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DEVELOPMENT
With these
methods the processing and marketing of wine started to be
consolidated, which prompted the demand for the expansion of the
vineyards. According to the census of 1739, there were 500,000
vine plants in Mendoza - according to the parameters of the
twenty-first century – it would be the equivalent to an area of
70 hectares. With that grape production one could produce
400,000 litres of wine in the ten wineries in existence.
Consequently, soon those wineries started a production of a
surplus to be sold outside the region. As a result, there was an
early process of building external markets. Between the end of
the sixteenth century and early seventeenth century, there was
the opening and consolidating of trade routes. These early
missions quickly were stabilized and formalized. As a result, in
1618 there was the first authorization for the entry of wines
and spirits from Mendoza in Buenos Aires. Shortly thereafter, in
1624, the trade of Mendoza wine was extended until the markets
of the governorate of Paraguay.
The routes and markets that were opened between 1580 and 1624
were consolidated in the following century. The average in the
eighteenth century of foreign trade from Mendoza reached a rate
of 90 shipments annually. By those means a transport capacity of about 250,000 litres was guaranteed.
Contrary to what has been repeated until exhaustion by the
official history, before the arrival of the immigrants to
Mendoza, there had been an important wine industry, with big
wineries for the time, such as the winery Caracol, which in the
decade of 1630 and with no more than 300 Spanish-Creole
inhabitants, worked with a capacity of 30,000 litres. The
progress of the city created the conditions for the expansion of
the wine activity, when other important establishments emerged.
Two good examples were the establishment of the Jesuits at the
Hacienda Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje, and the wineries and
vineyards of Don José Albino Gutiérrez. Both of them had
constructions made with lime and bricks for the most delicate
parts of the wineries. Besides, they used to have presses for
crushing the grapes, a courtyard with stills to produce the
spirits, and large cellars. The capacity of the winery of the
Jesuits was bigger, since it could keep up to 100,000 litres
whereas Don José Albino Gutierrez’s could keep 70,000 litres.
However, the latter had a more modern system because its vessels
were mainly made of wood, while the Jesuitical cellar still used
the old leather and ceramic vessels. These wineries serve to
demonstrate the significant development achieved by the wine
industry of Mendoza before the arrival of European immigrants of
the late nineteenth century.
The wine from Mendoza also had an important role in the national
independence. It is enough to emphasize that San Martín chose
the wine as food and energy source for the soldiers who had to
cross the Andes and wage the decisive battles in Chile. In those
years, many thought it was impossible to cross with an army of
5,000 men, loaded with arms and cannons, through the snow,
cliffs and extremely low temperatures. Within the strategy
planned by San Martín, the use of wine occupied an important
place: he had set aside 113 mules to transport the wine, and
thereby assure every soldier a bottle per day. In this feat,
recognized in the world history, the wine from Mendoza provided
a decisive service. The energy from the sun, captured by the
grape grains, was delivered to the arms and the hearts of the
patriots, to open the way for the new nations of the Americas.
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