Madeira Island has many parties and special events throughout the year, some cultural and others even religious, such as the New Year, Flower Festival, Carnival, among others. Do you want to know more about this? So, are you coming to know more about the Madeira Wine Festival?

But there is a specific event that is also quite considerable in the list of events, being the Madeira Wine Festival, from the name we can draw an obvious conclusion in relation to wine, but there is a lot to learn and do.

What’s Madeira Wine Festival?

The Wine Festival is one of the main tourist attractions in Madeira

Which pays tribute to the precious culture and theundeniablesocio-economic importance of wine on the Island.

At the time of the harvest, which takes place in August and September, this event seeks to extol the old habits of the Madeiran population, which is associated with the age-old precepts of viticultural work.

The festivities of this event have usually been held since the 70s, starting in Funchal, and include the European Folklore Week, decorations, exhibitions, and live paintings alluding to wine and its works, and various shows of light and traditional music.

When will it happen?

This event, as mentioned before, takes place between the months of August and September, but specifically between the third week of August and ends in the second week of September, the dates vary more or less, but it is almost always on these dates, so the festivities have duration of 2 to 3 weeks.

Street Animation

On Avenida Arriaga, in addition to the usual performance of the Folklore Groups, there is always a very diverse musical program that includes various types of music such a jazz, traditional, philharmonic, among others.

The Madeira Wine lounge

The Madeira Wine Lounge in Praça do Povo is where a more modern and contemporary environment associated with the consumption of Madeira Wines from the oldest to the newest is recreated, where you can taste the flavors of the Region and the wines of each producer county.

Also in this space you can enjoy diverse musical entertainment.

Concerts in the vineyards

They put on a set of musical concerts that take place in different places in the region, in a more wine-growing environment, in a sunset atmosphere, which take place in the late afternoons, when the aromas intensify.

It includes live musical performance and tastings of fortified and still wines, produced on site. Tickets for these concerts are usually paid and are subject to prior reservation depending on the concert.

Madeira Wine Rally

Another important event that sometimes takes place before or in the middle of the Madeira Wine Festival is the Madeira Wine Rally itself. This event that allows the entry of any competitor, whether national, regional or international, is a great show for both locals and tourists who like to see this type of competition.

Fun facts about Madeira Wine

Obviously if we are talking about a wine festival, finally we leave some curiosities about the famous Madeira Wine that may interest you:

• It became a source of local economy by chance because in the 15th century, just a few years after discovering the island, Portugal wanted to supply drinks to ships going to the indies and little by little it became popular for its unique flavor;
• Vines are grown in the mountains of the island, because despite the fact that Madeira has a very steep slope on its land, this did not stop the portuguese colonists from planting grapes to make their wine;
• Has different levels of sweetness, from dry to sweet and each category represents a different grape species;
• The taste of the wine itself is sweet but it has a high alcohol content because this wine is fortified, that is, it takes wine alcohol to prevent fermentation;