At the start of the XX th century, Argentina began to change it's appearance . Thousands of inmigrants arrived in ships from their Fatherland every year. In the wet plains of central Argentina grain crops began to multiply and the best bulls, milking cows and sheep were extensively bred .
It was at this moment that the capitalist system reached it's peak differentiating industrial countries from those producing raw material such as ours. More than half the Latin American exports originated here and as to bilateral relations between Latinamerican countries and Europe , Argentina occupied the first six places with England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium Luxenburg and France.Pur raw materials were almost exclusively agricultural and we bought consumer goods such as fuel,machinery and industrial supplies.In the political field the conservatives ruled throughout the country, in opposition the radicals disagreed with the ruling class as to their interpretation of democracy. It aspired to electoral transparecy and to the upholding of political liberties but was consistent with their ecomonic program.
Beyond the comings and goings the economy went through , for example : the great crisis of 1890, in general everyone the advantages of economic relations with foreign capitals (especially with Britain )as a way to guarantee the placing of products in the European market.This vision was confirmed by the economic growth of those years. These showed the great Argentine economic expansion as from 1880 backed by the growth of it's agricultural economy .This in turn caused a great impact on the primary insustries processing raw material destined to export such as flour mills and meat packing plants.
This economic growth also caused an increase in the earnings of the population and as a consequence a higher demand in food products and clothing.
All this was made possible due to the growth of the railways all over the country , expanding it's possibilities and reducing the cost of transport .
Another decisive factor of modernization in our country was the massive arrival of European and Asiatic inmigrants who joined the work force on the inmense ' estancias ' of the wet plains or as workmen in the newly established factories in the cities.


 




Mendoza aquires it's winegrowers image.

Although the planting of vineyards goes back to 1561, this was never the main source of income until the XXth century. Mendoza also grew forage( in 1908 the total extension of alfalfa was 138.000 hec)
grain ( it was one of the principal producers of corn,wheat and barley covering almost 20.000 hec) and fruit trees( over 3.000 hec) . , but the decade of 1880 was a turning point. Mendoza moved towards modernization and became the first winemaking zone in the country, so much so ,that it was called by governor Emilio Civit, Mendoza's ' industry per excellence '.
This improvement was due to the expansion of the irrigation system. In 14 years , from 1887 to 1901 vineyards grew from 4.700 hec. to 21.313 hec. and by 1910 they had grown to 31.793 hec.
Various factors contributed to the eclosion of the wine industry : the 1884 Water Law which regulated and systematized irrigation in the province of Mendoza and the availability of bank loans for extending the existing irrigation system, increased the cultivated areas in the province.
Nationally, the construction of the Buenos Aires to the Pacific railway in 1885 replaced the transport of wine in bullock drawn wagons for the faster and cheaper railroad .Another factor was the increasing demand from the markets of Buenos Aires and the Litoral ,and not least, the arrival of Italian and Spanish inmigrants who brought with them their culture and customs, one of them being the mediterranean custom of wine drinking at meals ( not in text )
Apart from these considerations in the last two decades of XIX century, the national goverment had adopted protective measures against the introduction of foreign wines. From a legal point of view, the National Wine Law of 1904 established the enological practices, alcohol contents and considered as genuine wines, those obtained from the fermentation of fresh grapes.




 




The great market

The generation of inhabitants that lived in Argentina in the early XX century were the witnesses of one of the profoundest processes of change through which the country went through. Certainly, those people had to get used to the sound of new languages, new customs, music and other etceteras
In the last 20 years of the XIX century 1.000.000 people arrived of which 900.000 settled permanently, while in the first decades of the XX century a further 1.120.000 inmigrants arrived to stay. These people, in their mayority , men over 21, were the starting point of the demographic growth of our population.It's worth pointing out that: the proportion of inmigrants over the original population of 1914 was a 30% , whereas in the U.S. ( where 32,4 million people arrived bertween 1821 and 1932) never exceeded 15%
These inmigrants were concentrated geographically in the area of our Litoral as also in the urban centres, and this was where the population grew at a higher rate than in the rest of the country.
Obviously, this increase in the population had a direct effect on the demand for consumer goods.


