A beautiful video about the elements of the wine country in Argentina: Mendoza. Cheers!

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 bushnel-counting. That blow-out is Vendimia and it's the biggest event on Mendoza's annual calendar.

"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 Martin, but otherwise the official vendimia has a decidedly fry feel. Forunately, 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 vintage car rally and a very colorful alternative Gay Vendimia. But the one they come from near and far to witness is the Acto Central, where lithe young maidens compete to be crowned National Harvest Queen.