Autumn in Europe is synonymous with harvest festivals and gastronomy, and the occasions span the continent.
Choose a country and there will be some sort of food or wine festival from September to November, many of which date back many years.
While there are no restrictions on the harvests that are harvested at this time of year, there are some harvests that deserve special attention.
Truffles, grown in Italy, Spain, France and Croatia, are one of the most sumptuous tactics for fall eating. You will find small white truffle occasions in Istria, Croatia and black truffle occasions in France and Spain, but none compare. on a scale to that of Alba in Italy.
The Alba White Truffle Festival is a world-famous celebration that lasts two months, from October to December of the year. Starting with a donkey race and featuring tastings, wine pairings and cooking demonstrations, this one is on the bucket list.
Olives are usually harvested in October and November in southern Europe, where the climate is warmer and they ripen faster. In France, this is done more between November and January.
Visit any olive grower in town and you’re sure to find a place that will help you select and press the olives, then flavor the new oil. Tapenades, good-looking olive-based products and, of course, the olives themselves are also demonstrated at such events, accompanied by parades, concerts and other entertainment.
Many cities celebrate the season with general food festivals, such as Vienna’s Erntedankfest, which delights in seasonal foods returning to the markets, adding mountain cheeses, pumpkin recipes, and fancy fermented juices.
In northern Europe, seafood is on the autumn food circuit, with herring festivals in Finland, oyster festivals in England and Ireland, and shrimp festivals in France.
And for more unique events, the following specialty festivals attract and celebrate thousands of visitors each year: onions in Weimar, Germany; rice in Arles, France; sausages in Budapest, Hungary; chocolate in Perugia, Italy; all things seafood in O Grove, Spain; black food in Tallinn, Estonia; coffee in Amsterdam, Netherlands; peppers in Espelette, France; apples in Dobele, Latvia; saffron in Toledo, Spain; and honey in Corsica, to name a few.
Another wonderful way to harvest near you is to locate a harvest farm near you.
These farms are outdoors in big cities, where other people like to escape to the countryside for the day and bring home bags of apples, pumpkins, and whatever else they might have had in the past.
Many farms specialize in a few crops, but larger ones may offer dozens at other times of the year.
From mid-summer to late autumn, depending on the region and the weather of the season, the harvest takes place throughout the continent.
Perhaps the most famous beer festival in the world is Germany’s unprecedented beer festival, Oktoberfest (which takes place in September, not October). For an entire month, the country is all about breweries and tents popping up in each and every city. , serving not only wonderful beers but also delicious local snacks to enjoy it all. If you don’t wear the classic dress to those events, you may not look like you belong.
But don’t forget Germany for the wine either. You might be surprised at how many wineries this country has, and because they’re less touristy, it’s less expensive to stop at them than the more popular French or Italian alternatives.
The Rhine Valley is full of vineyards and the town of Boppard is a highlight at this time of year, with concerts and fireworks to mark the grape harvest festival.
Underrated for its wine culture, Portugal has its Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest wine regions in the world, cultivated since 1756.
In September and October, volunteers are invited to help select and tread the grapes destined for the country’s famous port.
In Spain, La Rioja hosts a festival that begins on September 21 and has been celebrated for more than 900 years. For a week, locals and tourists alike trample the grapes to the rhythm of live bands, bullfights and fireworks. .
Made in the Spanish region of Andalusia, Jerez de Jerez is celebrated in September for 3 weeks with flamenco, parades, exhibitions, concerts, bullfights and, of course, tapas and sherry.
France is the country best known for its wine festivals, which is not unexpected given the vast territory in which it has to grow its famous grapes. Among the dozens of celebrations that take place among the thousands of wineries that this winemaking powerhouse has to offer, some stand out. .
Saint-Émilion, a World Heritage Site, is one of the most popular places for grape harvesting, just under an hour’s drive from the wine mecca of Bordeaux. The vines here were originally planted by the Romans, but it was the priests who made them successful.
Every September, Heritage Night is celebrated when members of the Jurade, the winegrowers’ guild, dressed in red and white capes, parade through the village and climb the church tower to proclaim the date of this year’s harvest.
In the Marne Valley, where Champagne is famous, the medieval town of Chateau-Thierry offers a wonderful introduction to the sparkling wine-making process with workshops, vineyard walks and tastings at more than 30 local wineries with food pairings. In fact, World Champagne Day is celebrated on the fourth Friday in October, a perfect time to be in the region.
Even Paris has a grape harvest festival, held every October in Montmartre, where there is still a small winery in the center of the city today.
Italian wine culture does not wish for any advent either. The Festa dell’Uva in Impruneta, a city in the center of the ‘Chianti Classico’ region dating back to 1926, is one of the most attended wine events. The parades of floats, dancers and exhibitions are accompanied by wines and local specialties.
A community. Many voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.
Our network aims to connect others through open and thoughtful conversations. We need our readers to share their perspectives and exchange ideas and facts in one space.
To do this, please comply with the posting regulations in our site’s terms of use. Below we summarize some of those key regulations. In short, civilized.
Your message will be rejected if we notice that it appears to contain:
User accounts will be blocked if we become aware that users are participating in:
So how can you be a user?
Thank you for reading our Community Standards. Read the full list of publication regulations discovered in our site’s terms of use.