The estate's historic tree
The Aguaribay
The oldest living being at Verde Oliva.
Species
Aguaribay (Schinus molle)
Age
More than 300 years
Location
Beside the Abrasa Viva space
Recognition
Historic and Notable Tree of the Province of Mendoza · Government of Mendoza, April 2011
Older than the grove
The aguaribay has grown on this land for more than 300 years. It predates even the olive trees Don Ángel Cavagnaro planted in 1890. Today it stands beside the fire, a witness to the estate's history and a gathering place for those who share the table beneath its shade.
The poem
Before, there was the desert. Those with the audacity and the shame to cut down the old aguaribay will count more than one hundred and fifty rings across the vast section of its trunk and, for an instant, they will feel the desert's secret message: the scent of jarilla mingled with carob. The nearly imperceptible lashes of snakes and lizards. The nocturnal, stealthy tread of the armadillo. They will hear the deep sound of distant galloping; raiding parties coming from the south or hunters fleeing some terror. And they will regret having killed one of the last witnesses.
Simón Moreno, Julia's father, "La casa de Don Angel", August 1994, fifteen years before the fire
2009
The night of August 14, 2009
During a night of Zonda wind, sparks from the neighbouring palm trees reached the trunk. The aguaribay burned from within for 19 hours, from 7:30 pm until 2:30 pm the following day.
The experts recommended cutting it down. Julia decided to try to save it.
"It was a great volcano, revealing through the windows that opened in the bark (like wounds in the skin) the glow of red embers that stood out, from end to end, in the darkness of that windy night."
Julia Moreno, letter to the Government of Mendoza, 2010
The repair
A specialist painstakingly filled the hollow trunk with 700 ladrillones (large bricks), sawdust and mud. The work required 3 m³ of earth and three days.
The regrowth
A year after the fire, the aguaribay sprouted again. In April 2011, the Government of Mendoza officially recognised it as a Historic and Notable Tree of the Province.
Today
Today Martín Vallesi lights the Abrasa Viva fire at its feet. The same element that nearly ended its story now brings guests together beneath its shade.
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