In 2000, the Fondo Vitivinícola Mendoza (an institution responsible for the promotion of Argentine wine) planted 3 hectares of the emblematic Malbec in the entrance to the Mendoza International Airport. This vineyard is a postcard of the local productive landscape and every year it becomes the scene of Fiesta de la Cosecha, an event that revisits the tradition of celebrating the birth of new wine. A spectacular stage is mounted over the lines of vines and the vineyard becomes the scene and protagonist of the Fiesta. Then, during the event, public figures of Mendoza harvest those clusters that will later become an unique wine.
On the stage, an impressive orchestra and prestigious national and international artists bring a magnificent open-air concert to life. The spirit of Fiesta de la Cosecha is to democratize wine and its culture and to offer a highly artistic and organizational quality show to a massive and heterogeneous audience. This concept is also expressed in the musical design that seeks to harmonize “sophisticated” music with others of popular and folkloric roots. The result is a fusion between the philharmonic orchestras – such as the Filarmónica de Mendoza, the Sinfónica de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and the Filarmónica del Teatro Colón – and well-instructed and experienced musicians that deliver symphonic versions of their works. Similarly, Fiesta de la Cosecha encourages the exchange between local artists with renown international artists and thus favors mutual enrichment.
The admission to Fiesta de la Cosecha is free, in exchange for non-perishable food that is donated to institutions that work towards the improvement of deprived children’s quality of life. In 2019, 6.2 tons of donations were collected.
Fiesta de la Cosecha grows steadily year by year. In recent editions the attendance has exceeded 15,000 people and has become the celebration that starts the schedule of all the great harvest festivities in Mendoza. The event includes a «Patio Malbec» with live music early in the afternoon. There, foodtrucks and winery booths receive the attendees. This event multiplies its reach through streaming on its social networks, growing interest it generates in local and national media and the transmission through the Televisión Pública Argentina, that reaches the entire country.