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An Unusual Wine Festival

By: Mark Bartley Click author's name for more of his/her articles

In Europe the majority of wine production takes place in either, France, Spain, Germany or Italy. In France wine is made is various regions including northern locations like the Loire valley, which produces Vouvray and Sancerre, where the annual wine festival is held in early June. Also in early June is the St. Emilion Wine Festival. Other regions produce the classy Burgundy and Bordeaux wines and along the south coast in the Languedoc there are hundreds of local producers offering cheaper alternatives. In France the wine growing season is usually quiet between spring and mid-June whereafter the hard work begins of encouraging the vines to ripen before the September harvests. That presents a perfect time to celebrate the previous year's vintage and get people interested and excited about the new harvest.

The hot SPanish summers mean the best wine production is focussed in the cooler North East and the North West, the location of the key Ribero de Duero. These regions are home of the classic Spanish RiojasThe famous Rioja wines come from the North East of Spain. In the second half of September, after the harvest, the annual Rioja Wine Festival is held in the town of Logrono.

Unusually, Madeira has its own unique wine industry. Sitting out in the Atlantic, far away from its motherland, this Portuguese island is world famous for its own particular style of fortified wines. They are made from four particular grapes that produce a range of dry wines that can be served as an aperitif or as a desert wine for the sweet varieties. The island celebrates its wine with an annual festival held in September in Camara de Lobos, a town just west of the capital Funchal. The main tasting opportunities in the festival of 2009 take place in the evenings between 3rd and 6th September in Funchal. There is also the opportunity for visitors to take part in the grape harvest on 5th September at Quinta da Pinheira in Camara de Lobos. For the tourist this is a unique wine festival as real participation is possible including the actual stamping of the grapes, followed by local food, drink and or course musical entertainment. Many regard the best Madeira wine to be the dark brown style made from the Malvasia grape. This produces a soft, fragrant wine that perfectly compliments the end of a meal. Those labeled vintage must be aged in casks for a minimum of twenty years and are therefore not cheap to produce. In fact the very best are aged for up to a hundred years and, even when opened, can remain fresh and drinkable for many months.

The island of Kefalonia is not one where you would normally exepct wine festivals to be part of the social calendar. These wines are not world beaters, but the small community of wine producers, located in one small part of the island, are keen to promote their wines which are slowly increasing in quality every year due to modern vinification techniques. The Rombola Wine Festival has thirty years of tradition behind it so far. That is not long in terms of wine making history, but the dry white wine produced by this part of Kefalonia, brings thousands of people to the festival every year.

For many years the island of Malta imported most of its wine from Italy, but in recent years the islands own wine industry has been slowly reinventing itself. The main wine producer Delicata, organises two wines festivals during early September. The first is in Nadur on the nearby island of Gozo, running for three days from 4th September in 2009 before moving to Malta's capital Valletta for four days from 6th September. The Upper Barrakka Gardens provide a picturesque setting for an outdoor event where visitors can take a meal while trying the range of wines produced by the company. Anyone can attend and spend an evening amongst wine enthusiasts while enjoying the amazing vistas of the city across the Grand Harbour. For visitors to Malta who miss the wine festivals, the wine producers organise visits to their wine cellars where tastings can also be taken. The price of entry to the festival is just the cost of a wine glass which is used to try the different wines and can be kept afterwards as a souvenir of the event. Wines on Malta are made from all the popular grape varieties, although some struggle to perform in the hot climate of this Mediterranean island. More authentic would be wines made from Malta's indigenous grape varieties. These are the Ghirghentina and Gennarua grapes which both produce full bodied white wines and the Gellewza grape which lends itself to fuller, fruity reds.

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About The Author: The island of Kefalonia has more to offer than just sun and sandy beaches. Travel writer Mark Bartley reviews the wine festival there and helps readers find flights to Kefalonia to experience the celebrations themselves. Look out for Mark's reviews of other festivals around Europe.