Pezinok Grape Harvest Festival

The festival

What is Pezinok Grape Harvest Festival

Pezinok is the best-known wine centre of the Small Carpathians, the band of vineyards climbing the slopes of the range between Bratislava and Trnava. At the end of September, when the harvest is at its peak, the town holds the vinobranie, the grape harvest festival, which occupies the historic centre for three days and is one of the region’s best-known celebrations, alongside those in Modra and Rača in Bratislava.

Harvest festivals have been part of Pezinok’s tradition for centuries, and as a town festival they appear on posters and in films since the 1930s. The vinobranie is organised by the town hall and brings together winemakers, associations, schools and groups from the town and from its partner town, Neusiedl am See in Austria.

The star of the festival is burčiak, fermenting grape must, slightly fizzy, sweet and cloudy, available only for a few weeks each year. Alongside it, new wine and wines from local producers are sold, as well as grapes and festival foods. The programme is divided between two stages, one on Radničné námestie, the town-hall square, and another in front of the castle in Pezinok Castle Park, with bands, folklore groups, historical fencing and evening concerts.

The most solemn moment is the procession through the town, which departs from the castle park, follows M. R. Štefánik street and reaches the town-hall square, where the Catholic and Protestant priests bless the harvest. There are also carousels on Kupeckého street and craftsmen on Kollárova street.

For visitors to Bratislava in September, Pezinok’s vinobranie is a good way to discover the wine culture of the Small Carpathians: the festival takes place half an hour from the capital, amid vineyards, and showcases a tradition the town keeps alive year-round in cellars and taverns.