Pfifferdaj (Fête des Ménétriers) is one of the wine festivals that anchors the Alsace calendar, drawing both local visitors and international wine travellers each year. It is held at 1 Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in 68150 Ribeauvillé, in the heart of one of France's most distinctive wine areas. The 2026 event marks the 636th edition of the festival, reflecting its consistent place in the regional calendar.
A medieval festival honouring the guild of minstrels (pfifferdaj) historically headquartered in Ribeauvillé. ~1,500 costumed extras build floats on a new theme each year. Grand historical parade on Sunday afternoon, medieval market, torchlight procession Saturday evening, ball at Jardin de Ville. Free wine tasting at the town hall fountain after the procession. Medieval-themed wine festivals in France draw on a long tradition of pageantry and re-enactment, with costumed locals, market stalls, music and street theatre all woven around the wine programme. Visitors can expect tasting passes that give access to producer stands across a village, alongside a programme of demonstrations, processions, and evening entertainments. These events are popular family destinations and are typically attended by tens of thousands of visitors over the run of the festival. The event is organised by Comité du Pfifferdaj, Ribeauvillé, which sets the tone and direction of the programme each year.
Alsace is the only French region that routinely labels its wines by grape variety, with Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat producing aromatic dry whites along the eastern flank of the Vosges. The region's flower-decked half-timbered villages — Riquewihr, Eguisheim, Ribeauville, Kaysersberg — are connected by the Route des Vins, France's oldest signposted wine road. Wine tourism here runs strongly through summer and into the harvest period, and the appellation also produces around a quarter of France's Cremant under the AOC Cremant d'Alsace, alongside late-harvest Vendanges Tardives and Selection de Grains Nobles.
The 2026 edition is scheduled for 5-7 September 2026. Festival access is ticketed: €10 adult / €5 child (6-12) / €8 reduced / €15 grandstand seat. Full programme, ticketing and updated information are published on the official site at https://www.ribeauville.fr/. Visitors are advised to check directly with the organiser for the latest schedule, as French festival programmes are sometimes updated close to the event date.
Visitors typically reach Alsace via Strasbourg or the Mulhouse-Basel airport, with Colmar serving as the central base for the Wine Route. The festival sits well alongside cellar visits across the Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, the storks of Hunawihr, the Unterlinden Museum, and an Alsatian gastronomy of choucroute garnie, baeckeoffe, tarte flambee, munster cheese and kugelhopf. Late spring and early autumn give the most pleasant weather for vineyard walking; winter brings the famous Alsace Christmas markets in Colmar, Strasbourg and Riquewihr.
