Mendoza, that gives people enough time to get to know the wineries and the region?<\/strong> <\/p>\n Some people think renting their own car is a good idea. What do you think of that?<\/strong> <\/p>\n What are some of the less-discovered wineries that you think visitors should take more time get to know?<\/strong> <\/p>\n What if one of the member of a group is not a wine drinker? What other places and activities in the region do you enjoy taking visitors to?<\/strong> <\/p>\n What is the biggest mistake foreign tourists make when traveling to Mendoza?<\/strong> <\/p>\n What\u2019s your favorite story of something that has happened when you were leading a tour?<\/strong> <\/p>\n What are some differences to consider when you are choosing a driver or tour company in Argentina?<\/strong> <\/p>\n How has the wine industry in Mendoza changed since you began giving tours?<\/strong> <\/p>\n What do you see as the biggest change that will come in the next five years?<\/strong> <\/p>\n You can learn more about Miguel on Trip Advisor<\/a>\u00a0or request his services at DrivingMendozaWineTours.com<\/a>. You can also email Miguel\u00a0directly\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All you have to do is spend a few minutes on the Argentina forums of FlyerTalk or TripAdvisor before you\u00a0see all the kudos for Miguel Sanz, a driver and personal tour guide for visitors to Mendoza.\u00a0To call Miguel a “driver”\u00a0hardly does his role justice. He’s more like a concierge or chaperone. He can\u00a0make appointments with … <\/p>\n
\nI live about 15′ from downtown in a great city called La Heras. My house is in a calm\u00a0residential area, where the kids are still playing outside without\u00a0a\u00a0problem.<\/p>\nHow long have you lived in Mendoza?<\/strong>
\nI was born in Mendoza City and grew up\u00a0there until\u00a0I was 22 years old; then I moved to Canada for a period of 7 years. Than I came back to Mendoza\u00a0for the holidays and decided to stay.<\/div>\n\n
\nI guess because I understand the needs of the visitors and probably because I had great training\u00a0working in the Park Hyatt\u00a0and Cavas Wine Lodge hotel the\u00a0first three years as a driver.<\/p>\n
\nI have a degree in Export Marketing and Logistics and I did work in the wine industry. I worked for Familia Zuccardi as a Logistics Manager and also\u00a0for Wines of Argentina too.<\/p>\n
\nIn February 2007 I had a full month off. My brother was a driver of a tourist agency and the owner needed to replace a couple drivers so they\u00a0offered me to work for him 15 days. In those\u00a015 days I\u00a0drove many people and three of them wrote the manager of Park Hyatt\u00a0a letter\u00a0about my great service and knowledge, so the manager call my brother’s boss and asked him to do what ever it took\u00a0to keep me\u00a0in the hotel. That’s how I\u00a0started.<\/p>\n
\nWell, there\u00a0are\u00a0three different regions to visit in Mendoza, so I would say at least three days.<\/p>\n
\nFirst of\u00a0all, the rentals agencies don’t have automatic transmissions. So if you don’t know how to drive manual transmission, that is the first\u00a0reason.\u00a0We have zero tolerance in drinking and driving. And\u00a0besides that, there\u00a0are\u00a0no good signs. GPS can help a little, but if the one you get isn’t updated to the very latest\u00a0version, you’re still getting lost.<\/p>\n
\nWell if I tell you all my secrets, my competitors will start to copy me.
\nOkay, I’ll give you some: Altocedro, D’Angeles 1928, Sin Fin.<\/p>\n
\nThere’s many options, mountain trips all the way to the Aconcagua Park, outdoor activities like horseback riding, rafting, zip lining, trekking, 4-wheel\u00a0drive tours on a\u00a0road through the mountains, shopping tours. Night tours, etc. You ask and I provide.<\/p>\n
\nTry to arrange the winery appointment by themselves. It’s not impossible, but sometimes they make\u00a0appointments each hour to try to get most of their day and\u00a0they forget that some wineries are 30km apart and hidden.<\/p>\n
\nI was in La Azul restaurant and this guy told me that he was going to propose to his girlfriend. He did it with the surprise that\u00a0I told everybody in\u00a0the restaurant\u00a0and we filmed all the proposal.<\/p>\n
\nFirst, my tour\u00a0is totally private and if you decide to come back after lunch to the hotel you can do it. You can choose your wineries, or at least share the\u00a0names of the wineries that you like to visit. Sometimes it isn’t possible because availability from them, but normally, we work it\u00a0out.\u00a0On a group tour you have fixed tours and you don’t know what kind of people you will sharing the tour with.<\/p>\n
\nA lot, because many wineries are\u00a0open for tourists, so now we have more than 150 wineries to visit.<\/p>\n
\nWell Argentina is just beginning. New investors will come and now with the new government that just started, I think this type\u00a0of service will grow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n