 




In the defence of Viticulture : origins of A.V. A

This was published in a 1904 viticulture publication : ' A great problem has arisen, the clandestine sale of adulterated or artificial wines that don't pay taxes. The fraude in their elaboration signifies danger to public health and to the National Treasury, who loses the fees due to patents and taxes which are not paid and therefore not legally controlled.As a cosequence, from the industry itself, rises the necessity to conform an insitution in defence of viticulture '.
Although the railway shortened distances in so far as time was concerned, the problem of distance between the point of departure and the distribution of the wine continued to exist, and with it , the difficulty of being able to control the established practise that went back to colonial times: the adulteration of wines .In actual fact, the first move towards the legal control of viticultural production did not rise from the State, but from the private sector. On July 13 1904 a first meeting was held in Bueni¡os Aires to which 'powerful industrialists assisted. The result was the forming of ' The National Defense of Viticulture ', later called ' Centre of National Viticulture ' The strong industrialists' who attended represented the interests of great wineries such as : Domingo Tomba y Hnos., J.E.Copello y Cia., Tiburcio Benegas; Alejandro Suarez; C. Devoto y Cia.; Giol y Gargantini; B. Arizu t Luis Tirasso,Malgor y Herfst.
In this meering it was agreed to create a first comission whose objective was ' to present itself before the National and Provincial goverment to establish a ruling and to name a (Abogado Gerente) who would have juridical and administrative functions'.
The next step was to name comissions in Mendoza and San Juan whose members were:Domingo Tomba,Juan Giol,Melchor Villanueva, A Rafaelli, Pascual Toso and Sotero Arizu. for Mendoza and : Jaime Colome and Manuel Vacarezza for San Juan.
In November 1904 the National Representative for Mendoza, Julian Barraquero founded the ' Viticulture Centre of Mendoza' with the support of the provincial goverment.
Of the merge between this entity and the first, founded in Buenos Aires, emerged in March 1905 the 'National Viticulture Centre' presided over by Isaac M. Chavarria and with Francisco Yanello as vice president and Julian Barraquero as it's legal advisor.
The first measure of this new group was to act against wine adulteration , to influence viticulture legislation and to negotiate the railway freight tarifs with the authorities of the British owned Buenos Aires to the Pacific railways.
In general, these three inicial objectives were executed successfully also achieving that the State fix and pay the salaries of the special inspectors who began their task of control and fiscalization in Buenos Aires and the Litoral. In this last area ,a third comission was named with headquarters in the city of Rosario. Later on it would take part in the negotiations of the Commercial Treaty with Chile in 1908 so that it would include the protection of our viticulture. This same year the Institution's Official Bulletin began to appear.




 




Another context ; another institution

The year 1929 marked a mile-stone in the history of western economy. Capitalism suffered it's first big crisis following the fall of the Wall Street Stock Exchange. In the following decade the theory of the English economist John M Keynes, who spoke about the intervention of the State in the economy, where applied in Europe, the United States and Latin America. Among the measures adopted during the decade of 1930, the creation of a number of State or mixed organizations destined to administer the most impotant sectors of the economy were significant. These, which adopted different juridical formats, also represented the interests of the producers. In the case of Viticulture, the National Viticultural Industry Comission had the authority to control the manufacture, distribution and the fixing of prices. This was a time when the people of Mendoza had to watch with concern the pouring of wine
into the irrigation canals as a 'remedy' to hold the price of wine.
Following a previous Mendoza Viticulture Asociation in 1929, the Centre of Mendoza Winemakers was created. In 1935, Jose J. Toso, Alejandro Suarez, Cesar Giannini, Italo Calize, Andres Filipini and Sotero Arizu among others, were the founders of the new winegrowers association.
The Centre of Winemakers for years was the representative and the defender of the mother industry of Mendoza, declaring it's point of view during the traditional ' Live Forces Banquet' which took place during the yearly National Celebration of the Winegrower's Harvest Festival. On this occasion it's president explained the point of view of the Centre regarding issues of interest.
On various occasions The Centre of Winemakers presided the Latinamerican Organization of Wine and Grapes (OLAVU ) and was Private Advisor of the ALALC. It was also a member by virtue of office of all the congresses and seminars organized by the National Institute of Viticulture (INV), the International Office of Vines and Wines (OIV) and the National Institute of Technologial Agronomy (INTA).
During the 70's it was the first institution to pronounce the exhaustion of the viticultural economy based solely on home consumption and also that the decrease in consumption was mainly due to changes in habit.
In the 80's it questioned the regulation policies and State intervention that stood in the way of the industry's adaptation to the national and international reality of the moment.




 




Wine Cellars of Argentina contend with new times

In the 90's both the Centre of Wine Cellar Owners and the Argentine Viticulture Association realized the importance of joining forces.
Wine Cellars of Argentina, born of the merging of the previously named entities responds to ' a serenely meditated process that carefully evaluated the different possible alternatives. After two years of methodical work the decision of a merge was reached, giving birth to a new entity which would continue the work of its predecessors'.
The names of these two entities remain as witnesses of a moment in history that fills the makers of this noble industry with pride and which harvests the fruit of it's excellence in the international markets.


Lilia Barchetti
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