Global Celebrations: Mallorca’s Grape Throwing Festival

Many of us have grown up bound to rules. Whether it be eating, dressing, dating, or speech etiquette, we organize our everyday lives around these social constructs. On certain days of the year, however, goody-too-shoes have an excuse to let loose and rebels to rejoice. On the island of Mallorca, off the east coast of Spain, today is one of those liberating exceptions!

Each year, during the last weekend of September, Mallorca draws major rule-breaking crowds excited to participate in a dodge ball of grapes. In Mallorca’s small town of Binissalem, The Grape Throwing Festival is a long-standing, high-energy wine-making tradition. Dating back to 121 BC, when Romans first introduced viticulture to the region, the festival was intended as a way to get rid of grapes gone bad.

The result: one of the biggest food fights in the world and the only one to use grapes as ammo! Aside from loading up slingshots with uva and firing at friends, family, and strangers, participants of this awesomely messy event enjoy street bands, parades, wine tasting, and wine stomping contests.

If you visit Spain during this time of the year, we seriously encourage abandoning your Cotillion education and tuning out your mother’s “Don’t you dare throw your food!” (or better yet, bring your mother!) Until the opportunity to join this fall festivity arises, however, we invite you to join us this weekend in our attempt to celebrate Mallorcan style with a Spanish wine and one of our elegant wine bags.

Click on the following for more info on TTC’s wine bags pictured above: http://thetravelerscollection.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=relevance&dir=desc&q=wine

Olé!