Fête des Vendanges d'Ammerschwihr

The Fête des Vendanges d'Ammerschwihr: celebrating new wine in the heart of the vineyard

Each autumn, as the vines of the Kaefferkopf turn golden, the wine-making town of Ammerschwihr celebrates its grape harvest in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Organized by the Association Culturelle et Festive d'Ammerschwihr (ACFA), this festival perpetuates the age-old tradition of the grape pickers' meal, a moment of sharing where winemakers and villagers come together to celebrate the harvest.

Harvesting the communal vineyard

The festival begins in the late afternoon with a procession leaving from the place de l'Hôtel de Ville. Winemakers, elected officials, and villagers head together to the communal vineyard to pick the last bunches of the season. The grapes are then brought back to the square to be pressed in front of the spectators, in a demonstration that recalls the ancestral gestures of winemaking. This symbolic moment marks the transition from vine to wine and connects the community to its terroir.

The grape picker's meal under a marquee

After the harvest, the festivities continue under a large marquee erected in the center of the village. The traditional grape picker's meal is served: cold cuts, bread, nuts (guests are invited to bring their nutcrackers!), tarte flambées (Flammekuchen), and desserts accompany the tasting of the new wine, the first, lightly fermented grape juice that heralds the upcoming vintage. The atmosphere is musical, with entertainment and concerts that extend the evening until 10 p.m.

Ammerschwihr, town of the three blackbirds and the Kaefferkopf

Ammerschwihr, nicknamed the "city of the three blackbirds", is one of the jewels of the Alsace Wine Route. Inhabited since Roman times and mentioned as early as 869 as *Amalrici Villare*, the commune boasts remarkable heritage: the Tour des Bourgeois (1535), the Tour des Fripons (1535), the Renaissance town hall (1552), and its church bear witness to its golden age in the 16th century. Destroyed by 85% during the fighting in the Colmar pocket in 1944-1945, the town has risen from its ashes like a phoenix.

The Grand Cru Kaefferkopf: Alsace's first recognized vineyard site

The Ammerschwihr wine region is dominated by the Grand Cru Kaefferkopf, whose name means "beetle's head" in the Alsatian dialect. In 1932, the Colmar court legally recognized Kaefferkopf as Alsace's first protected vineyard site, forty years before the advent of the AOC Alsace Grand Cru. Officially classified as Grand Cru in 2007, Kaefferkopf covers 71 hectares of hillsides and produces wines of remarkable complexity, dominated by Gewurztraminer and Riesling. The Fête des Vendanges is the ideal opportunity to meet the winemakers and discover this exceptional terroir.