There’s no lack of a good fiesta in South America… The Carnival continent certainly knows how to throw a party and the harvest season is no exception. There are several harvest festivals (known locally as the Vendimia) worth visiting. Here is my round up of the top wine festivals in South America:
Wine Festivals in Chile
Fiesta de la Vendimia de Santa Cruz: 2, 3 & 4 March
In the heart of Colchagua’s wine country, Santa Cruz hosts the biggest regional wine festival, with three days of wine tasting, live music and food stands in the main square, Plaza de Armas. Wines on offer are always from Colchagua valley but come from a wide range of different sizes and styles of producers.
Festival Folclórico de la Vendimia de Molina: 9 & 10 March
Known more for its music than wine, this harvest festival combines Chilean folk with the local wines of Maule. The wine festival weekend has an almost battle-of-the-bands feel as the winning folk band or act takes home a healthy sum of prize money to the tune of $3 million pesos.
Fiesta de la Vendimia Casablanca: last weekend of March
In the small town of Casablanca, the population explodes for this weekend of wine tasting and traditional music as a dozen of the local wineries pour their cool climate varieties to cool off the attendees. The sparkling section is always a hit; get there early to avoid disappointment.
Fiesta de la Vendimia de Curicó: 22, 23, 24 & 25 March
One of the longer wine festivals in Chile, Curicó’s harvest festival lasts four days and takes place in the main square where wine tasting, grape stomping, Chilean napkin-waving and folkloric dancing all make several appearances. This is also the spot to find wines you won’t always see on the market, as Rodrigo Pica from La Mesa Coja explains “I love Curico’s vendimia festival because you find wines that you never find in the shops in Santiago. This is a really authentic harvest festival with an excellent combination of typical products from the region, a great family festival and with top artistic performances.”
Wine Festivals in Argentina
Vendimia Festival in Chubut: Third week of March
Touting itself as the southernmost wine festival in South America, Chubut’s harvest festival takes place in March in one of the local vineyards where the small handful of wine-producing families take turns to host the wine festival and share their wines with a local crowd.
Rio Negro wine festival: mid-March
In the city of Villa Regina in Rio Negro, the wine festival sees wine tasting, the election of the local harvest queen and a night of music and dance as thousands of spectators gather in the local amphitheatre. In the run up to the final night, there are a couple days of festivities with wine tasting from over a dozen of the local wineries and outdoor food stands.
Animaná Vendimia, Salta: 8-11 February
This small wine festival in the village of Animaná punches above its weight and puts the folklore to the fore with four days of musical performances from local folk bands and an evening market with local artisan crafts, food stands and wine tasting. On the Saturday afternoon there’s a carnival-style celebration where everyone gets messy throwing flour and paint at each other and wearing crowns of basil (which is known for warding off the mosquitos). There’s also a parade of floats and the election of the harvest queen.
Fiesta de Vendimia Mendoza: 3-5 March
This is the biggest wine festival in South America, attracting up to 700,000 revellers from all over the world. Although Mendoza’s harvest festival is a big production today, it started with humble roots as a celebration in the vineyards before the first official festival was held in 1936. Gone though, are the days when the prettiest girl working in the grape field was picked as the harvest queen. Today the Reina de Vendimia is usually a city girl with celebrity ambitions. The election of the harvest queen is a big deal in Mendoza and the drama underpins the entire celebration as the weeks leading up to the big finale see over a dozen regional festivals where each local town queen is elected, before going onto the big Mendoza province finale.
By the time you get to the final weekend most locals have already been battled more than one hangover as February sees wine festivals every weekend. The first weekend of March is where it all comes together as everyone crowds into the city to see the big parades, endure the mammoth wine tastings and watch the final show of dance, theatre and song. The Harvest Queen election is broadcast on national TV and the confetti lingers in the air for days afterwards.
The following weekend, Mendoza also holds the ‘alternative’ harvest party – the ‘Vendimia para Todos’ which is hosted by the lesbian, gay and trans community. The party is far more glamorous than the traditional one and it is a case of handbags at dawn when the Queen and King of the lesbian, gay and trans community is finally elected in the wee hours of the morning.
Mendoza’s Vendimia festival is without a doubt the biggest on the continent, and ranks among the largest in the world.
Wine Festivals in Peru
Festival Internacional de la Vendimia de Ica: March
Peru has been celebrating its harvests for over a thousand years since pre-Incan times, and as the first wine country in South America – cultivating grapes since the 1940s – it has a lot to celebrate. There are a couple of wine festivals in Peru throughout the year but the biggest is the annual harvest festival in Ica, held the second week of March (with the second Friday as the culmination of the festival).
The local towns elect their own harvest queens, who battle it out to become the national harvest queen while live grape stomping, music and celebration all carry on in the background. What makes Peru’s harvest festival unique though is what you are drinking: Pisco, Mistela (fortified grape must) and Chachina (partly-fermented grape must, similar to Pipeño or Vino Patero).
Wine Festivals in Bolivia
Chapaca Wine Festival: Mid-March
If wine-drinking at altitude is your thing, head up to the Valle de la Concepción for the highest altitude wine festival in the world. Taking place at more than 1,800 meters above sea level, if the altitude doesn’t make you light-headed, the Singani (Bolivia’s equivalent of Pisco) certainly will. Celebrating with wine tasting, Singani tasting and folklore, the festival is Bolivia’s biggest harvest festival and a colourful one to witness.
Wine Festivals in Uruguay
Las Piedras Wine Festival: Mid March
Each different wine region in Uruguay holds its own smaller wine harvest festivals, but Canelones – where the majority of Uruguay’s wine production comes from – is the biggest. Spanning a week in mid-march, the region of Las Piedras is the nuclei of all the harvest festival activity with parades, food trucks, wine tasting and a concert taking place throughout the week. The last night is the hot ticket as crowds gather to watch the harvest queens take to the dance floor to win the crown.
Wine Festivals in Brazil
Uruguay may have the longest carnival in the world, but Brazil can lay claim to the longest wine harvest festival. Taking advantage of the busy wine tourism trade, the Festa en Bento takes place in Bento Gonçalvez in the heart of Vale dos Vinhedos where two months of wine tastings and winery activities take place on a weekly basis. The highlight of the festival is the second week in February when a marathon through the vineyards (with Vino Stops to quench the runners’ thirst) takes place, followed by a party with dancing, food and more vinho!
