Best Wine Destinations for Harvest Season September and October mean one thing across large parts of Spain, Portugal and France: harvest. Grapes come off the vine, towns fill with the smell of fermenting must, and centuries-old traditions play out in village squares. Here are four wine regions worth visiting while it’s actually happening.
 

While Rioja gets most of the international attention, Priorat is the wine region Spaniards actually rave about. Dramatic slate-terraced vineyards climb steep hillsides above the village of Siurana, which sits perched on a cliff edge that looks more fortress than farmland. September brings the verema, the grape harvest, with some producers still treading grapes the traditional way underfoot. It sits around 90 minutes from Barcelona or Tarragona, an easy add-on to a Catalonia trip rather than a destination in its own right.

Rioja earns its reputation the old-fashioned way, through centuries of winemaking and some of Spain’s most recognisable reds. Logroño, the regional capital, hosts the Fiestas de San Mateo each September (20 to 26 September in 2026), when the first grapes of the season are trodden underfoot in the main square and offered to the Virgen de Valvanera. Outside festival week, the wine routes through towns like Haro and Elciego are worth the drive on their own, with bodegas offering tastings year-round.

The Douro’s terraced vineyards, cascading down to the river in tight, sun-baked rows, are some of the oldest wine terraces on earth and the birthplace of Port. Harvest here runs through September, when traditional rabelo boats still drift the river and the quintas (wine estates) open for tastings right on the terraces. The scenic train from Porto to Pinhão, tracing the river the whole way, is one of the more memorable ways to arrive anywhere in Europe.

Alsace does harvest with a fairytale backdrop. Half-timbered villages like Colmar and Riquewihr sit along a 170km wine route through hills covered in vines, hitting peak Riesling and Gewürztraminer harvest through September. It’s an easy region to explore by car or bike over a long weekend, and the villages themselves are as much the draw as the wine.

Harvest season is short, usually just a few weeks depending on the region and the year, so if any of these are on the list, it’s worth checking current dates before booking rather than after.