Next Saturday, the Plaza Mayor in Valencia de Don Juan, headquarters of the Regulatory Council, will host a Harvest Festival organized by the León Designation of Origin in collaboration with the Coyantino City Council to celebrate the end of the grape harvest, which once again promises a good vintage for its wines due to the health and extraordinary quality of the fruit.

It is a day of conviviality, with a nostalgic look at the wine-growing past, but also from the perspective of the present and the future prospects of a key sector for the region and for the south of the province in general. The scheduled activities, preceded by the cutting of bunches in the vineyard of winegrower Francis Giganto, will begin at noon with the presentation of the festive program and a children’s grape stomping and tasting of the first must collected from the press. At the same time, there will be a demonstration of how to assemble a barrel by the master cooper from the company Tonelería Burgos (Nava del Rey-Valladolid), founded in 1941 and now run by a member of the third generation of the family and two young people from the fourth generation.

A popular tasting of pancetta sandwiches to lift spirits will precede the presentation of the Envero-2025 Award for professional achievement. The morning session will close with a very special activity in which four young winemakers from wineries affiliated with the León Designation of Origin will taste their own wines while giving a very personal account of the technical process of winemaking.

A musical performance will set the mood for the traditional harvest lunch: potatoes with meat,
accompanied by bread, cheese, and grapes, which will be served while supplies last.

The afternoon activity will begin at 7:30 p.m. with a tasting and pairing of generic Albarín and Prieto Picudo wines from the León Designation of Origin with different creations from Chocolates Santocildes. At the same time, the second children’s activity of the day will take place, in this case a workshop on painting with red wine on paper. And finally, a tasting of Prieto Picudo chorizo will precede the musical session by DJ JM Quicksilver, which will mark the end of the festival.