The Calendar of Wine
From harvest festivals to global trade fairs — the essential events that define the world's most celebrated wine calendar
The wine world moves to its own calendar, marked not by the commercial seasons of retail but by the rhythms of agriculture and the traditions of culture. Harvest brings its own celebrations; the auction season its anticipation; the great trade fairs their exhausting abundance. For the serious wine enthusiast, knowing this calendar is the beginning of participation in wine's living culture.
Vinexpo, held in Bordeaux and now in its various global incarnations, is among the largest wine trade fairs on earth — an overwhelming, exhilarating concentration of the global wine trade in one place. ProWein in Düsseldorf attracts over 60,000 professionals annually. The London Wine Fair, Vinitaly in Verona, and Wine Vision in London each offer their own flavors of the trade's energy.
Consumer-facing festivals have proliferated wonderfully. In New Zealand, the annual Marlborough Wine & Food Festival celebrates the region's extraordinary Sauvignon Blanc heritage. The Barossa Vintage Festival in South Australia, held biannually, is among the world's most ebullient harvest celebrations. In Burgundy, the Hospices de Beaune auction in November — the world's oldest charity wine auction — marks the official beginning of the Burgundy vintage season and draws buyers from every continent.
The harvest itself, of course, is the year's great event — less choreographed than a festival, more elemental and consequential. Many estates welcome harvest volunteers, offering a uniquely direct participation in the cycle that produces the wines we love. Days in the vineyard, nights at the communal table, wine flowing freely: it is wine's most authentic celebration.
“The harvest is the year's great wine event — less choreographed than any festival, more elemental and consequential, and endlessly renewing.”