It's party time in Mendoza,
but what's all the fuss about really? The
Grapevine asked
Luke McMahon to find out
Harvest time has always been a time for celebration.
In ancient times people held their breath and began counting the
bushels - would it be a year of feast or famine? Would the larders
be full enough to get them through winter with full bellies and
light hearts? And in years of plenty, when the gods of fertility
smiled, the people rejoiced by eating, drinking, and dancing themselves
into a state it took all winter to recover from.
Mendoza's no different. While there's still some suspense about
devastating late-summer hailstorms wiping out the grapes, the
Mendoza city authorities feel confident enough to plan the blow-out
to end all blow-outs well in advance of any bushel-counting. That
blow-out is Vendimia and it's the biggest event on Mendoza's annual
calendar.
"Vendimia has a decidedly
dry feel"
'Vendimia' means 'harvest time'. Festivities run for about three
months, from mid-January to mid-April. While it's ostensibly a
grape harvest celebration, when it comes to enjoying the sponsor's
product, there's very little to be found. There's a lonely tasting
tent erected on the end of the peatonal at Avenida San Martín,
but otherwise the official Vendimia has a decidedly dry feel.
Fortunately, Mendoza's better restaurants, bars and hotels come
to the party and offer punters plenty of opportunity to fall off
a passing parade wagon if they so desire.
The festivities do however include all sorts of activities, grape-related
and otherwise, such as free tango shows and movies in the park,
festivals of plums and tomatoes, horse racing, a nocturnal marathon
and a cycling grand prix (see the events calendar in this issue
of The Grapevine for details). But the one they come from near
and far to witness is the Acto Central, where lithe young maidens
representing all of Mendoza province's departments compete to
be crowned National Harvest Queen.
Departmental Queens
The
idea of queens being chosen to represent each of Mendoza' departments
is less bureaucratic than it sounds. The departments are geographical
districts rather than branches of government (although, not to
be outdone, the water board has its own Water Queen beauty pageant
later in the year. Ironically, in 2006 half that festival was
washed out by torrential rain).
Any Mendocino will be quick to tell you that Mendoza women are
the most beautiful in the world. This makes selecting departmental
representatives, let alone one grand winner, a very challenging
and serious business that requires weeks of consideration first
by district, then regional committees, and then by a panel of
250 experts and 25 members of the public.
Sick of being thrashed at football by just about everybody, Mendocinos
turn out in force to support the cream of their youthful crop
in a competition where they can be confident no flash Porteña
is going to swoop in and take top honours. But inter-departmental
loyalties are fierce and the air is thick with tension.
To the outsider with no parochial axe to grind, ranking the contestants
or indeed telling them apart at all can be near impossible. Fortunately
the panel of experts, undoubtedly drawing on years of dedicated
training, like Wine Spectator reviewers are miraculously able
to turn what may appear to the untrained eye to be a fairly arbitrary
exercise into a precise science.
Not everybody respects the judgement of the experts, however.
It is not unheard of for aggrieved fathers to pursue legal action
afterwards to have their daughter's beauty upheld in court.
But before the pageant has a chance to get ugly, there's a party
to be had.
Moving Feast
Nothing says 'party time' like a street parade, and just to be
sure everyone gets the message, Vendimia has two.
These parades are however essentially the same, one at night and
the other the following morning. They feature floats decorated
with tinsel, gold paint, optional paper-mache monsters, and harvest
maidens, travelling in slow procession escorted by gauchos and
sundry street performers through Parque General San Martín and
the streets of Mendoza. In the spirit of the harvest celebration,
the maidens fling fruit like grapes, plums, tomatoes, and watermelons
- yes, watermelons - into the rapturous crowd of a quarter million
people with gay abandon. The whole exercise thus takes on the
fun-filled atmosphere of a moving feast, or perhaps a giant food-fight.
This amazing spectacle may sound hard to top, but believe it or
not it's just the warm-up. The real action occurs in the evening,
after the second parade.
Crowing Glory
The Acto Central, at the Greek amphitheatre in Parque San Martín,
is where Vendimia comes to a head. The enthralled masses finally
find out who has been chosen as this year's Harvest Queen. Mendoza
Capital's representative isn't allowed to compete, for fear of
gaining an unfair home-ground advantage. She gets to play hostess
instead. Breaths are held for nearly two hours through an allegorical
stage show planned, choreographed and rehearsed for nine months.
The contestants parade one last time across the stage, flanked
by costumed dancers, interspersed by uplifting speeches and rousing
music, dazzled by stage lighting and special effects that would
rival a Stones tour.
And then - all is revealed! The queen of queens is crowned, to
thunderous applause and occasional isolated fist-fights. Fireworks
light up the sky and the party leaves the amphitheatre but continues
well into the early hours. Mendocinos and tourists alike join
together to celebrate the best of the province and the summer
season at bars, clubs and parties all over
town. Some of them even drink wine.
The
idea of queens being chosen to represent each of Mendoza' departments
is less bureaucratic than it sounds. The departments are geographical
districts rather than branches of government (although, not to
be outdone, the water board has its own Water Queen beauty pageant
later in the year. Ironically, in 2006 half that festival was
washed out by torrential rain).
