Argentina's wines are growing in popularity, and most of the vineyards and wine industry are located in Mendoza province, in the Cuyo region. The wine harvest festival, Vendimia, which falls on the first Saturday of March, actually begins in January in various locations around the province and then zeroes in on the city of Mendoza. The celebrations include folkloric festivals, religious ceremonies to bless the grapes, crowning of the Reina Nacional de la Vendimia, sports events and a lot of wine and merriment on into April.
Honoring the region's agricultural bounty, there are also festivals honoring melons and tomatoes, plus the Festival de la Tonada and the Fiesta Folklórica-ecuestre. The climate in Mendoza is hot and humid during the summer, but tree-lined streets, fountains in the plazas, an afternoon siesta and adapting to the mendocino lifestyle will add to your comfort.
In January and February every year each of the eighty communities that make up the Province of Mendoza and who all have vineyards, wineries, or both, elects their own Harvest Queen. All of these goddesses of wine descend on the Provincial Capital (Mendoza city) in the first week of March and on the Saturday night South America´s most lavish and spectacular wine festival is celebrated in a natural Greek amphitheatre nestling amongst the low hills, inside the magnificent San Martín Park.
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