When harvest time comes, appreciates and celebrates Mendoza. By then completed a new cycle of effort and work in the vineyards and in the cellars, the whole province is delivered to the National Harvest Festival, which every year grows in color and calls for a greater number of visitors. In the 2008 edition, the celebrations in the capital run from 8 to 10 March next, while all departments are held since January 4, with the departmental parties where queens are chosen. Vintage has its climax at the main event, which will take place on Saturday 8th at the Greek Theatre Frank Romero Day: There will be crowned the new national queen and will stage a show that tells the story of Mendoza, emphasizing in the eternal struggle of its people against the desert. In that fight the use of water is present, key to understanding some crucial elements of the landscape of Mendoza, as the ditches crossing the capital and other towns. According to organizers, the festival also gaining strength in the reiteration that “lives in the sound of water running down the drains” .In this time the show’s centerpiece will be “Born of the river and the land,” with the Nora Meineri script and direction of Alexander Conte. Indeed, the play recounts the life relationship that always existed between water and land, and how human intervention was molding the Mendoza desert to make it a privileged place. The Greek theater is always chosen from the stage in 1963 -date which was officially inaugurado- for vendimiales culmination of celebrations. On the slopes of the hills bordering the Parque General San Martin, the theater is home to over 21,600 people seated, and thousands more are located in the neighboring hills. In total, about 40 thousand spectators attending the shocking spectacle of light and sound that precedes the election of the Queen and repeats Sunday 9 and Monday 10 is that in the last two nights the art show is repeated, and no . sovereign choice, but with musical shows that promise the presence of Mercedes Sosa and Karamelo Santo “Harvest in Mendoza is synonymous with folklore, it is the unwritten history of the town that is transmitted by tradition.” So winemakers define themselves to the process and the effort of growing, harvesting, harvesting and industrialization of the grape. Because the vine and the wine is much more than an economic activity in Mendoza are part of its history, tradition and culture. Outside the intimate sphere workers already celebrating more than a century between cuyanos cuecas and cats, the first Harvest Festival 1936.En back to this edition of the celebrations, on Tuesday (February 19) will begin their pilgrimage the Virgin Carrodilla from Junín, to tour various departments of the province and get to Costa de Araujo, Lavalle. On March 2, will be held at the famous site “Blessing of the Fruit” .In ceremony thanks to God for the harvest and the new wine is offered with traditional beat grid, symbolizing the man working the land . The image of the Virgin is then transferred to the departmental parish until the next vintage. The winning proposal for the script of the “Blessing of the Fruit” is this year’s “Glow in the desert,” Jorge José González. It was in 1938 when the first “Blessing of Fruits” in Mendoza, then called “Blessing of the Harvest” was held to thank the Creator for the land and its fruits. A gratitude that is biblical origins: from the time that Moses offered the fruit to God, until Pentecost parties or the offerings in the temple of Jerusalem. On the night before the main event of Mendoza Harvest Festival (March 7) Friday, is intended to carry out the “White Way of Queens”. What is a parade of floats through the streets of the city with aspiring national scepter is. On the morning of Saturday, 8 took place on “Carousel” carriages will be escorted by groups in traditional costumes, all mounted on horseback, and the iconic oxcart. Carousel, 1936, attended by 10,000 people always remember. They opened the curious courtship flames several containers loaded with leather, symbolizing the first element transport people. They followed the horses, donkeys and mules, the latter being essential in the Andean traffic yesteryear. Further back there was a cart and even a troop of carts including foreman. Behind them marched a truck, and by the end three Air Force planes crossed the sky in that legendary Carousel, representing the “near future” .More close in time, the feast of 2007, some 250,000 people attended the carousel. Of course, the Harvest Festival is an established tourism product: the edition of last year, visited the province 68,000 tourists in the week preceding the main event of the celebration, according to the Ministry of Tourism of Mendoza. And only in the main event involved between 800 and a thousand artists. “Vintage Cinema”, “Art Harvest” and Rally for Roads Wineries Wine Cup, with the Park Hyatt as trofeo- add to the organized events. Convened by the Mendoza Club Classics, this journey of 500 kms. integrates the official calendar of vintage 2008 and will take place from 13 to 15 March. More festivities. At Easter (from 19 to 23 March), Mendoza reissue the successful International Festival “Classical Music for the Wine Roads” where participating musicians, singers and dancers competitively selected for the occasion. But that’s not all. The Argentine musician Gustavo Santaolalla was invited to deliver “Argentina Wine Awards” held at Bodega Catena Zapata. In the event, the winner of two Oscars was honored for “Wines of Argentina” as the first Ambassador of the Argentine Wine (consisting of 125 wineries in the country entity). It is true. Vintage Wine Route and are more than enough reasons to travel the 1,050 miles between Buenos Aires to Mendoza. In fact, wine tourism is the fastest growing industry in the province, according to the Tourism Ministry said. Several circuits, formed by wineries open to tourism, allowing approximate the harvesting, processing and wine tasting. The first wine of the province consists of Godoy Cruz, Maipú, Luján de Cuyo and Guaymallén, where the largest number of wineries visited by wine lovers and its culture is concentrated. From small and familiar to traditional and centuries, the wineries of this region are the closest to the capital with an average distance of 15 km. Instead, the central valley contains the most extensive plantations surface; and south (Gral. Alvear and San Rafael) and the Uco Valley (Tupungato and San Carlos Tunuyán) concentrate and internationally acclaimed wineries are also captive for its scenery. Well worth discovering Mendoza during different seasons to appreciate the Aconcagua National Park (with the highest peak of the continent, 6,959 meters), or, the Baths of Cacheuta dam Potrerillos, Uspallata, the beautiful geological formation Puente del Inca and the Cristo Redentor, on the border with Chile. To the south, from San Rafael and Atuel Canyon (which recommends rafting in summer) to the Valle de Las Lenas (the main ski resort in the province) and the riches of Malargüe and dark desert Payunia are all essential natural sanctuaries. And, of course, is Mendoza, with its foundation area, which welcomes tourists always hospitable. But now it is time to harvest sown long. And sing “Virgin Carrodilla, patron saint of vineyards / Hope of the children who are born by the hill / Those who have sunk the plow and have cultivated the ground / They ask that seek him, patroness of the vineyards.”Cheers! . Source: Travel Journal Supplement Clarín
