The wine industry is the nuclear activity of the province of Mendoza and olive growing has accompanied it almost since its inception. Both are part of the group of Argentine regional economies; in this context, the aim of this paper is to analyze the processes of change in each one, until 1990, and confront the circumstances that mobilized producers and the provincial government to developed both in parallel or different paths, where the crisis will play a key role. At the same time, specify the conditions that led them to become very representative agricultural activities of the territory of Mendoza.