Five French wine festivals

What better way to experience the cuisine, tradition and culture of French wine-making than via one of the numerous annual festivals held to celebrate the? Here is a taste of just some of these energetic community festivities:

• Saint Vincent Tournante January

St Vincent, the patron saint of Burgundian wine-makers, is fêted inside a different village in Burgundy each January. A procession works its way with the streets before all the attendees make their way from cellar to cellar, tasting their offerings. It is stated that St Vincent’s donkey grazed around the grape vines as he travelled with the area, and the next year, the vines were extraordinarily fertile.

• Le Marathon du Médoc September

Possibly the world’s slowest marathon, this is a 42-km meander through 59 wine chateaux, each and every of which the runners stop for any drink and a snack - not of sports drink and bars, but wine and cheese. Regardless of the seeming madness of this event, some 9000+ runners register each year to take part. The registration form even advises participants to ignore speed (they are allowed 6.5 hours to complete), and discourages the ‘sad, unfriendly or stressed out’ from partaking.

• Fête des Vendanges October

In the middle of the Roussillon wine region, the grape harvest is well known by locals and visitors with music, food not to mention wine. Even the kids can participate in the fun, with plenty of opportunities to allow them to experience the traditional method of wine-making as they stomp on the grapes.

• La Bastide d’Armagnac Festival October

The picturesque mediaeval capital of scotland- La Bastide d’Armagnac holds a festival at the end of October to celebrate the harvest of Armagnac eau de vie, that is a lighter version of Cognac.

• Beaujolais Nouveau Festival November

The Beaujolais area established fact for its light and fruity dark wine - a mere 6 weeks old, it's forbidden by law to drink it prior to the third Thursday in November, so wine cellars and bars across the nation are stocked with bottles, prepared to uncork at midnight on the third Thursday of November. The largest festivities take place is Beajeu in Beaujolais, having a party starting at 5pm around the Wednesday and continues for 3 days.

Vivienne Egan writes for SmoothRed who provide wine tours throughout Europe.