Is this the year of the high-end harvest party?

End of harvest celebrations, once intimate affairs reserved for pickers and producers, are turning into multi-million dollar ticketed events. Is this the dawn of the VIP harvest party? Sarah Neish investigates. Magnums, caviar, valet parking...end-of-harvest celebrations have moved on from a glass of mead and a quick dance around the maypole. In May, Chile's Viña VIK will host a lavish harvest festival do, with tickets priced at US$500 per person, and only 200 spots available. And it's not the only one. Luxury harvest parties are becoming the latest extension of fine wine brands offering exclusive tailored experiences, such as those only available through Banfi's Brunello Ambassador Club, for example, or at Symington Family Estates' forthcoming €6million Port townhouse. For VIK, based in the Cachapoal Valley, its harvest party will involve a "four-act" performance involving wine, gastronomy, art and music. Following a guided tour of the vineyards, paying guests will be treated to an outdoor vertical tasting of VIK’s four signature wines, including "magnum-format surprises" and the producer's 2018 vintage, due to launch later this month on La Place de Bordeaux. Lashings of caviar will also be served alongside VIK's La Piu Belle Champagne Millésime 2009, and live jazz and a viticulture-inspired art exhibition are also on the cards, with the celebration wrapping up with a DJ set and open bar. Not one to miss a trick, VIK has revealed that the first 50 people to buy tickets to the event on 3 May will also access a "special pre-sale" with exclusive benefits. Can we expect to see more high-end harvest parties? We asked some of our favourite premium producers around the world about their 2025 harvest plans,

Party like a rockstar

In California, Hourglass Winery's annual celebration The Mabron, named after its flagship cuvée, has "taken on a reputation for being one of the best parties in Napa", according to Sotheby's. The auction house included four VIP tickets to The Mabron last year as part of an exclusive 'Party Like a Rockstar experience', as well as two six-bottle vintage magnum vertical collections of Hourglass Estate Cabernet (2014-2019). This year, tickets to The Mabron are on sale for US$300 a pop, and the fixture has evolved into "a mini festival", owner Jeff Smith tells db. For 2025 guests can expect "exotic food trucks, a massive oyster spread, and a beautiful sampling of Hourglass wines against an array of live musical acts, all staged in the vineyard at the Hourglass Blueline Estate." Although the party takes place in the middle of harvest - 13 September - rather than at the end, "we think of it as our harvest celebration," says Smith. And with bottles of The Mabon wines on retail shelves for around US$85, the ticket price for the event isn't quite as sky-high as it might first appear.

Are tickets worth the cost?

VIK firmly believes so. "The $500 ticket reflects a once-in-a-lifetime event, with an element of exclusivity that we don't usually show to guests," says marketing manager Andrea García. "The event is not just a wine tasting—it's a premium, curated eight-hour-long experience at one of the world’s best wineries, with lots of surprises. Guests should expect the unexpected." There will be plenty to celebrate as already VIK is expecting 2025 wines with "remarkable promise" and "vibrancy and electricity on the palate". The Chilean producer kicked off its 2025 harvest picking Syrah in the first week of March, and expects to finish with Carmenere in the last weeks of April. "We started 14 days earlier compared to last year, under similar climatic conditions to 2023, which was a very good harvest," says García. "We want to celebrate with our guests and thank Mother Earth for it." She adds that the harvest party is also a way to celebrate "all the recognitions and awards we have received during the past year, including Cristián Vallejo being named as one of the drinks business' top 100 winemakers in the Master Winemakers publication." The party in May, which VIK intends to be an annual flagship event, is a chance to show that the producer is "not just a winery but a luxury destination." "The wine world is not just about picking the correct grapes, it's full of experiences," adds García. "There is tremendous work behind our proposal and we hope visitors will experience gastronomy and pairings at a whole new level."

High net worth

While the likes of VIK and Hourglass offer larger events that welcome paying members of the public into the festivities, another approach is to offer personalised harvest experiences for high net worth individuals or couples. "The harvest period is intense with all of our efforts focused on completing harvest, so visits during this time are very limited," says Romain Ott, head winemaker of the organic-certified Château Léoube in Provence. "At the same time we understand that harvest is a time of much excitement when wine-lovers are keen to come and see first-hand what’s happening on the estate. "We do very occasionally, if the conditions are right, offer a limited number of loyal customers the chance to experience picking so they can discover the harvest process and all of the hard work that goes on in the vineyard and winery. But we keep this very limited and exclusive so that the focus remains absolutely on harvest and wine production – our first and most important job." Similarly, Chateau Tanunda, one of the oldest estates in the Barossa Valley, invites guests to "witness our winemaking team in action during harvest" through glass viewing windows. Managing director Michelle Geber describes it as "like dining at a restaurant with an open kitchen, where seeing the craftsmanship first-hand enhances the experience." Tanunda hasn't yet thrown a luxury ticketed bash to celebrate the end of harvest, but Geber isn't ruling it out for future years. "I think it is a terrific idea," she says. "From our perspective, it's so important to invite our customers to be part of the wine journey and experience. The more they can immerse themselves in what we do, the richer their connection to our wines."

