This Friday we’ll be offering some discounted wines for you all to enjoy for St Vincent’s Day. But who was St Vincent? St Vincent is the Patron Saint of Winemakers and his feast day is celebrated every year on 22nd January.
His full title is St Vincent of Saragossa and he originated from Huesca in Somontano, Spain, but he has been adopted by winemakers throughout the world and especially in France. Legend has it that St Vincent was wandering through the vineyards with his donkey when he stopped to talk to some of the workers. His donkey started to eat the vines and the workers noted that the following harvest the grapes were of better quality where the vines had been nibbled and thus the art of pruning was born and St Vincent took the credit.
In winemaking regions throughout France his feast is celebrated by winemakers and merchants alike and especially in Burgundy where a village is chosen each year to host the festivities. The cellars of the village are open to visitors who have paid for a tasting glass and they wander around to taste at various places. This is then followed by a feast in an enormous tent that holds 600 people seated, and the menu is definitely Burgundian, with honoured wines featuring for the feast. There’s also singing between courses with a choir from the Chevaliers de Tastevin called the Cadets de Bourgogne, leading everybody in the Bon Bourguignon, a little number with actions that repeats throughout the meal, with each offering becoming more coarser and louder! I wonder why!!
This year the celebrations were to be held in Puligny Montrachet but alas they have been cancelled because of the Coronavirus epidemic. They’ll return next year so we wish the Burgundians all the best for a truly wonderful feast, but in the meantime, why not host your own St Vincent’s day feast at home?