Museo de la Vid y el Vino

The Museo de la Vid y el Vino (Museum of the Vine and Wine) tells the story of Cafayate's wine industry from the pre-Columbian cultivation of grapes through the Spanish colonial period to the modern era of high-altitude viticulture. The exhibits cover the botany of the vine, the tools and techniques of winemaking, the social history of the valley's wine culture, and the particular conditions — altitude, sunshine, low humidity — that make this region unusual in the wine world.

It is a well-curated regional museum, better than most Argentine provincial wine museums, with bilingual labelling and good use of the colonial building it occupies. The adjoining gardens have established vines and offer some shade on hot afternoons. Admission is modest. Budget 45 minutes to an hour. Combined with the Cathedral and a walk around the plaza, it makes a complete morning of town-based sightseeing.

things to do museum
A story
The wine museum in Cafayate is housed in the former Casa Isasmendi, a colonial-era mansion. The building itself is as interesting as the exhibits — its thick adobe walls, internal courtyards, and carved wooden doorways are examples of the regional colonial architecture that once characterised much of northwestern Argentina but is now increasingly rare.