Wine Battle in Spain Jun 25, 2009

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On the June 29th of every year, on Saint Pedro’s day in the city of Haro, Spain, located 100 km from Bilbao, there is a wine battle conducted – Batalla del Vino. The festival is not very long, it only lasts a few hours. Nonetheless, these few hours of pure pleasure attract the attention of a lot of tourists and locals alike. Haro is located in the Rioja province, which is famous for its wines. The city is also well known in Spain due to the delicious tapas appetizers. According to the legend of the wine battle it all began with an argument among the Haro people and the people of a neighboring town called Miranda De Ebro. The argument is presumed to have been over the Montes Obarenes mountains, writes Festival Pig.

The first historical records of the Batalla del Vino date back to 1906. At 9AM, on Saint Pedro’s Day, thousands of people go out in the streets with plastic cans, bottles, wine bags, water guns (filled with wine, of course), or any other customized wine vessels. The head of the municipality rides a horse in front of the procession all the way up to the top of the hill, where a V Century city chapel stands, and lifts up the flag. The flag marks the beginning of the battle. People start sprinkling, pouring, throwing, and shooting wine at each other until everyone is completely soaked. Then everybody runs to the city’s central square to dance some traditional dances in pink, wine soaked clothes. After that there is a bull fight which marks the end of the festival until next year.