IPG to Add Luxury Hotel to Argentine Wine Resort

The city of San Rafael, in western Argentina, has approved a major expansion of Algodon Wine Estates, a winery and luxury resort, an expansion that will include a luxury hotel of about 50 suites, according to an announcement by InvestProperty Group L.L.C.,  the resort’s developer and owner.Algodon Wine Estates encompasses more than 2,000 acres in the foothills of the Sierra Pintada Mountains at the base of the Andes. The property currently has a boutique winery, lodge, clubhouse, restaurant and nine-hole golf course. The expansion will add, in addition to the hotel, four residential villages; two world-class 18-hole golf courses; a polo field, equestrian center, and riding trails and pastures; a wellness spa; two swimming pools; 11 championship tennis courts; and more than 200 1- to 15-acre vineyard homesites and 50 villas. The expansion at the resort will be carried out from an environmentally friendly standpoint, including photovoltaic power, solar hot water, wells, water reservoirs, and greywater and blackwater waste-treatment systems. The estate is intended to be a self-sufficient and sustainable community employing biodynamic agriculture and permaculture design. The property currently includes fruit and olive orchards in addition to vineyards. San Rafael is a city of more than 170,000 in the province of Mendoza; the province both produces a large majority of Argentina’s wine and attracts about 700,000 tourists annually. IPG is also developing Algodon Mansion, a six-story, 10-suite luxury hotel in Recoleta, one of Buenos Aires’ most expensive neighborhoods. Scheduled to open next December, the hotel is a redevelopment of a 1912-vintage mansion in Buenos Aires’ embassy district. “Argentina is a world-class destination, now attracting luxury, rather than ‘backpacking,’ visitors,” Scott Mathis, founder and chairman of IPG, said in a prepared statement. “Argentina’s advantages include undervalued property in a sought-after, high-profile location; healthy hotel and lodging rates; and a currency situation in which the dollar still goes far.” Depending on the methodology used, Argentina is ranked either number 23 or number 31 among the world’s economies and is classified by the World Bank as an “upper-middle-income economy.” Among Latin American nations, Argentina’s GDP per capita is second only to Chile’s.