Grožđenbal — Vršac’s Grape Harvest Days

ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION

Vršac’s wine story is old enough to have receipts: in 1494 the court of King Vladislav II paid 10.5 ducats for a barrel of Vršac wine, and the first formal wine exhibition was held at the tavern “Kod dva ključa” in 1857. From that tradition grew Grožđenbal — the Days of the Grape Harvest, staged every year in the third week of September and now the best-known vintage festival in Serbia, drawing crowds in the tens of thousands. The ritual is fixed: the mayor hands the keys of the city to Vinko Lozić, the Bacchus-like character from Jovan Sterija Popović’s comedies; Wine Square (Vinski trg) pours the Gudurica wineries; the carnival procession parades the Grape Harvest Queen; and on the last day a plane sweeps the sky dropping parachutes carrying grapes and prizes. Children get their own masked ball, the amusement park takes the square, and the cellars of Gudurica open their doors.