General News Manilva Area Guide

Your guide to the Manilva Wine Festival

5th October 2022 by c2cadmin

Manilva boasts fame for its grapes and wine. Vineyards here date back to the 16th century. The village honours local farmers each first weekend of September. It celebrates the grape harvest end with the “Fiesta de la Vendimia” (Manilva Wine Festival). This two-day event stands out in the province. It boosts tourism significantly. The Manilva Wine Festival is a long standing tradition. It mixes wine, food, religion, tradition, and music. This creates an unbeatable party. The usually sleepy village comes alive. The celebration features several parts. Thousands from Andalusia join the fun.

We serve as Manilva property experts We love the Manilva Wine Festival. We attend it since starting C2C Properties in 2002. English info proves hard to find. The festival has many parts. You might miss some. In this post, we cover all aspects. We share tips to enjoy it fully – like a local!

Where is the Manilva Wine Festival and how do you get there?

Manilva includes a district and a village. This confuses some people. The event happens in Manilva Pueblo. This pretty white village sits up the hill from Sabinillas town on the coast.

Celebrations center from the entrance roundabout. They extend to the main square (Plaza de la Vendimia). The high street (Calle Mar) joins in too.

Traffic closes off this area during the event. Parking gets tricky. Try the dirt car park on Calle Oceana. It offers a safe spot. A short steep walk leads to the action.

Public buses run from Sabinillas to Manilva Village. They have limits. Many choose taxis to skip travel hassles.

When should you go to the Manilva Wine Festival?

Sunday hosts the main celebrations. A flamenco show often occurs Friday evening. Festivities start Saturday around 7pm. They begin with a religious mass and procession. Musical performances follow.

The Costa del Sol stays very hot this time. Events start late. Arrive late Saturday night. Party with locals until early hours.

Travel to Manilva for the festival? Aim for Sunday. Activities like wine and food tastings start at lunchtime. Live music begins around 2pm. Events continue until 10 or 11pm. A firework display ends it, if weather permits. You know the basics now.

Let’s dive into details!

Flamenco at the Manilva Wine Festival

Flamenco plays a key role in the Manilva Wine Festival. It appears in most southern Spain ferias. Attendees wear flamenco outfits. Live flamenco music fills streets and stages all event long.

The local flamenco society “Peña Flamenca de Manilva” hosts a festival for over 40 years. It starts the Vendimia on Friday. It grows stronger each year. Recent events occur at Pablo Picasso school. In 2022, 600 people enjoyed three female singers: Argentian, María Terremoto, and Anabel Valencia. Tickets cost 20€ that year.

We suggest this for true flamenco fans. Want casual listening? Watch locals dance. Find performances on Calle Mar stages Sunday. Traditional flamenco happens early. DJs take over evenings.

Religion and Parades at the Manilva Wine Festival

You’ll find that there is a mass to start almost all festivals in Andalusia, and the Feria de la Vendimia is no different.

On Saturday evening there is a mass in the Parroquia de Santa Ana – the main church in Manilva and this is the first official activity of the event. There is singing from the local music school’s choir and then a procession, taking the statue of “Our Lady of Sorrows” from the church, up Calle de la Iglesia and into Calle Mar. This beautiful statue and the bearers of the float makes for quite a spectacle, and the municipal band provides music to accompany it.

The image of the virgin is accompanied by villagers in traditional costumes and she is presented with an offering of the best grapes and requested to bless the fields and the vineyards of Manilva.

At the same time, local farmers are invited to enter their grapes into a competition to crown the winner of the heaviest bunch of grapes.

There is also a parade on horseback which takes place around 1pm on Sunday.

Music at the Manilva Wine Festival

There’s lots of great live music to enjoy during the Vendimia festival, with groups performing in Calle Mar and in the Vendimia Square. DJs delight the crowds of younger party goers throughout Saturday night and on Sunday evening.

You’ll also see the musicians and dancers of the “pandas de verdiales”, who roam the streets with their instruments and perform in the middle of all the action.

Food and Drink at the Manilva Wine Festival

There are lots of opportunities to enjoy traditional Spanish food and of course wine at this festival.

The centre of the village is transformed with “casetas” or little huts set up outside people’s houses, and bars and stalls on the streets offering drinks and food. It can be hard to get a seat, as it is very crowded, but you can grab a drink or something to eat and find a park bench or a little space to stand in and enjoy the atmosphere.

There are also food trucks with food like burgers, kebabs and jacket potatoes – handy for soaking up the alcohol consumed by the revellers.

C2C Properties Insider’s tip – Most of these casetas are private, invite only affairs, and the bars tend to require that you buy tickets, rather than just pay with cash.

On Sunday there is usually a tasting of wine and grapes, with cheese and ham offered for free to kick off the festivities (it took place at midday in 2022).

The main event, which everything is leading up to, takes place in the Vendimia Square. Here people tread the grapes and you have the opportunity to taste the first press grape juice.

There is a traditional platform with a low wall around it, where the grapes are poured. There are two holes at the base of this platform and spouts for the grape juice to escape from and be captured in barrels. Two or three people in traditional dress tread the grapes and it’s a wonderful sight, which takes you back in time. This took place at 7pm in 2022, but times can vary, so check the programme.

After this, expect another four hours or so of music, dancing, drinking and eating before the festival is brought to a close with a fireworks display (if the weather isn’t too windy).

It really is a fantastic party and something you won’t forget in a hurry!

Where to find up to date information about Manilva Wine Festival?

We recommend you follow the Manilva Town Hall’s press department on Facebook, as they tend to post about the events, although only in Spanish. https://www.facebook.com/AytoManilva

Manilva WS website and Facebook is another great source of information in Spanish

If you’re in the area, then the Town Hall offices usually have summer event information to pick up, as well as flyers and posters with the schedule. However, these tend to be released quite close to the event itself.

You can also follow C2C Properties on Facebook, as we post local information and event information every Friday to help you stay up to date with what’s going on in this fantastic area.

Properties in Manilva

Our clients who are looking for the authentic Spanish experience and a place with charm and tradition really like properties in Manilva village. Families like the excellent state primary school Pablo Picasso and the top-notch sports facilities available.

It is quite a small place, so there is a limited supply of properties in Manilva Pueblo itself, but they do come on the market and there are a number of different options. These vary from traditional whitewashed homes, apartments and flats to more modern townhouses.

If you’re looking for a pool and parking then you can choose a property on a development around the Vendimia square, or some of the larger villas on the outskirts. Central properties are charming and very convenient for accessing everything that Manilva has to offer, but don’t often have pools or parking.

To find out more about living in Manilva or Manilva properties please contact our helpful team and we can advise you on what’s out there and what would work best for you.

Otherwise, we’ll see you at next year’s Manilva Wine Festival!