Haro's Wine War

For grape gourmets, it might seem a terrible waste of wine, but each year several villages in Rioja spend an entire day soaking each other in the stuff. One of the truly great events of the Spanish summer, the Wine War (Batallo de Vino) is the modern-day remnant of ancient feuds between the wine town of Haro and its Riojan neighbours. A wine-fight of epic and historic proportions.

The festival begins with what must be one of the most bizarre religious processions anywhere: the congregation – as many as five thousand people, mostly dressed in white – comes armed not with Bibles, crucifixes and rosary beads but with an ingenious array of wine-weapons, ranging from buckets, water pistols and bota bags (wine-skin bottles) to agricultural spraying equipment.

The battle is thick and fast, with warring factions drenching each other with medium-bodied Rioja. In theory, the townsfolk of Haro are battling it out with those neighbouring Miranda de Ebro, but in the good-humoured but frantic battle that rages, there are no obvious sides, and no winners or losers. Instead, the object is perfectly straightforward: to squirt, hose, blast or throw some 25,000 litres of what is presumably not vintage vino tinto over as many people as possible.

You won’t be spared as a spectator, so you may as well join in. At the very least, come armed with a water pistol, though be warned that the locals have perfected the art of the portable water cannon, and can practically blast you off your feet from five metres. But what a way to go.