• The grapevine harvest festival has become one of the main detonators of wine tourism.

• Throughout the regions, the festivals change according to the harvest season.

The word "vendimia" (Spanish for harvesting), comes from the Latin vindemia, which in turn is derived from vinea (vine) and the verb demere (to remove, to pull out, to take or to extract); it means the action of taking or extracting the fruit of the vine.

Although every region of the world celebrates the harvest time in their own way, the festivity has its origins in the Greek cult of Dionysus (Bacchus in Roman mythology), god of agriculture, wine and debauchery. According to tradition, the worship of Bacchus was instituted by Theseus after killing the Minotaur, the festivity included parades in which the first wine of the year was consumed.

The oldest record of this celebration is from 1000 BC found in the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, in the Phoenician region. Nevertheless, the Greek were this fest's most enthusiastic promoters, by 900 BC winemakers would host parties for the harvest, and the Greek were the ones to spread grape growing and wine production along the Mediterranean taking their farming customs to the Italian Peninsula, Gaul and Hispania and the harvest festivals associated with them.

In Rome the harvesting started with the Vinalia festival, where the Flamen Dialis (priest) would offer Jupiter the first grapes of the season. These festivities would turn into authentic wild parties where attendees would wear small bunches of grapes on their heads. But not everything was excess in Rome; for the first Christians, hiding in the catacombs, the wine possessed a deep religious meaning.

Harvest time in the Guadalupe Valley

For winegrowers, harvesting is the culmination of a year of work, the moment to pick the grapes, a time of hard labor mixed with tradition and the colorful Mexican folklore.

Even though the harvest festival in the region where institutionalized in 1991 by the Winegrowers Association of Baja California, the background of grape growing and vine production in the area dates back to the XVIII century.

In its XXII edition, the grape harvest festival in Ensenada offers a wide variety of possibilities to get to know and enjoy this rich valley tradition, like treading the grapes, an ancient technique used by the Roman people to obtain the must (which would be the first stage of wine making); the treading of the grapes is a rite on itself and is carried out symbolically at the beginning of festivities since current technology has made this process more efficient.

There are guided tours through the vineyards and wine cellars during the harvesting time, some wine houses host concerts, gala dinners, gastronomic contests, country dining, exhibitions and, of course, tastings of their best wines.

Baja California's cuisine, a mixture of the sea and land's best products, finds the perfect pairing with the Valley's wines, turning this experience into an excellent wine and gastronomy tour.

The harvesting festival is the perfect excuse to visit and (re)discover the Guadalupe Valley, the place where most of the Mexican wine that is now at the table of the world's finest restaurants is produced.

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Original Text: Gabriela Vidauri, info@b1mas4.com http://b1mas4.com

Translation: Karen.balderas@sandiegored.com