Mendoza´s Main Event: Vendimia

Few wine regions throw a party quite on par with Mendoza´s grape harvest festival known as Vendimia.  It´s truly a challenge to describe the fervor created by this national event, it´s simply an experience that begs to be lived in person.

Vendimia is a celebration whose roots reach way back into Mendoza history.  The first official festival took place in 1936, but was likely a far cry from the Las Vegas style theatrics that enthrall audiences today.

Opening night finally rolled around on March 8 and literally tens of thousands of wine lovers packed into the open air Frank Romero Day Amphitheater, which sits perched in the Andes foothills.  There are few events that inspire Argentines to arrive well ahead of time, and the Vendimia Acto Central (the final event) is one of them.  Hours before the first performers took the stage, people plodded up the mountain path with picnic baskets and bottles of wine.  They unloaded sweaters (to protect against nighttime chills), fluffy cushions (to soften the pain of hours seated on cement slabs) and all manner of provisions to get them through the night.

Several hours later, the theater was packed.  The hillsides overlooking the stage sparkled with camera flashes from people enjoying the cheap seats and without warning, the show began.

Local voices entertained the crowds as the last of the sunlight trickled away – singers, comedians, radio personalities – and then finally the massive dance company emerged from backstage.  Hundreds of dancers and actors dressed in traditional garb moved to the music that has accompanied the Argentine harvest through the decades of its history.

Though the show is in Spanish, the story line is generally the same: it follows the history of the harvest and of the immigrants that gave Mendoza its cultural heartbeat.  This year, the show was entitled “Illuminated Symphony of Glory,” a name that could only be shouldered by a show like Vendimia.  The primary immigrant groups were honored for their history and contribution, but the general message was that Mendoza is far greater than merely the sum of its parts.  A patriotic tone pulsed – no reverberated – through the hundreds of rows and thousands of clapping hands as they raised up the Argentine flag and sang the song of General San Martin, the national hero responsible for winning Argentina its independence.

The tens of thousands of hands that went into the months of planning, organizing, constructing and choreographing the Acto Central were applauded for their efforts by the tens of thousands of people that filled the theater during the 4 nights of the festival.  The hours of waiting in the theater were worth it.  The effort was worth it.  Just like the harvest, somehow year after year Mendoza pulls it off.  No matter what storm cloud rolls across the sky, no matter how many waves rock the economy – there´s still a handful of thousands of people who know how to celebrate wine unlike anywhere else in the world.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our team of highly passionate, skilled trip planners wants to get to know you so we can construct the perfect getaway.  We pull from our large network of local winemakers, adventurers, chefs, artists and more to introduce you to a side of Mendoza, Argentina that you won’t see with any other tour agency.

Ready to get started?  Tell us who you are and what you love – and we’ll use that to build your perfect trip!  Click here to get started!