What are the top wine festivals in the world
There are many wine festivals around the world that are worth attending, but here are the top five:
La Paulée de Meursault – Burgundy, France
This festival is held every year in the small town of Meursault and is a celebration of Burgundy’s famous white wines. During the festival, attendees can taste a wide range of wines from the region, including some of the most famous and sought-after wines in the world. In addition to wine tastings, the festival also features live music, food, and other entertainment.
The name La Paulee is also a festival held in New York City every March. It’s currently on our list to visit!
Batalion de Vino – La Rioja, Spain
This festival is held every Summer in the small town of Haro–the heart of the Rioja region. All of the festivalgoers dress in white, stay up late the night before snacking on pintxos, drinking crianza and reserva tempranillo, singing and dancing. Then at 6 am, everyone heads into the forrest armed with wine inside various containers: Buckets, super soakers, water bottles etc.. and proceed to have a massive wine fight!
In the end, everyone is soaked in purple and is drunk, dancing and singing with strangers. We’ve been and only have one word of advice.. GO!
Natural Coast Wine Festival – Santa Barbara, California
An intimate yet vibe-loaded festival, started by Satelite Wine Bar in Santa Barbara (one of the best wine bars in the world). Most producers are local from the Santa Rita and Santa Ynez regions, but there are some top quality producers showcasing their wines from Santa Cruz and other California regions as well.
What caught our attention about Natural Coast is that in addition to the sheer talent and quality wines, the winemakers themselves are pouring their own wines and answering questions. This is a far cry from some larger festivals where things are more buttoned up and stuffy; this fest is anything but, with a live DJ dropping beats in a large parking lot–the anti wine festival, if you will!
The Stellenbosch Wine Festival – Stellenbosch, South Africa:
This annual festival is held in the town of Stellenbosch, which is located in the Western Cape region of South Africa. The festival features tastings of wines from more than 200 different wineries, as well as live music, food, and other entertainment. This is a great opportunity to taste some of the best wines that South Africa has to offer.
As an added plus, there’s also the Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Festival just a hundred miles south. We absolutely love this region and had an amazing time at this festival.
World of Pinot Noir – Santa Barbara, CA
There’s no secret–we’re Pinot nuts! We’ve been to nearly every wine region that serves up the delicious varietal, we collect them and we even farm the fruit and make our own.
Of all the areas in North America that grows Pinot (there’s a lot), it’s hard to find better made ones than in the Santa Rita Hills near Santa Barbara. In early March, all of the local Pinot Producers get together to show off their own juice as well as their cellar treasures. The exhibitors are not only locals, but Pinot producers from all over the state, country and even some from other continents.
We’ve been to this event several years and absolutely love it!
