These traditions are now lost, but it is curious to see the _bodegueros_ still endeavouring to meet the taste of the creole population of the north-west, which has retained the preference for sweet and fruity wines. San Juan, which caters to these customers, manufactures _mistelas_--fresh boiled must with an addition of alcohol--which are mixed with mature wines in order the imitate the imperfect fermentation of earlier days. Perhaps there is no part of the world where the art of wine-making has been pushed so far as in the _bodegas_ of Mendoza. The correction of the must, and the analysis and treatment of diseased wines, follow the most modern of methods. The _bodegas_ produce a very steady wine, which is guaranteed by their trade marks. The wine of the Mendoza type, which they endeavour to produce, is a strong red wine, of heavy colour, with twelve or thirteen per cent. of alcohol. It may euphemistically be called a blended wine, but is in reality diluted wine. Argentina does not produce very light wines, and has no use for diluted wine. The number of wine-making cellars in 1913 was 997 at Mendoza and 336 at San Juan. But they differ very much from each other in size. Most of them have only a small equipment and modest capital. Some, on the other hand, are large enterprizes which could produce enough to supply a city: vast constructions of brick or _adobe_, with light roofs as a precaution against earthquakes. The owners of the cellars almost always have their own vineyards, but they also buy the harvests of cultivators who have not cellars. In 1908 it was calculated that 140,000 tons of grapes were sent to the press by the owners and 175,000 tons bought by the _bodegueros_.[40] [40] More recent statistics are not to hand. The proportion differs a little every year according to the prices of wine and grapes. The conflicts of the interests of the _vinateros_ and the _bodegueros_ are the very woof of life at Mendoza. The price of grapes is infinitely more variable than that of wine, and the _vinatero_ who has no cellar is at the mercy of the _bodeguero_. If he does not want to see his harvest go to waste, he has to accept unconditionally the price that is offered him. The _bodeguero_ has, moreover, the advantage of disposing of the grapes grown on his own estates. If the circumstances do not encourage him to produce all he can, he sends to the press merely his own harvest and will not buy any other. Thus the whole burden of commercial crises falls upon the vineyard with no cellar.