Cafayate () is a town located at the central zone of the Valles Calchaquíes in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

, Argentina. It sits

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

, at a distance of from Salta City and from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. It has about 12,000 inhabitants (). The town is an important tourist centre for exploring the Calchaquíes valleys, and because of the quality and originality of the wines produced in the area. The town was founded in 1840 by

Manuel Fernando de Aramburu Manuel Fernando de Aramburú y Frías (1770 – September 1843) was a Río de la Plata colonel who fought for the royalists during the Argentine War of Independence. Biography Fernando de Aramburú was born in San Carlos, in the Viceroyalty of th ...

, at the site of a mission. In 1863 the

Cafayate Department Cafayate is a department located in Salta Province, in northwestern Argentina. Situated in the south of the province and with an area of it borders the departments of San Carlos, La Viña, Guachipas and the provinces of Tucumán and Catamarca. ...

was created, of which Cafayate is the capital.

Etymology

The Cafayates were a tribe of the

Diaguita The Diaguita people are a group of South American indigenous people native to the Chilean Norte Chico and the Argentine Northwest. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in the Transverse Valleys which incised in a semi-arid environment. Ea ...

Calchaquí The Calchaquí or Kalchakí were a tribe of South American Indians of the Diaguita group, now extinct, who formerly occupied northern Argentina. Stone and other remains prove them to have reached a high degree of civilization. Under the leadership ...

group, which, together with the related Tolombón, inhabited the Valles Calchaquíes prior to the arrival of the

Spanish Conquistadores Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

. Their language was known as Cacán. Like other Diaguita tribes, they had recently fallen under the influence of the

Incas The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

, after a prolonged resistance. They later mounted a fierce resistance to the Spaniards. Even though most agree that the root of ''Cafayate'' is

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

, the meaning of the term is disputed. Some claim it to mean "Box of Water", others to be a deformation of ''Capac-Yac'' ("Great Lake") or '' Capac-Yaco'' ("Great Chief" or "Wealthy People"). Another Cacán version understands it as "Grave of Sorrows".

Wines

The wine production is most important in the Valles Calchaquíes. The wines produced in the region benefit from the low-humidity mild weather of the valleys that receive an average of less than 250 mm of precipitation per year. The most characteristic type of wine cultivated in the area is

torrontés Torrontés is a white grape variety, mostly produced and known in Argentine wine, producing fresh, aromatic wines with moderate acidity, smooth texture and mouthfeel as well as distinctive peach and apricot aromas on the nose.Robinson, Jancis '' ...

. Most wine-cellars around the town host free guided tours. File:Vineyards near mountains.jpg, View of a vineyard bordering on a mountain File:Cafayatemountains.jpg, Just 3 blocks from town File:ViñedoCafayate.jpg, A winery set between vineyards and mountains File:Cafayate vineyard.jpg, A view across the valley with vineyard in the foreground File:Argentine vineyard and mountains..jpg, Vineyard and mountains File:Bodega Michel Torino - Outside Cafayate - Argentina 02.jpg, View over winery rooftops

Valles Calchaquíes

Many of the most impressive sights in the Valley of the

Río las Conchas Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

(Quebrada de Cafayate) are along the paved, 183-kilometres-long National Route 68 that goes from

to Cafayate. National Route 40 goes for 165 kilometres from Cafayate to Cachi, another of the most visited points in the area (please note that this stretch of RN40 is not paved and should be avoided during the raining season). Other points of interest from Cafayate include Molinos, Tolombón and San Isidro ranch. The town of Cafayate is an attraction by itself, with its laid-back rhythm, colonial style, and wine cellars open to the public. File:Cafayate Amphitheatre.JPG, The natural Amphitheatre File:Tour to the Quebrada de las Conchas.jpg, People on a Tour File:Desert River, Salta, Argentina.jpg, Desert river File:Las Juntas-Cafayate.jpg, Las Juntas - Cafayate File:Llama closeup.jpg, Llama

References

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''

Etymology

Wines

Valles Calchaquíes

References

External links