Wine in Mendoza
Wine entered the Province of Mendoza from Chile in 1556, and the wine stocks were taken by Father Juan Cidrón. These stocks found in Cuyo (Name given to three Provinces: Mendoza, San Juán and San Luis), the ideal land, and they are today, together with olive groves, the main activity of the region.
The wine stocks that produce wine in Mendoza were taken by the Italian, German, Spanish and French immigration.
The vineyards are watered by melt waters from the Andes and they grow in a region without big climatic variations and a similar soil composition.The wineries usually mix grapes of different vineyards so that it is impossible to distinguish if the wine comes for example from Maipú or from San Rafael.
Mendoza and San Juán produce around 90% of the wine drunk in Argentina, and the region is the 4th wine producer in the world. One can visit the wineries and there is a very famous celebration when the vintage is carried out (February to April). In this time, Mendoza is full of temporary workers and the roads are filled with trucks loaded with grapes.
The stocks that produce red wines are: Malbec, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Pinot-Noir, Merlot, Barbera d´Asti, Syrah, the stocks that produce white wines are: Chardonay, Chenin, Sauvignon, Riesling, and Traminer.