The province of Mendoza is in the western tier of states in Argentina. Its most westerly part is made up of the highest portions of the Andes Mountains. Out of the foothills the land is a level or rolling plain. Parts of Mendoza might almost be called "Little Italy" on account of the vineyards and the people. Here one finds not Spanish or Portuguese, as in so many places in South America, but Italians. They were brought up in the vineyards of Italy, and they are employed to tend the vines of Mendoza. The land is usually held by rich Frenchmen, and the Italians are their workers in the fields. The land has to be irrigated from the streams that rise in the mountains. You can see here an Italian family resting at the noon hour. Beyond them stretch the long rows of well-kept vines trained on wires. Men, women, and children labor together in the fields. This mother has stretched a blanket over a rope to keep her baby out of the sun while she works. When the grapes are ripe, old and young, men and women, take their baskets and pick the fruit. The grapes are sent to winepresses where the juice is squeezed out. One of the big industries of Argentina is wine making. The grape crop of the country is valued at $10,000,000 a year. Most of the fruit and the wine are shipped to Buenos Aires (bw´ ns i´ rs) in special trains. Many of the wealthy owners of the Mendoza vineyards live in Buenos Aires during the southern winter; that is, during May, June, July, August, and September. But when the southern summer begins to come they go to Paris. Thus they have winter the year round, and live where social life is always busy. What other countries of the world are noted for grape growing and wine making? Keystone ID: 21818 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.