Valencia Trader

Requena Wine Harvest Festival 2009

Requena celebrates La Feria y fiesta de la Vendimia, it's annual wine harvest festival from 19-30 August 2009.

The Wine Harvest Festival stems from the old festivities in which the beginning of the autumn and the time of the grape harvest were celebrated. This festival promotes the excellent wines of the land.  This became the first wine harvest festival in Spain, declared a Festival of Tourist Interest in 1964.

Fiesta de la Vendimia - the harvest festival of wine celebrates the principal agricultural produce of the region- grapes and wine- and is one of the oldest festivals in Spain. The market is dedicated to the Patron Saint of the city- the Virgin of Sorrow and is held at the Avenida del Arrabal and features stalls and other such attractions.

A highlight of the event is the popular “Noche de la Zurra” in which the people go round the streets asking for water, which is then thrown at them from buckets and hoses. Other important events include the “Noche de los Racimos”, the offering of fruits and flowers to the Patron Saint of the city, the wine market (FEREVIN), and the Harvest procession. The latter goes from the town hall to the harvest monument where the treading of the grapes and blessing of the first unfermented grape juice take place. Visitors and locals can then drink from the ‘wine fountains’, wood and cardboard monuments, until they are burned on the final day of the festival.  

For programme information, go to:-fiesta vendimia requena