Festival Focus: La Saint-Vincent Tournante de Bourgogne to be Held in Vézelay

Burgundy’s favourite itinerant wine festival, La Saint-Vincent Tournante de Bourgogne, is fast approaching. An integral part of the history of Burgundy wine, the festival takes place every year on the Sunday closest to January 22, when St Vincent is honoured as the patron saint of vine growers and wine makers. As we’ve previously reported, “the festival draws from a long-held tradition which harks back to medieval times, when the occasion was marked to foster the mutual collaboration and brotherhood of Burgundy’s vine growers.” True to the word tournante (“rotating”) in its name, the festivities are held in a different community each year.

This January, it’s pulling up stakes in Vézelay for the very first time in its 75-year history. It will kick off as tradition dictates with a procession of the region’s 100 wine guilds and a sacred mass at the UNESCO-listed Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay.

The two-day vinous bonanza will hit full tilt with a packed schedule of tours of – and copious tastings at – the village’s ten cellars. Revellers will even get to sample Vézelay’s new appellation. Food stalls lining the village’s warren of cobbled streets and local eateries will ensure visitors stay nourished (and keep their wits about them) between each quaffing spree.

The festival takes place from January 26–27, 2019. For more information visit www.vézelay2019.fr

From France Today magazine