Page 209 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

Ar gen T in A region b y region  207

cuyo and the

wine country

Known as the wine cellar of Argentina, Cuyo is noted for a landscape
dominated by plains covered with acres of lush vineyards. To the
west of the province are the towering Andes, which give way to the
fertile wine-producing valleys. Heading east, the landscape changes
drama tically to one of sand dunes and rocky desert formations
shaped by the region’s dry and dusty Zonda wind.

The original inhabitants of the Cuyo contributes 70 percent of Argentina’s
region were the Huarpe people, colonized wine production, and the world-class
by Chile’s Captain-General Garcia de Malbec is the region’s specialty. Cuyo’s
Mendoza in the late 1500s. Although wines in turn are driving its tourism
Cuyo was administra tively under Chile sector, which also offers a wide array of
and was a flourishing region, it was outdoor activities that attract locals and
iso lated from Santiago de Chile by the visitors from around the world. These
snows of the Andes for months on end. range from mountain-climbing and
This encouraged a self-sufficiency that white -water rafting in summer to skiing
survived even after the area became part at Las Leñas in winter. The region’s cities
of indepen dent Argentina. have good museums, sprawling parks,
The region is a vital energy storehouse and verdant plazas, as well as quality
as most of the country’s petro leum and res tau rants and acco mmo dation options.
natural gas reserves are found here. Its Growing areas of interest, however,
main economic activity, however, is lie in the fossil-rich deserts and dramatic
agricul ture, most notably viti culture. canyon country of Ischigualasto and
Melt water from the snowcapped Andean Las Quijadas, both emblematic of
peaks flows into canals that irrigate the Argentina’s impressive achieve ments
region’s many vineyards. Mendoza alone in paleontology.

Rows of wooden wine barrels in the cellar of Zapata Agrelo winery, Luján de Cuyo
The magnificent El Hongo balancing rocks at Parque Provincial Ischigualasto, San Juan

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