Top 10 Wine Festivals Worth the Trip in 2027

The Dürkheimer Wurstmarkt is the wine festival to travel for, despite a name that means sausage market. The city of Bad Dürkheim calls it the largest wine festival in the world, and it says wine has always played the dominant role. It is old: first documented in 1417 as the Michaelismarkt, it took its current name in the early 19th century. Today it draws over 600,000 visitors to the festival ground beside the Gradierbau and the Dürkheimer Riesenfass, a giant wine cask. The heart of it is the 36 Schubkarchstände, traditional wine stands named after the wheelbarrows winemakers once used to bring their casks to the fair. Together they pour 300 wines and sparkling wines, all award-winning and all from Dürkheim vineyards, and since 1992 a Weindorf of thirteen wine tents and four food tents has added more. The 2027 festival runs over two weekends, 10-14 and 17-20 September 2027, and the city has already published dates through 2030. Entry is free; you pay only for wine and food. It opens on the first Friday with a concert at 17:00 and a barrel tapping at 18:00 marked by three cannon shots, and there are fireworks on the first Tuesday and the last Monday. Stands open from 11:00 and pour until the last guest leaves. Take the train or tram: extra services run until 3 a.m.

Bordeaux Fête le Vin is the best festival for tasting the wines of a great region in one place, and 2027 should be its biggest edition yet. The festival began in 1998 and is run by the city's tourist office with the CIVB, the Bordeaux wine council. There was no 2026 edition: the CIVB chose to skip the year and put the budget into 2027. It returns to the quays along the Garonne from 7-11 July 2027, alongside the start of the Tall Ships Races, whose ships leave Bordeaux on 11 July for A Coruña in Spain and then Sines in Portugal. The ships dock along the quays and open their decks to the public, and organizers expect a million visitors for the combined event, far above the roughly 200,000 that past editions averaged. The tasting works on a pass system. At the last edition, 19-22 June 2025, a Pass 10+ cost 23€ at full price, or 17€ in pre-sale, and included a glass and holder, 10 tastings at the Appellation Pavilions, a tasting workshop at the École du Vin de Bordeaux pavilion and shop discounts. A Pass 4 cost 14€. Winegrowers and négociants represent the 80 appellations of Bordeaux and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, so you can taste across the whole region. The 2027 prices are not yet published, and the festival is ISO 20121 certified for sustainable events.

The Hospices de Beaune wine auction is the most famous charity wine sale in the world, by its own description, and the centerpiece of a great Burgundy weekend. The Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin and Guigone de Salins, and its estate now owns 60 hectares of vines in top Burgundy appellations. The wines have been sold at auction since 1859, traditionally on the third Sunday of November, and the sale is part of Les Trois Glorieuses, a three-day Burgundy food and wine festival. Christie's ran the auction from 2005 to 2020, and Sotheby's has run it since 2021. The numbers are serious. The 165th sale, on 16 Nov 2025, reached a hammer total of €18.75 million, or €20.2 million with commissions, the third highest total in its history, and the average price per barrel rose 4.6%. Two barrels of Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, Cuvée Dames de Flandres, sold for €400,000 each, and Maison Albert Bichot was the top buyer with 85.5 lots for €4,516,500. Each year one 228-litre barrel is sold for charity. Anyone can bid in the saleroom, by written order, by phone or online through Sotheby's, but the wines are sold in barrel and must be raised and bottled by a Burgundy négociant-éleveur. Most visitors come for the atmosphere and the tastings; the public can taste 10 reserve cuvées under the Hôtel-Dieu.

