“El vino es la sangre que fluye por mi propia tierra.”
Wine is the blood that flows through my
land.
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Wine is everything to the people of
Mendoza. The cultivation of grapes and the making of wine is the foundation
upon which this entire city operates – a bad grape harvest would be absolutely detrimental
to both the economy and the culture of this great city. Most Americans are
oblivious to this fact, but Argentina is the 6th largest wine producing
country in the world behind Italy, France, Spain, Australia and the United
States. This is even more impressive when you consider the fact that over 2/3
of all Argentinean wine is produced in the Mendoza providence. That means that ONE providence in Argentina
is producing almost two-thirds of the amount of wine that the entire country of
the United States. Pretty impressive. Want another fun fact about Argentinean
wine? Mendoza has over 300 sunny days per year and of those 65 that are cloudy,
very, very, very few actually rain. Due to the combination of the arid climate,
the Andes Mountains, and the type of grapes typically found here, Argentina
boasts some of the most potent and darkest colored wine grapes in the world. The
color of wine comes from the skin of the grape, and because of this most Argentinean
wines are much darker than what we normally see from European or American
wines. In fact, some Malbec’s and Cabernet Sauvignon’s here are dark in color
that they appear black unless held up to a very, very bright light. Also, because of the potency of the grapes
and the amount of sugar contained within them, Argentinean wine ends up being
the most naturally alcohol wine in the world. Most wines from this area end up
at about 15-18% alcohol which is a much, much higher average than any other
wine producing areas.
This is starting to sound like a history
lesson. I will desist with the detailed description of Argentinean wine – if you
wish to know more feel free to hit up Wikipedia or, if you feel so inclined,
the city of Mendoza tourism and culture website which I have found extremely
interesting.
Anyway, because of the immense importance
of wine in Mendoza, the Vindimia (harvest festival) has been celebrated every
fall for generations upon generations dating back before colonial times; its
main purpose is to give thanks for, and bless, this year’s crop of grapes prior
to harvesting them for wine. The
festivals start months before the harvest, in the beginning of the summer,
where each area of the Mendoza providence elects a queen to compete for the
honor of becoming the Queen of the Vindimia. This queen was traditionally
always a daughter of a family bodega, someone who knew wine intimately and
could act as a spokesperson and ambassador for the Mendoza region on an
international level. In today’s age however, they are a lot more lenient – the most
important qualification is beauty rather than an intimate knowledge of wine.
The queens, once elected, travel to the
city of Mendoza to take part in a parade, La Bia Blanca, where they will attempt
to win the hearts of the Mendocino people and win the votes of the 250
important members of the city (mayors, board members, professors, rich people,
etc.) whose votes will determine which queen will represent the providence of
Mendoza internationally as the Reina de la Vindimia. This is what the parade is
SUPPOSED to be, however the mendocinos really only go to the parade for one
reason: fruit and wine. Instead of throwing candy at people, the queens hand
out bottles of wine from wineries in their sector (yes, WHOLE bottles of wine)
and throw fruit at the mendocinan people. And yes, I literally mean that the
queens are throwing fruit at people – anything from grapes and plums to
peaches, nectarines, bananas, and melons. Yes, I said melons. There was an
unfortunate incident with a melon a few years ago when an American student made
the mistake of turning her back to the float…
Rule #1 of the Bia Blanca parade: never
turn your back to the parade because if you do, that’s when one of the queens
will decide to throw a melon.
There are plenty of other activities that
occur during La festival de la Vindimia, but to save time and keep from boring
you all, I’ll skip ahead to the culmination of the festival: the show. The best
way I can describe this event is as follows: picture an opening act to the
Olympics… now multiply it by 5. Yeah, it’s that elaborate. Historically, this
show was a way in which all of the sectors of the Mendoza providence could get
together and celebrate the one thing everyone has in common. Today however,
this show is used as a remembrance for the history and culture of wine making
in Mendoza as well as a being a symbolic representation of the significance of
wine to the economy and the people. This was an incredibly moving experience
and, although I did not fully understand all of the political symbolism and
historical references of the various dances, I was able to get a short but
beautiful summary of Mendoza’s cultural history with wine. Pictures below.
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