Traditional celebrations

While some producers are throwing open their doors to the public for swanky harvest celebrations, others prefer to stick to more traditional dos for workers and their families. "We always organise a big celebration with all our employees and their partners at the end of the harvest, inviting around 150 people to an informal open-air dinner to thank our teams for such a commitment during the harvest period," says Olivier Fayard, CEO of Pernod Ricard's premium rosé brand Sainte Marguerite, which celebrates its 50th harvest this year. He explains why he prefers to keep the occasion close to home. "Harvest is a very important milestone on the annual calendar, marking the end of the vine cycle and the beginning of the wine process. It’s always a very exciting time as it's when we start to discover the aromatic palette of the year and prepare the blending sessions." For Sainte Marguerite's top-level ‘Marguerite’ rosé (£55) each grape variety (Grenache, Cinsault and Vermentino) are fermented separately before blending. Following Pernod Ricard's majority share acquisition of the rosé brand in 2021, the decision was made to incorporate Sainte Marguerite into the group’s Champagne portfolio alongside brands including Perrier-Jouët and Mumm. Given the traditional company it keeps, it's perhaps unsurprising that Sainte Marguerite would want to follow generations of those who kept harvest celebrations private, prioritising those who put their blood, sweat and tears into the season.

The Cochelet

Fellow bubble maker Champagne Palmer is very much of this ethos. "In the Marne region [known for its production of Pinot Meunier-based Champagnes] we call the end of harvest the Cochelet, and it has always been primarily celebrated at home," says Francois Demouy, communications and marketing manager, Champagne Palmer. "We prefer to keep the Cochelet to an intimate circle as this convivial gathering marks the conclusion of a physically demanding, often exhausting harvest season. Keeping things small allows us to experience a genuine moment of sharing between winemakers and the harvest team. It's a time to strengthen bonds and celebrate a key milestone in the life of a Champagne house. By gathering in a warm and familiar setting, we honour the hard work of the harvest while preserving the authenticity and spirit of this cherished tradition." Champagne Palmer does not envision ever turning the Cochelet into a ticketed event, shares Demouy. "Above all, it is a tradition we wish to preserve and pass on. Rooted in the history of Champagne, this celebration remains a precious moment of togetherness, where authenticity and shared values take precedence over publicity or commercialisation," he says. However, in a db exclusive, he adds: "We would consider doing something on a local scale. Why not propose that the city of Reims organise a giant Cochelet? It would be a great way to share this tradition with a wider audience and showcase our customs. If several key players were to get involved, we could create a fantastic celebration that honours our heritage while bringing people together in the spirit of Champagne."

Community affair

Further south, near St Tropez, Léoube too is involving the local community in its harvest celebrations. In addition to offering exclusive picking experiences for top customers, the château throws two important gatherings, one for its workers and one for the local town. "The first is a big lunch with the whole team where we take time to relax, celebrate and enjoy one another’s company after a period of such intense work," explains Romain Ott. "The second celebration is a Harvest Festival which is open to the public. People can visit the estate, and spend the whole day near the beach, discovering artisan food, local produce and enjoying live music and family activities." Ott hints that a more curated experience is on the cards for 2025, saying that Léoube's Harvest Festival "is being reimagined to offer a slightly different experience for our customers"  The details are still being finalised but "it will be a memorable day spent enjoying the best of Provence near the beach next to Café Léoube," he says. "The end of harvest brings a great sense of achievement and relief as we reach the end of a long journey. Thanking everyone who has been part of this journey, working hard throughout harvest and during the previous year is really important to us."

Conclusion

Ticketed events that involve consumers in the harvest are a savvy way for producers to bring cash into the business and continue building their profile. Harvest parties also offer a way for premium wineries to stand out from their competitors, and to thank those in the wider wine ecosystem (growers, buyers, PRs, press etc.) for their role in the annual success of the company. The drinks business can see this trend evolving over time to include corporate hospitality experiences, where paying firms treat their employees to a 'wine harvest experience', as well as influencers and celebrities grappling to be a part of what until fairly recently has been a rather closed-off world. As wineries are staring down increasingly challenging times (tariffs, declining consumption, climate change and more), anything that brings revenue in should be afforded due consideration. Plus, those who party together....