Altura Maxima - World's highest vineyard at 3,111m
At 3,111 meters, Altura Maxima is officially the world's highest vineyard. Owned by Bodega Colomé, these extreme vines produce Malbec of unprecedented intensity. The thin air, intense UV radiation, and massive diurnal temperature swings create wines unlike any other on Earth.
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The Recta del Tin Tin is a dead-straight 19km road through a forest of cardón giants at 3,000m altitude. The Incas engineered this road 500 years ago as part of Qhapaq Ñan — a 30,000km administrative highway crossing 6 nations, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cardón cactus surrounding you can live for centuries and grow 10m tall. Standing here, you are on the same road that Inca soldiers and llama caravans used to move across an empire.
🍷 Log Memory📍 WHERE: Parque Nacional Los Cardones, Recta del Tin Tin section — on Ruta Provincial 33, approximately 25km north of Cachi heading toward Payogasta. The park begins just outside Payogasta village. Coordinates: approx. -25.10, -66.15.
💡 WHAT: The Recta del Tin Tin was originally traced by Inca engineers and formed part of the Qhapaq Ñan road system, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014. The subsection through Salta ran 51km from Santa Rosa de Tastil to Potrero de Payogasta — the administrative center near today's Payogasta. At 3,000m altitude, the air is thin but crystal clear. The cardón cactus (Trichocereus pasacana) around you can reach 10m tall and live for hundreds of years — older than the colonial period.
🎯 HOW: Entry is free. Drive slowly — miradores (viewpoints) are signposted along the road. Three short interpretive trails: 'Ojo del Cóndor,' 'Secretos del Cardonal,' and 'Caminos del Pasado' are accessible from the road. Stop the car and walk 100m from the asphalt: the silence is absolute. No park fee required. Open year-round.
🔄 BACKUP: If weather is poor, the village of Payogasta itself is tiny and beautiful — the turn-off for Ruta 40 north is at km 12 from Cachi. The village is the start of Colomé's Altura Máxima territory.
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Getting to Bodega Colomé is not a commute — it is the experience. From Molinos village, you leave sealed road and spend an hour grinding up a rocky dirt track into the mountains. The winery sits at 2,300m and cannot be seen from any highway. This physical effort — the bumps, the dust, the altitude — is the architecture of appreciation. By the time you arrive, you've earned every sip.
🍷 Log Memory📍 WHERE: From Cafayate, take RN40 north 137km to Molinos. In Molinos village, turn onto Ruta Provincial 53 (signed Colomé). The winery is at km 20 — 20km of rocky dirt road from that turn-off. Address: Ruta Prov. 53 Km 20, 4419 Molinos, Salta. Winery coordinates: -25.51284, -66.39223.
💡 WHAT: 4WD is strongly recommended — the road involves river crossings and loose rock sections. Allow 1 hour for the dirt section alone. Total drive from Salta city: 4–5 hours. From Cachi: approximately 2.5–3 hours. This is not casual wine tourism. The isolation is deliberate: Colomé has operated since 1831, and for most of that time the outside world simply could not reach it easily.
🎯 HOW: Phone or email Colomé before arriving — visits are strictly by reservation, max 10 people per group. Tel: +54 3868 49-4200. Website: bodegacolome.com. Tours run Tue–Sun at 11:30am (English and Spanish) and 3:00pm (Spanish only). Plan to spend the full day — or stay overnight at Estancia Colomé ($395–$585/night double occupancy, includes dinner, tasting, museum).
🔄 BACKUP: If road conditions are impassable (rare, usually after extreme rain), Molinos village itself has the 17th-century Iglesia San Pedro Nolasco with its original cardón cactus ceiling — architecture that predates Argentine independence.
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In 2007, Thibaut Delmotte planted vines at 3,111m. For five years they produced nothing drinkable. He was ready to quit. Then 2012 happened: six barrels. Just six. That wine — Altura Máxima Malbec 2012 — was the breakthrough that proved extreme altitude viticulture was possible. The 2022 vintage of the same wine just received 99 points from Tim Atkin MW and was named Argentina's Red Wine of the Year in 2025. This is one of wine's great comeback stories, and it happened 90km above your head.
🍷 Log Memory📍 WHERE: Bodega Colomé winery and tasting room — Ruta Prov. 53 Km 20, 4419 Molinos, Salta. Coordinates: -25.51284, -66.39223.
