“It’s a wine beauty contest, really!” Travelling to the wine capital city Mendoza at the beginning of March, I witness one of the largest events concerning beautiful girls & wine harvest celebration I have ever experienced in my life. When, how and where Las Reinas De La Vendimia are being nominated and selected has given rise to one big, amazing street festival celebrated each year during the wine harvest season at the beginning of March. Thanks to our wonderful team of Mendoza Turismo, I was able to soak it all up right there in front of the parade together with hoards of TV-journalists, news reporters and bloggers from all over the place such as myself – simply wow! It is an absolute “Must-See” & “Must-Do” experience to join the street parade of the Wine Queens representing each of Mendoza’s 17 wine growing areas – definitely not to be missed!
Every beauty queen wants to win the hearts of its people, obviously! From each of Mendoza’s provinces, one wine queen is selected who then competes for the title of “Reina De La Vendimia 2013”.
Each queen is supported by “her” federation of regional Gauchos, whose horse riding skills in the night streets of Mendoza prove to be a unique experience for the likes of myself.
Even very young contestants are already supporting their individual wine queen …
In addition to the parade, which has each wine queen introduce herself to the public on large trucks, grapes fruit & vegetables get “thrown at the people” as a gesture part of the harvest festival. An American woman next to me gasps out: “In the United States, they would sue you!” 😉
All of Mendoza is up and around partying … I have never seen a city celebrating its harvest festival in this proud, colorful and entertaining way …
Every joins in … Viva Argentina! We are treated to a second carnival here, really. Wonderful!
Electing the Wine Queen of Mendoza 2013: Visiting Gran Teatro Mágico de la Piedra y Vino
Dear friends, dear readers: I am truly impressed. And allow me to say that I have already had the pleasure of witnessing large, amazing concerts – Placebo in Paris with 50.000 people, Coldplay in Munich with 75.000 people, the opera Swan Lake in Moscow, the operetta Carmen in Vienna … but this unique combination of professional dancers spoiling us to musical, concert, opera, theatre, multimedia show, fireworks & beauty contest alike on a stage for almost 30.000 spectators has been truly overwhelming – never have I experienced anything quite like this in my whole life. Take a look at this …
All of the queens march carefully and with grace, greeting their audience before the “Magic Stone & Wine Theatre” of Mendoza starts as if to compliment them even further …
The vibrant atmosphere in the station is being broadcast into more than 100 countries watching live from around the globe … Very exciting! Only football I hear tops this event in terms of emotions …
Professional dance and show like these are what amaze me and the entire audience. All dancers come from the province of Mendoza: Bravo!
The theatre dances, sings and tells the story of the wine harvest, the vines growing and the people working in the vineyards and wine cellars producing the famous Mendoza wine. A beautiful way of wrapping it all up for us!
Right before the election of the Wine Queen, all dancers pay tribute to the participating Beauty Queens.
Very cool indeed: In front of me, I chat with Julian who maintains his blog “Vivivendimia” live from the theatre: As a social media journalist and blogger, you can apply for a free seat complete with Internet access and plugs for your equipment. Nice!
At the end of this amazing mix of art & festivity, everybody is dancing, literally … We cannot manage to sit still any more (except for taking this picture, perhaps)!
The time has come: Shortly before announcing THE Wine Beauty Queen 2013, all of the girls have to line up and salute once more … what an exciting moment in the lives of these 19 – 25 year-old beauties!
“Cuando realmente quieres algo, todo el universo conspira para que lo logres” .. Elina, this year’s Wine Queen representing Mendoza’s province Malargue, is deeply moved by having been elected and hardly manages to deliver her speech. We all feel with her, what a wonderful moment!
At the end, we are treated to yet another amazing event, which is the 20 minutes fireworks above the city of Mendoza including fireworks even I have never seen in my life … everything has simply been WOW – an experience not to be missed!
2 comments
It’s a great and amazing !
Thank you, Azhar! Hope you get to experience & celebrate at Mendoza Wine Festival, too!