What's On in Burgundy 2012?

St. Vincent Celebrations 2012

January 28-29 - dijon, Beaune, Nuits-st-Georges

Every year on the last weekend of January, the winegrowers in Burgundy celebrate and give thanks to their patron, Saint Vincent. Legends abound as to the origins.
It is said that one day St Vincent stopped at a vineyard to chat to one of the wine growers. His donkey started nibbling the young shoots on the vine with the result that the following year, the crop was far more productive. The Saint’s donkey had invented pruning!

Maybe it is just that the time of the celebration corresponds climatically to the transition between the hibernation of the vine and the beginning of the new growth or ’Vincent’, a derivation of ’vin sang’ or blood of the vine. However you like to interpret it, this is a celebration which has been going on since Medieval times.

There are ‘confréries’ or associations of vignerons in each wine village but the grandest of all is the Confrérie des Chavaliers du Tastevin founded in 1938. On the Saturday morning, dressed in their scarlet robes and full regalia carrying banners, the members process through the streets leading the statue of their saint to celebrate mass followed by a wine tasting and banquet.

The venue for the occasion rotates each year and of course is an highly prestigious event for the organisers. Burgundy has put in an application called 'Climats' to be included as a UNESCO world heritage site. “The 68th edition of the St. Vincent Festival is dedicated to the “Climats” of Burgundy: traditional, dynamic, cultural and diverse.” With this in mind, and breaking with tradition in 2012, three villages will host the event instead of one, Dijon, Beaune, and Nuits St. Georges.

Programme for 2012

Saturday, January 28, 2012

• 6:30: collection of 84 companies of St. Vincent, Gare de Nuits-Saint-Georges

• 8:00: Train departure Climates towards Dijon and Beaune with half of the procession

• 8:30: Start of the Parade Company of St. Vincent in Dijon and Beaune

• 9:00: religious ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Benignus at Dijon in the presence of Archbishop Minnerath, Archbishop of Dijon

• 9:30: religious ceremony at the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame in Beaune

• At the end of the celebrations, official speeches and parade procession towards the station for a return to Nuits-Saint-Georges

• 12:10: arrival of the train station in Climates of Nuits-Saint-Georges

• 12:45 pm: ceremony at the war memorial and inducted into the Brotherhood of the Knights of Tastevin

Saturday and Sunday from 11.00h to 17.00h

• Opening of the wine cellars in the three cities.
• Animations and discover of each city and its vineyards.
• Tasting of all wine regions of Burgundy, the Yonne in Mâcon through the Côte Chalonnaise and Côte d'Or.
• Visit and explore the wine-related sites in each city.

More information on:
www.st-vincent-tournante.fr
www.climate-bourgogne.com

In 2007 Nuits St. Georges hosted the event, right in the centre of the Côte d’Or. Lynne Hammond was there…