💡 WHAT: Ask for the Altura Máxima Malbec specifically — it's the flagship wine, not always included in standard tastings. Thibaut Delmotte has been the winemaker since 2005, trained in Beaune and Bordeaux. He uses only indigenous yeasts, zero additives, and farms organically and biodynamically. The grapes at 3,111m develop thick skins as a UV-radiation defense — you are literally tasting the vine's sunscreen. The diurnal temperature swing at that altitude is 22°C+ every night — that's why the acidity is electric despite the fruit concentration.
🎯 HOW: Book a guided tour (Tu–Sun, 11:30am in English, 3pm in Spanish) at bodegacolome.com or +54 3868 49-4200. Standard tasting + winery tour: approximately USD 30–50 per person (confirm pricing at booking — rates not published online). The Altura Máxima Malbec retails for $137/bottle — if you want to purchase bottles to take home, ask at the tasting room.
🔄 BACKUP: If Altura Máxima is sold out or tour is unavailable, the Estate Malbec (2,300m) is the second tier and still extraordinary. Tim Atkin has given multiple vintages 95+ points.
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James Turrell is the artist who sculpts with light and human perception. He has one dedicated museum on the entire planet. It is here — in a remote Argentine winery at 2,300m, four hours of dirt road from any city. Donald Hess commissioned Turrell to design the 9-chamber museum himself. The centerpiece is 'Unseen Blue,' the largest Turrell skyspace ever built: a Roman-style atrium open to the Colomé sky, where engineered light and natural light merge until your brain can no longer tell where the room ends and the atmosphere begins.
🍷 Log Memory📍 WHERE: James Turrell Museum at Bodega Colomé — same location as the winery, Ruta Prov. 53 Km 20, Molinos. The museum is on the winery grounds.
💡 WHAT: 9 light installations across 18,084 sq ft of purpose-built chambers. Don't rush the Ganzfeld room — Turrell coined the German term 'Ganzfeld' to describe the total loss of depth perception when the eye has nothing to focus on. Stand inside and let your visual cortex give up. Also: 'Alta Green' (his earliest light-architecture experiments) and 'Lunette' (a darkened corridor with a portal cut to the sky). The 90-minute combined winery + museum tour is how most visitors see it.
🎯 HOW: Museum visits are included in Colomé winery packages — book together at bodegacolome.com or +54 3868 49-4200. Open Tue–Sun (and Mon) 10am–6pm. Admission for museum alone: contact directly for current rate. Strongly recommend morning light in the 'Unseen Blue' skyspace — the Andean sky at altitude is noticeably bluer than anywhere in Europe.
🔄 BACKUP: If touring independently without winery booking, the museum accepts separate admission — call ahead to confirm availability that day.
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The Altura Máxima vineyard at 3,111m is 90km from the winery and not on any public road. But standing at the winery, you can see the mountains above Payogasta where those 26 hectares of vines cling to calcareous and granitic soil. The 2022 vintage from those vines earned 99 points — the highest score Tim Atkin has given any Malbec. More than a bottle: evidence that the ceiling for what Malbec can become has not yet been reached.
🍷 Log Memory📍 WHERE: Bodega Colomé tasting room — ask about the Altura Máxima vertical tasting if available (multiple vintages side by side). Alternatively, request a bottle of the Altura Máxima Malbec 2022 (the 99-point vintage) from the tasting room shop.
💡 WHAT: The Altura Máxima Malbec 2022 was named Argentina's Red Wine of the Year by Tim Atkin MW in his 2025 Special Report. Tasting notes: thyme, violet and jarilla (a native Andean herb that grows between the vines), blackberry, red cherry, mineral finish. Drink window 2027–2040 — you are tasting something that hasn't reached its peak yet.
🎯 HOW: At bodegacolome.com, request specifically the premium tasting experience or vertical. Bottle price onsite approximately USD 80–120 (premium label). If taking bottles home, note import restrictions — Argentine wine can be brought in limited quantities as personal baggage.
🔄 BACKUP: If the 2022 vintage is sold out, any Altura Máxima vintage from 2017 onward will show the terroir. Ask Thibaut's team which vintage is drinking best right now — they will know.
Insider Tips
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This is a side trip from Colomé winery - arrange in advance
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Acclimatize properly before visiting - altitude sickness is possible
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The views of snow-capped Andes at 3,100m are extraordinary