Fiesta de San Mateo

Held around the third weekend of September in Logroño, the capital of Spain's Rioja wine region, the Fiesta de San Mateo celebrates the grape harvest with a mix of solemn tradition and joyful chaos. The festival begins with a formal ceremony in which children carry grapes from local vineyards to be pressed by men in traditional dress inside large wooden tubs — an act meant to honour the year's harvest and appease the region's patron saint.

Once the ceremonial pressing is complete, the festival's tone shifts considerably: much of the town descends into what has become known as one of Spain's messiest celebrations, with residents and visitors throwing wine at one another in the streets. Around the Paseo del Espolón, the main festivities continue with music, dancing and, naturally, extensive wine tasting from Rioja's producers, one of the most internationally recognised wine regions in the world.

For visitors interested in Rioja wine specifically, San Mateo offers a rare combination — a genuine harvest ritual with centuries of tradition behind it, immediately followed by one of the more irreverent and playful wine festivals anywhere in Spain.