Poboleda revived yesterday Saturday, with the Festa del Vi i la Verema a l'Antiga, how it was harvested and vinified in ancient times in Priorat. It is a celebration that “solemnizes the harvest as it was done in the past, on a day that honors the town's wine tradition by recreating the old-fashioned harvest.” The festival, organized by the City Council, reached its twenty-third edition and managed to attract up to 1,500 visitors to this small town in Priorat of just over 380 registered inhabitants, 300 more than a year ago, which made it difficult to park. There was no shortage of manual harvesting, transportation of grapes with carts powered by animal traction, plowing with mules or treading of grapes (with feet). The Poboleda City Council states that with this popular festival they want to “make known the work, the effort, the dedication and, above all, the love that lies behind each bottle of wine.”
The celebration seeks to publicize the traditional techniques and utensils, as well as the animals that were used in the harvest and in the production of wine. A fair of artisan products is also held and you can taste and buy wines that are made in the Qualified DO Priorat. With gastronomic proposals of food trucks, workshops or musical concerts next to the church of Sant Pere, up to 27 Priorat wineries were arranged at the entrances of the ancestral houses on Calle Major.
The organization has valued the participation of so many wineries in the middle of the harvest season as “a great success.” To thank them for “the loyalty and effort to attend during such busy times”, this year the City Council offered a sustainable and Km0 meal to the winemakers prepared by Liana Espai de Territori, from Arbolí (Baix Camp). The Councilor for Festivals, Sports and Entities, Carles Àngel Serrano, states that the objective of the Festa del Vi i la Verema a l'Antiga is “to bring visitors closer to how the grape harvest was done by our ancestors, and to highlight "the effort and sacrifice they made so that the Priorat has the current recognition." The winemaker Salvador Burgos, who promoted the recovery of this celebration 25 years ago and who was a pioneer of organic farming in Priorat, acknowledged yesterday that "we never imagined, far from it, that the festival would become so big." But he fears that he may die of success, and insists that “she must be pampered.”
