On This Day: The Vinalia Priora, Rome’s Early Wine Festival
April 26: The first wine of the year isn’t for drinking—it’s for the gods. Romans pour it out by the jug.
Nicolas de Largillierre (or Largillière) — "Portrait of a Woman and an Enslaved Servant" (1696), public domain
Wine flows—straight onto the earth.
Every April 26, Romans celebrated the Vinalia Priora by offering the first pressings of the year’s new wine to Jupiter. No one touched a drop until the priests had poured a libation and asked the king of the gods for protection from storms and blight.
No drinking until the gods have theirs.
Wine wasn’t just a pleasure—it was survival. A ruined crop meant a hungry year. The Vinalia made it clear: the fate of the harvest lay with the divine, and patience came before pleasure.
The Vinalia Priora wasn’t about indulging; it was about praying the vines would survive storms, rot, and war. Only when Jupiter had his share could humans touch the spring wine.
