90 TUCUMAN AND MENDOZA 



by the owners and 175,000 tons bought by the bode- 

 gueros.* 



The conflicts of the interests of the vinateros and the 

 bodegueros are the very woof of life at Mendoza. The 

 price of grapes is infinitely more variable than that 

 of wine, and the vinatero who has no cellar is at the 

 mercy of the bodeguero. If he does not want to see 

 his harvest go to waste, he has to accept unconditionally 

 the price that is offered him. The bodeguero has, 

 moreover, the advantage of disposing of the grapes 

 grown on his own estates. If the circumstances do 

 not encourage him to produce all he can, he sends to 

 the press merely his own harvest and will not buy 

 any other. Thus the whole burden of commercial 

 crises falls upon the vineyard with no cellar. 



The prices paid for the grapes differ a little for 

 different parts of the vineyard, but the variation is 

 more due to the number of bodegas in the district and 

 their capacity than to the quality of the grapes. Trans- 

 port of the grapes to a great distance is very expensive. 

 In exceptional times grapes have been brought from 

 San Rafael to the Mendoza cellars, but each bodega 

 gets its supply as far as possible from its own district. 

 At San Juan the capacity of the cellars is propor- 

 tionately less than at Mendoza, and the bodegueros 

 have imposed very hard conditions on the growers. 

 The price fixed in the purchase-contract does not 

 of itself give a complete idea of the benefits which 

 the bodeguero enjoys. The grapes are purchased by 

 weight, but the bodeguero reserves the right to say 

 at what date they are to be delivered. He begins to 

 harvest his own vines when the fruit is scarcely ripe, 

 but he puts back the harvesting of the grapes he buys 

 as far as possible, even to April or May. These grapes 

 exposed on the plant to the heat of the sun, become 

 overripe ; they gain in sugar and lose in weight. They 



1 More recent statistics are not to hand. The proportion differs 

 a little every year according to the prices of wine and grapes. 



