FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY, NOVEMBER 4, 2013 – An integral part of the long and illustrious tradition of wine and winegrowers in Burgundy, the Saint Vincent Tournante Festival will be held in the village of Saint-Aubin on January 25 and 26, 2014. With banners and flags galore along with much marching and imbibing, the festival is one of the key events of the Burgundian winter.
Saint-Vincent (patron saint of Burgundy wine) celebrations can be trace back to the Middle Ages with deep roots to the church. Started in 1938 by the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin in an attempt to revitalize traditional Burgundian celebrations and folklore, the Saint-Vincent Tournante festival takes place on the last weekend of January, each year in a different viticultural village or town. Each wine village holds their own celebration on January 22, culminating in the Saint-Vincent Tournante. Garbed in regal red robes, the members of the fraternities throughout Burgundy unite during the festival to engage in a quasi-religious ceremony, along with members of the community to pray for a good year ahead. The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (Brotherhood of the Wine Tasting Cup) is an association of 80 mutual aid fraternities set up to help winegrowers obtain assistance from neighboring wine-makers in times of need.
Following the service, each village is allocated its own tasting area where several local producers’ wines can be sampled. Tasting kits are sold in several locations and include a specially designed tasting “flute” and tasting tokens. With over 30,000 visitors in 2013 and a myriad of marching bands, the Saint-Vincent Tournante is one of the most important wine festivals in all of France and offers the best of Burgundy in a celebratory atmosphere.
PRESS CONTACTS
Veronique Beigenger
+33 (0)3 80 280 298
v.beigenger@crt-bourgogne.fr
