Festa – not the Uncle kind, but the Portuguese word for ‘celebration’ – is a brand new festival of Portuguese wine, food and culture that’s landing in London for a whole weekend this summer.
It’s coming to you from a super-team of Portuguese food & drink experts: one being Max Graham, the man behind London’s fantastic Bar Douro restaurants (and whose family have been producing port and wine in the Douro Valley for the past 200-odd years – yeah, he’s that Graham), and the other being Wine Detective and Bar Douro’s grape-hooch guru Sarah Ahmed, who’s won multiple accolades for her Portuguese wine expertise and has been inducted as a Cavaliero of the Port Brotherhood.
So, between them they know a little about Portuguese food and drink.
They’re bringing all that expertise – alongside more than 50 independent wine producers and a bevy of restaurateurs, artisans and food buffs – to an 18th century shipping warehouse in Wapping this summer. Specifically, on the 24th & 25th of June – designed to coincide with the big Festa de São João over in Porto, where locals make merry in the streets with gallons of wine, street food, fireworks and a traditional courtship dance that involves smacking each other with garlic flowers. You’ll channel the spirit of this midsummer revelry by sampling over 250 different wines from every region of Portugal, from Madeira to the Azores; tucking into dishes prepared by top Portuguese chefs like The Sea, The Sea‘s Leandro Carreira; attending tastings and panel discussions with Sarah Ahmed and other experts; rubbing shoulders with the cutting edge of the wine trade; perusing market stalls showcasing traditional crafts; bopping to live music; and generally making merry on – what we can only hope will be – a balmy summer weekend.
BYO garlic flowers.
NOTE: Festa will run across three sessions on Friday 24th & Saturday 25th June 2022. Tickets start at £35pp – you can see the full wine producer line-up, and book your tickets, HERE.
Festa | Tobacco Dock, Tobacco Quay, Wapping Lane, London E1W 2SF
Like wine? Take a trip to one of London’s best wine bars in the meantime.