History of the Haro Wine Festival

History of the Haro Wine Festival

The Haro Wine Festival is one of the most major wine festivals in Spain and was pronounced a festival of touristic and national interest in 1965.

Introduction



Plaza Major, Haro

The Haro Wine festival is celebrated yearly in La Rioja region of northern Spain. The famous town from where the festival originated is called Haro and it is know for its high quality Rioja Vino and his yearly battle of wine (La Batalla de Vino) celebration which takes place every year on the 29^th of June, Saint Peter’s Day (El dia de San Pedro). It is one of the most major wine festivals in Spain and it was declared a festival of touristic and national interest in 1965. From 2004, a different type of special wine battle festival was started for young Children.

History of the Haro Wine festival

It dates back to the 12^th century to a land dispute between the people of Haro and the neighboring village, Miranda del Ebro. King Ferdinand the  Third of Castille would finally solve the issue in 1237 via an executive letter which would later served the Judge Sancho Martinez de Leiva as a legal basis for establishing the legal boundaries between the two neighboring cities. The Judge Sancho also instructed that Haro’s town officials mark their properties lines with the town’s purple banners every year on San Pedro’s Day as well as the first Sunday of each September. If they failed to complete the task, the land would then belong to Miranda del Ebro. To ensure the completion of the task, a procession to the Bilibio cliffs was organized on every 29^th June. The battle seemed to have occurred around 1710 for the first time. Based on the records after attending the mass and worshipping San Pedro the patron saint, a celebration broke out in which people started throwing wine at each other; and this is how the famous tradition started and would later gain a huge popularity in the decade of 1945-1955. During that time the tradition was named “war of Wine” which would eventually be changed to the battle of the wine in 1965.

The Haro wine festival nowadays



Haro Wine Festival

These days, the Haro Town attracts many tourists for the festival, its famous quality of Tapas and the fact they are the major vine producer in the area who joined the locals to start the festivities under way a week before the battle itself. On the day itself, a parade of Horsemen leads everyone the 7km up to the Hermitage of San Felices de Bilibio, where a flag is ceremonially placed and a mass celebrated and then the battle can start.  Many wear white at the beginning of the fight and everyone holds containers such as jugs, bottles, buckets, water pistols or hose pipes until the whole crowd turn pink. It is recommended to not wear your best clothes as you will be everyone’s target. It will go on until midday around noon, then everybody go back to the city. In the Plaza de la Paz the celebration continues where people eat, dance, and compete each other and drinking. Then in the evening the Haro wine festival bullfights will take place in the town’s bullring. But the bulls used are female heifers known as “vaquillas”, smaller than the male ones and less dangerous.

You can reach Haro by driving or by bus which will take around 4-6 hours depending on the traffic. Or you can take a plane from Madrid to Bilbao, and then from there you can take a cab or drive it will take 2 hours in minimum. The last option would be to take the trains which are connected to the town, such as Logrono and Victoria.

Spain has quite a few wildly exuberant festivals, where people end up getting covered in everything from tomatoes to mud. Amongst all these, though, the Haro Batalla del Vino still stands out as being totally crazy, unadulterated, fabulous fun.