JULY (in Luxembourgish Heemount)
The month of July sees children leave for their well-deserved summer vacation and adults tasting wine and enjoying the ‘summer in the city’. Indeed July, as many Luxembourgers, seems to take a break of its traditions.
If it comes to wine festivals, let’s mention that grapes are mostly cultivated along the Moselle river, where Luxembourg’s vintners produce seven kinds of white wine (Elbling, Rivaner, Auxerrois, Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Riesling and Gewürztraminer), three kinds of rosé (Elbling rosé, Pinot rosé and Pinot noir) and the very much appreciated “crémant”, called by Luxembourgers “Schampes” (champagne) but which is indeed only a kind of sparkling wine.
If grape festivals are mainly celebrated in autumn in oder to be thankful for a good harvest (like in Grevenmacher and Schwebsange, in eastern Luxembourg), wine festivals are held outdoors in large tents and gather interested people for a more social purpose. Those wine festivals are combined with music and traditional food. It is always a very fun and thirst-quenching experience.
Also, most wineries offer different dates where customers can sample their wines. At the “Proufdag” (sampling day), “Wënzerdag” (vintners’ day) and “Wäimaart” (wine market) people can get a foretaste of what the establishment’s wine could taste like on the coming autumn.
Also throughout the summer season, Luxembourg cities celebrate various music and art festivals. However one that lasts the whole season is the popular open air “Summer in the city” organized by Luxembourg city. Free concerts at the Place d’Armes and the Place Guillaume II include well-known music festivals such as “Fête de la Musique”, “MeYouZik”, “Rock um Knuedler” and “Blues’n Jazzrallye”. The city also hosts street art festivals (for example “Streeta(rt)nimation”), open air cinema evenings, markets and feasts, exhibitions and folklore events, and sports events (such as the “Gala Tour de France”).