The Story of St. Vincent

During January, St. Vincent of Saragossa, the patron saint of winegrowers, is honored throughout Europe with celebrations, prayers, weather-omen ceremonials, and, of course, wine tasting.

St. Vincent of Saragossa died in the year 304, martyred during the last great persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperors Maximian and Diocletian. By early medieval times, St. Vincent had been adopted as a patron saint by vineyard workers and winemakers in Europe – perhaps they identified their struggles against drought, mildew, frost, insects and all of the other tribulations of wine growing with the legendary tortures suffered by St. Vincent.
A story is told that during the Middle Ages the Catholic Church had brought some relics of St. Vincent to Burgundy. The region had experienced multiple poor vintages, but after the Church blessed vineyards with the relics of St. Vincent there were a long string of exceptional vintages that followed.
As devotion to St. Vincent spread, new legends sprang up to seal the identity of the saint with the particular locality.

Today there are statues of St. Vincent in nearly all villages in Burgundy and they are all treated as relics and every years since the 1930's an annual festival called the Saint Vincent Tournante.

As devotion to St. Vincent spread, new legends sprang up to seal the identity of the saint with the particular locality.

The Confrerie de Vignerons des St. Vincent de Macon was founded in 1950, the Brotherhood has thus far held more than 700 chapters and preserved over time the determination of its creators: to discover Burgundy and more particularly the vineyards of Mâconnais.
The Oregon Chapter was started in the 70's by some of the early Pinot pioneers and today is active in promoting wine and wine education.