Spain Trip - Part 2 - Wine Fight

La Batalla del Vino


If you ever find yourself in Spain at the end of June I suggest a trip up to Haro. Every June 29th there is the great Batalla del Vino (Battle of wine) during the Haro Wine Festival. Picture 1000's of people throwing 1000's of litres of wine at each other, all for a tradition many don't actually remember!

There is a tradition of pilgrimages up to the Crags BiLibyan (fight location) on June 29th that goes back hundreds of years. There are many stories about when and why it all started, but mainly it revolved around a mass, a feast for the town and celebrating the day of San Pedro. The first mention of throwing wine is around the 1900's as the newspaper mentioned it being the reason there was low female attendance. See here for more details.  https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalla_del_vino

The festivities actually start the day before in the town center. We were doing our wine tours this day and just squeezed a tasting in at Muga. They were closing early that day so all the staff can participate in the festivities. That night the whole town comes out to party and drink. All generations socializing in the streets creating Haro's biggest night of the year. Most revelers will make it to the wee hours and may catch a few hours of rest. Some parties will go all night with people drinking right up to the 7am start time.

That's right at 7am the procession of people, cars, trucks, and tractors with trailerts make the 5km trek out of town and climbs the hill to the chapel of The Crags BiLibyan. Those without a mode of transport can take buses the town provides for free to within a kilometer of the site. This was pretty cool because I was expecting old school buses not nice new charter buses that just had everything covered in plastic.


We were in what would have been considered the second wave, as we chose to skip the Catholic Mass. I also chose to forget my Gopro in the car as we rushed to catch the bus that ...um runs every 5 minutes.

Wearing the customary white shirt with red bandanna, and equipped with mini water guns and a Camelback (full of wine) we headed up the hill. We could hear lot's of loud festive music with hundreds of people singing along in almost every key. Some people were already coming down by this point and were quick to point out the whiteness off our shirts; ...as they would eagerly unload their last few drops of ammunition. It is also at this point you notice the small river running down the ditches of pure wine and well maybe the odd flip-flop.

The fight is pure fun! There is no aggression or violence; just thousands of people gleefully wasting a small towns yearly consumption of wine in a few hours. There is technically two sides to the battle yet everyone is dressed the same and once it starts all chaos ensues. Our tiny guns were no match to the trailers with 250+ gallon containers filled with wine and armed with hoses. There were people with forestry fire backpacks hand pumping wine, and guys hiding in the bush throwing pitchers of wine on everyone that walked by. It also seems if you are a pretty girl in a tight shirt you got 10x more drenched. I was not one of them.

It was an absolute blast and I can't wait to go do it all again. After the battle wears down the locals head back to one of the 3-4 parking lots where about every second vehicle has their own small fire going with homemade sausages cooking and good wine flowing. With our wine rations depleted and a cool morning breeze blowing through us, we made the trek back to the bus rendezvous. With a minor change of clothes and towels in the trunk to protect our rental car we headed back to our B&B in Bastida. We did our best not to stain the bathroom ....or entire room pink.

We didn't know much about it going into it this year, but when I go do this again; I'm bringing friends and booking well in advance so we can get accommodation right in Haro. This way we can experience the fullest extent of the 2 day party and all the wine festivities in the heart of the madness.

So who's up for a wine fight?