Haro Wine Battle

The Wine Battle is Haro's best-known festival and is declared a Festival of National Tourist Interest. It takes place every 29 June, St Peter's Day, at the Riscos de Bilibio, crags about 6 km north of the town, beside the Conchas de Haro, where the hermitage of San Felices stands. It grew out of centuries of pilgrimage to the place where the city's patron saint, San Felices de Bilibio, the teacher of San Millán, prayed, and today it is a whole morning of wine, music and brass bands.

What it is like

In the early hours the pilgrimage sets out from Plaza de la Paz, on foot, by car or by bus. After mass at the hermitage, early in the morning, the battle begins: thousands of people dressed in white with a red neckerchief soak each other in red wine. Anything that carries liquid goes: wineskins, non-glass bottles, buckets, water pistols and even the sprayers used in the vineyard. The aim, as the Town Council itself says, is to leave the person next to you "more purple than the Pendón de Haro", and nobody escapes, not even friends.

The brass bands play while there is still wine. When you see people sitting down eating snails or vine-shoot-grilled lamb chops, the battle has ended and lunch has begun. At midday the festival goes down to Haro and continues in Plaza de la Paz. Children have their own children's wine battle.

The festivities around it

The Battle is the centre of the festivities of San Juan, San Felices and San Pedro. They begin on the night of 23 June with the San Juan bonfires and the "Amanecer del Chocolate" at first light; the opening rocket is fired at twelve noon from the Town Hall balconies, and the town crier goes round the town on horseback. 25 June is the patron saint's day, San Felices, with a procession in which the brotherhood, founded in 1655, brings out the reliquaries with the relics of the saint and of San Millán.

How to go and what to bring

Go in white, with a red neckerchief, and with clothes and footwear you can throw away afterwards: you will walk, jump and dance on earth and stone. Goggles protect your eyes from the wine and a waterproof bag, your phone. Have a good breakfast, because the morning is long and starts very early, and drink water as well as wine; at the end of June there is hardly any shade on the crags.

On those days Haro fills up. If you come from elsewhere and want to sleep here, book accommodation months ahead; you can also sleep in Logroño, Santo Domingo de la Calzada or the Rioja Alavesa and come by road. The exact times of the pilgrimage, the mass and the buses change every year: check them in the Town Council's official festival programme and at the tourist office on Plaza de la Paz (941 303 580).

Outside those dates, the crags and the hermitage can be visited at leisure all year round, with one of the best views of the Conchas gorge and the Haro vineyards.