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Food and drink · Maribor
Every early autumn, Maribor publicly harvests the grapes of the Stara trta, the more-than-400-year-old vine that grows on the facade of a house in the Lent neighborhood, concluding days of celebrations with Styrian wines and dishes by the Drava River.
In the photo: Maribor
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Harvest of the Old Vine of Maribor — Maribor
On a Sunday in late September or early October, when the grapes are ripe, after a few days of wine festivities in the Lent neighborhood.
September/October
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
The Stara trta, the old vine, grows on the facade of a 16th-century house in the Lent neighborhood beside the Drava River in Maribor. It is over 400 years old and is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest vine in the world that still produces grapes. It survived wars against the Ottomans, city fires, the phylloxera plague and the bombings of World War II.
The vine’s annual cycle is marked by public ceremonies, from pruning in spring to harvesting in autumn, and the most important is the grape harvest. The ceremony has been held every year since the late 1980s, following Styrian customs, and gathers residents, guests and the region’s wine queens in front of the Old Vine House.
On harvest day, the mayor of Maribor, who holds the title of guardian of the vine, tastes the first grapes and, when he deems them ripe, authorizes the start of the harvest. The clusters are handpicked, destemmed and crushed in front of the public, and the must is taken to the Meranovo estate on the slopes of Pohorje, where it is turned into wine. Small bottles of that wine are given by the city as gifts to distinguished visitors.
In the days beforehand, the Lent neighborhood hosts the Old Vine festival, with wine and Styrian food stalls, concerts and cultural programming, and the wine celebrations continue around the city until St. Martin’s Day on November 11, when the new wine is tasted.
It’s worth the trip to experience Styrian wine tradition at its best-known symbol by the Drava and to enjoy harvest season in the hills around Maribor.
The harvest ceremony in front of the Old Vine House, with the mayor tasting the first grapes. The picking and crushing of grapes in public. Wine and Styrian food stalls in Lent on the preceding days. A visit to the Old Vine House, which includes the wine museum.
Arrive early in Lent on harvest day to stay close to the vine’s house, where space is narrow between the facade and the river. The festival in the preceding days is quieter during daytime and busier at night. Maribor’s train station is about one kilometer from the center; everything in the center is walkable. Take the opportunity to follow the wine roads through the hills surrounding the city.
Wines from the Maribor region and local specialties at the stalls and gastronomic activities of the festival, according to each edition’s program.
Check with Maribor tourism for the harvest date, which depends on grape ripeness, and for the festival program. Book accommodation in Maribor; during harvest weeks, properties in the wine hills also host visitors.
In the city
September/October
June/July/August/SeptemberDuring the summer, from June or July until the beginning of September.
Created in 1953, the Ljubljana Festival fills the capital’s summer with opera, ballet, symphony concerts, theater and folk music, in the Križanke courtyard, the former monastery remodeled by Jože Plečnik, and at Kongresni trg square.
SeptemberOn the third Sunday of September.
On the third Sunday of September, Bohinj celebrates the return of the shepherds and their cattle from the high mountain pastures: the cows descend, decorated with flowers, to the meadow at Ukanc on the western tip of Lake Bohinj, in a festival with music, dancing and regional food.
SeptemberOn a weekend in early to mid-September, usually Friday through Sunday, with the big parade on Sunday.
Every September, Kamnik’s old town, at the foot of the Kamnik–Savinja Alps, hosts Slovenia’s largest ethnological festival, featuring parades of traditional costumes from all regions, music, dance and handicrafts.
Your questions
On a Sunday in late September or early October, when the grapes are ripe. The date is announced by Maribor tourism.
It is over 400 years old and is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest vine in the world that still bears grapes.
The must is taken to the Meranovo estate, where it becomes wine, bottled in small bottles that the city gives as gifts.
Festivals and events in Slovenia
OctoberOn a weekend in the second half of October, with the main races on Sunday.
On an autumn Sunday, the streets of Ljubljana host Slovenia’s largest running event, featuring a marathon, a half marathon and a 10 km race, finishing at Kongresni trg and following a course that passes through the historic center.
February/MarchOn the days before Lent, in February or March depending on the date of Easter, ending on Shrove Tuesday. The duration varies according to the program.
Slovenia’s largest carnival takes over Ptuj’s old town: the kurenti, figures dressed in sheepskins with horned or feathered masks and large bells at the waist, parade alongside other traditional regional characters to drive away winter.
February/MarchOn the Sunday and Tuesday of Carnival, which fall between early February and early March according to the Easter calendar; the laufarji begin to appear in the streets on the preceding Sundays.
In Cerkno, in the hills of western Slovenia, the laufarji—figures wearing carved wooden masks—parade through town at Carnival and stage the trial and execution of the Pust, the moss-covered figure who carries the year’s misfortunes.
MarchIn March, from Thursday to Sunday, at the event that closes the Ski Jumping World Cup season.
Every March, the Planica valley, near Kranjska Gora, hosts the final stage of the Ski Jumping World Cup, held on the Gorišek Brothers’ flying hill, one of the largest in the world.
AprilOn a weekend in April, usually after Easter and before the May 1 public holiday.
For a weekend in April, the old town of Radovljica, near Bled, turns into a large chocolate showcase, with producers from across the country, tastings, workshops and demonstrations at Linhartov trg square and the town manor.
May/JuneFor about two weeks, from late May to early June, during the flowering season of Bohinj’s meadows.
In late spring, Bohinj, in the heart of Triglav National Park, devotes two weeks to the flowers of the Julian Alps, with guided botanical walks, exhibitions, workshops, and restaurant menus featuring wild plants from the valley.