Wine is one of the main draws to Mendoza, the climate and altitude (around 1000m) produce very tasty Malbec wines and in Argentina you can get a decent bottle for 3-4 pounds. Mendoza is technically in a desert but receives plenty of water from the mountain rivers that flow down from the Andes. All of the cities streets have irrigation channels alongside them that enables them to have nice shady trees growing along them. All in all Mendoza is a thoroughly pleasant place to be, although it does get scorchingly hot.