The Batalla del Vino in Haro is the most unforgettable wine event on this list, because the wine is mostly thrown, not drunk. It takes place every 29 June, the feast of San Pedro, at the Riscos de Bilibio, around 6 km outside Haro in La Rioja. It grew out of centuries of pilgrimage to the place of prayer of the town's patron, San Felices de Bilibio, and was first mentioned in the La Rioja newspaper in 1949. The town's tourism office lists it as a festival of national tourist interest. The day starts early. In 2026 a drum band played at 6:45 am, the pilgrimage to the chapel left at 7:15 am and mass was said at 8:00 am, before a rocket started the battle. Then participants throw wine non-stop, and every weapon is allowed, from botas, the traditional wine skins, to sulfatadoras, the crop sprayers used in the vineyards. The scale is remarkable: over 6,000 people took part in 2026, using more than 30,000 litres of red wine, up from an estimated 20,000 liters in 2007. Everyone wears white clothes with a red scarf, and they do not stay white. Afterwards, the crowd heads back for the San Pedro lunch at 2:00 pm and a parade to the bullring, where young bulls are run. Wear old white clothes and grippy closed shoes, and bring a change of clothes for the trip back.

The Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia in Mendoza is Argentina's great grape harvest celebration and one of the best harvest festivals anywhere; National Geographic ranked it number two among the world's top 10 harvest festivals. The first official festival was held in 1936, the 2026 edition marked the 90th anniversary under the theme 90 Harvests from the Same Vine, and 2027 is the 91st edition. The program unfolds over a week. The Bendición de los Frutos, the blessing of the harvest, is on Saturday 27 February 2027, the Fiesta de la Cosecha on Wednesday 4 March, the Vía Blanca de las Reinas on Friday 5 March, and the Acto Central with the Carrusel on Saturday 6 March 2027, with a second night on Sunday 7 March. The parades are the highlight: queens from across the province ride floats in the night Vía Blanca and the morning Carrusel, handing out grapes, fruit and souvenirs, and the Vía Blanca is known to draw over 200,000 spectators. The Acto Central is a huge show at the Frank Romero Day Greek Theatre, a natural amphitheatre in Parque General San Martín, ending with the live election and crowning of the National Queen. Visit Argentina describes the show as music, theatre and dance telling the story of the harvest. Ticket prices for the Acto Central were not published in the sources we found.

The Merano WineFestival is the best pure tasting event here, and a must for serious wine lovers. It bills itself as Europe's wine salon, held since 1992 in the Kurhaus in Merano, South Tyrol, with masterclasses at the Hotel Terme Merano. The scale is impressive: 700+ exhibitors, 10,000+ visitors, 1,500+ trade operators and 300+ press. Categories run from organic, biodynamic and amphora wines to no and low alcohol. The 35th edition ran 6-10 November 2026 in three parts: bio&dynamica on Friday 6 Nov, the main Festival from Saturday to Monday, 7-9 Nov, and Catwalk Champagne &more on Tuesday 10 Nov. The festival hours were 10:00-18:00 on Saturday and Sunday and 10:00-17:00 on Monday, and the opening featured a five-chef gala dinner and a summit at the Puccini Theater. Tickets are priced for enthusiasts. In 2026 a Friday ticket cost 74,00 €, Saturday 144,00 € and Sunday or Monday 134,00 €, a First Class Friday ticket with priority access, glass and cloakroom was 94,00 €, and passes were 184,00 € for two days and 284,00 € for three. Saturday is the most expensive day and Friday the cheapest. The 2027 dates were not yet published when we checked, but the festival is held in early November, so a late-autumn trip to the Alps is the plan.

The Food & Wine Classic in Aspen is the luxury pick, run by Food & Wine magazine since 1983; 2026 was the 43rd Classic. The 2027 edition runs June 18-20, 2027, with the Grand Tasting Pavilion in Wagner Park in the heart of Aspen. The pavilion holds 200+ curated offerings from food, wine and spirits producers, and close to 150 producers poured in 2026. Seminars and cooking demonstrations run in hotels and tents in Aspen's parks, with over 70 to choose from, and a pass gives you a seat at each of the five seminar session periods. The 2027 talent already includes Bobby Flay, Nancy Silverton, Tyler Florence, Maneet Chauhan, Tiffany Derry, Gregory Gourdet and Stephanie Izard. It is by far the most expensive event on this list: the 2026 Consumer Pass cost $2,950 and the Trade Pass for hospitality workers $2,250, and passes are listed as sold out with a waitlist. Pass types include Consumer, Trade, Gives and Peak. There is also a big travel catch for 2027. The Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE) is closed from April 4 to November 19, 2027 for its modernization project, so you will need to fly into another airport and drive in. Exhibitor applications for 2027 open in January 2027. If budget is no object, few wine weekends feel as polished.

The Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre is the best free wine party in a major city. It celebrates the harvest of the Clos Montmartre, a small vineyard replanted in 1933 at the corner of rue des Saules and rue Saint-Vincent to stop a building project; abbey nuns planted the first vines on the hill in the 12th century. The festival began in 1934, under the patronage of the stars Mistinguett and Fernandel, and draws about 400,000 people, making it the third-largest event in Paris after Paris-Plage and Nuit Blanche, according to the organizers. It is held every second weekend of October, and since 2008 it has spread to every neighborhood of the 18th arrondissement. The 93rd edition ran 7-11 October 2026 with a music theme, and the 2027 dates were not yet published. The highlights include the Parcours du Goût, a food and wine trail around Sacré-Cœur that ran 10:00-23:00 on 9-10 Oct and 10:00-19:00 on 11 Oct in 2026; the Ban des Vendanges, a Saturday ceremony in the vines to mark the start of the harvest; a grand parade, which drew 200,000 people along the route in 2010; and guided tours of the Clos Montmartre with historian Jean-Manuel Gabert, which need booking. The Clos Montmartre wine itself is sold to fund the arrondissement's social programs. Come for Paris in autumn, not for serious tasting.

The Charleston Wine + Food Festival is the best food and wine festival in the American South. It was founded in 2005, runs as a non-profit, and the 2027 festival, its 21st, runs from Wednesday, March 3 to Sunday, March 7, 2027. Tickets went on sale on November 6, 2026, and popular events sell out. The program spreads across the city and beyond, from the peninsula to North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Kiawah and Sullivan's Island, with in-restaurant brunches, lunches and dinners, cooking classes, beverage workshops and walkabout events. The big gathering is the Culinary Village, open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with a large sampling experience at Johnson Hagood Stadium. Prices vary by event; for example, A Taste of the Lowcountry on Thursday, March 4, 2027 costs $240.35 including fees, food and drinks. The festival reports 477,568 lifetime attendees, an economic impact of $232.7M, and $551,808 raised for local scholarships and causes. Its programs fund culinary education, workforce readiness and emergency relief for food and beverage workers. Wine shares the billing with food here, which is why it ranks below the wine-first festivals above. But if you want great Southern cooking with good wine in a beautiful city in early spring, Charleston is the trip.

The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is the longest event on this list and the best way to see a whole city through its food and wine. It began in 1993 with 12 events, is run by the not-for-profit Food and Wine Victoria, and drew 225,840 attendees in 2019. The 2027 festival runs from Friday 5 to Sunday 21 March, 17 days compared with 10 days in 2026, according to the festival's official dates; some third-party listings give later dates, so check the official site. The 2026 edition, 20-29 March, ran over 200 events, 26 of them in regional Victoria. Its signature event is the World's Longest Lunch, which in 2026 was Greek-themed and stretched 600 metres through Kings Domain on Friday 20 March. Many events are free, such as the 2026 Festival of Korean Fried Chicken, Something Saucy: The Pizza Party, The Spicy Side of Collins Street and Baker's Dozen at Fed Square. Ticketed events are priced in AUD including GST, with a booking fee of up to $7.30 per booking, and tickets are non-refundable. Alcohol is limited to adults over 18 with photo ID. Wine is one part of a much broader food program, so it ranks last here for wine lovers, but for a long stay in Melbourne in March it adds a great deal.