Montmartre's 93rd Grape Harvest Festival Returns This October With a Music Theme

The Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre, one of the oldest neighborhood festivals in Paris, returns to the 18th arrondissement from Wednesday, October 7 to Sunday, October 11, 2026. This year marks its 93rd edition, and organizers expect around 500,000 visitors across the five days, making it the third most attended event in Paris after Nuit Blanche and Paris Plages.

A Vineyard That Was Never Supposed to Survive

The story behind the festival is more interesting than the wine itself. Vines once covered much of the hill of Montmartre, but by the early 20th century, urban development and the 1870 siege of Paris had wiped almost all of them out. In 1933, a group of local artists and residents, including the caricaturist Francisque Poulbot, pushed the city to plant a small vineyard on the site rather than let developers buy the land. The city agreed, and the first harvest took place in 1934.

That plot, known as Clos Montmartre, still exists today at the corner of Rue des Saules and Rue Saint Vincent, right by the old cabaret Le Lapin Agile. It's tiny by any winemaking standard, around 1,500 square meters on a steep, north facing slope that gets limited sun, planted with roughly 27 grape varieties, mostly Gamay and Pinot Noir. It's closed to the public year round except for guided visits during specific events.

How much wine it actually produces depends on which year and which source you check. Estimates across different accounts range from around 800 bottles to as many as 1,700 half liter bottles annually, and the vineyard itself doesn't publish a fixed figure. What's consistent across every account is what happens to the wine: it's fermented and bottled in the cellar of the 18th arrondissement's town hall, labeled each year with artwork commissioned from a different local artist, and then auctioned off during the festival, with proceeds going to charities in the neighborhood. Very little of it is ever actually drunk, since most buyers treat the bottles as collector's items rather than something to open.

This Year's Program and Theme

Each edition of the festival builds around a theme, and 2026's is music, described by organizers as a language that crosses generations and cultures. The festival opens on October 7 at 7pm with a launch event at the town hall of the 18th arrondissement, free to attend subject to available seating. From there, the five days follow the format the festival has used for decades: a food and producers' trail through the neighborhood, vineyard tours, live music and performances, a large parade through the streets, and a closing ball to wrap up the weekend.

The tradition of naming a festival godmother goes back to the actress Mistinguett in 1934. Past godmothers have included Naomi Campbell, Victoria Abril and Carole Bouquet, though the identity of this year's godmother had not been announced as of the program's July release.

Getting There and What to Expect

The vineyard itself sits near Lamarck-Caulaincourt station on metro line 12, and most of the festival's activity spreads out from there through the surrounding streets around Sacré Coeur. Montmartre is already one of the most visited parts of Paris on an ordinary weekend, and the festival adds a parade route, food stalls and performance areas on top of the usual foot traffic. The busiest points are typically the final weekend, October 10 and 11, when the parade and closing ball draw the largest crowds. Anyone living nearby or planning a visit during those dates should expect slower movement through the neighborhood and plan transport with that in mind.

Source: Sortiraparis, "Montmartre Harvest Festival 2026 in Paris: here's the program," published July 21, 2026; Festivalenfrance.com's official 2026 festival listing; Bonjour Paris and Ville de Paris historical accounts of Clos Montmartre.

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