Alba's Festa del Vino: how the wine festival works, and which Sunday to book

For two Sundays at the end of September, the old centre of Alba stops being a town and turns into a wine street. Piazza Risorgimento, Piazza Duomo, Via Vittorio Emanuele, Via Cavour: from eleven in the morning, tasting tables replace the traffic, and for eight hours you walk around with a glass in a pouch around your neck, stopping to talk to the people who actually made the wine in it.

Sunday 20 and Sunday 27 September 2026, 11am to 7pm, both days. This is the 28th edition of Go Wine's Festa del Vino, and the format has barely changed in years because it works: one ticket, one glass, unlimited tastings, and the grower — not a member of staff — standing behind the table.

It also falls during harvest, which is the best possible moment to be in the Langhe. The vines still have their leaves, the hills smell of fermenting grapes, and the town is full of people who came here on purpose.

What you actually get

The tasting tables run along the historic route from Piazza Risorgimento through Via Vittorio Emanuele to Via Cavour. Producers come from the villages of the Langhe and the Roero, with a contingent from the Monferrato: Barolo and Barbaresco, of course, but also Nebbiolo d'Alba, Roero and Roero Arneis, Barbera d'Alba and the Dolcetto of Alba, Diano and Dogliani.

Tasting at the tables is unlimited — once you're in, you pour what you like. The glass and pouch are included and yours to keep. If it rains, the festival isn't cancelled: it moves to a covered venue near Piazza Risorgimento.

Tickets and prices

Ticket	At the gate	Online	Go Wine members
Via del Vino (tasting tables)	€ 18	€ 15	€ 12
Via del Vino + Go Wine Lounge	€ 30	€ 25	€ 20

Tickets are sold online at gowinet.it. Buying in advance saves €3 to €5, but the real benefit is the separate collection desk in Piazza Duomo, where you pick up your glass without queuing. At 11:30 on a Sunday morning, that matters.

One thing worth knowing: from 18 September there are no refunds, including if you simply can't make it. Buy once you're sure of the date.

Which Sunday should you choose?

They are not interchangeable.

Sunday 20 sits in the busiest weekend of the month. On the Saturday afternoon at 5pm, Alba holds the opening ceremony of the Palio degli Asini — the historic costumed parade and flag-throwers in Piazza Risorgimento, free to watch. Twenty minutes away, Bra hosts its own food festival until the 20th. It's the richest weekend and also the hardest one to find a bed in Alba.

Sunday 27 is quieter in town, but that same weekend Turin is hosting Terra Madre Salone del Gusto (24-27 September), Slow Food's international gathering. For anyone flying in, that's the best combination of the year: two days in Turin, then Sunday among the tasting tables in Alba, on one trip. Almost nobody packages the two together — Turin guides stop at the hills, Langhe guides start at Alba.

And a practical point: 27 September is one week before the Palio degli Asini (4 October) and two weeks before the Alba White Truffle World Market opens (10 October). From then until December, weekends here are booked out well in advance and prices are no longer what they are in September. These two Sundays are the last reasonable window of the season.

Masterclasses and the Go Wine Lounge

The Go Wine Lounge in Sala Fenoglio is reserved for Barolo and Barbaresco producers and is included in the €30 (€25 online) package. You choose one of three time slots when you buy: 11:30-1pm, 1:30-3pm, or 3:30-5pm.

Masterclasses are booked separately. On 20 September: 11:30am, Barolo and Barbaresco and sixty years of DOC, six wines, €20; 2:30pm, blind tasting of Italian traditional-method sparkling wines, five wines, €20; 4:30pm, Langhe vs Napa Valley, six wines, €22. On 27 September the last two are repeated at the same times and prices. The blind sparkling tasting puts Alta Langa next to Franciacorta, Oltrepò, Trento and Champagne — recommended if you think you already know Piedmont.

There's also a Go Wine Lab for under-30s at 3:30pm each Sunday in Sala Riolfo, inside the Cortile della Maddalena; the package including the Lab and the tasting street is €20, with limited places.

The old town is pedestrianised and closed to cars: you cannot drive past the ring formed by Corso Langhe, Corso Italia and Corso Piave, which is camera-enforced. Leave the car in the surrounding car parks and walk in — seven to ten minutes from most of them. The big free ones are Piazza Medford and Piazza Urbano Prunotto, with Piazza Adolfo Sarti right behind them as a plan B. Slightly further out but convenient: Parco Lungo Tanaro at Piazzale Cesare Pio, the closest to the cathedral, and Piazza Cristo Re, which has free bays in the middle. For paid multi-storey parking there's Centro Stazione (2 m height limit, so no high vans) and Piazza San Paolo. Coming from Turin and want to skip town traffic altogether? Stop at the edge of town along Corso Torino and allow fifteen minutes on foot. One thing that has changed this year: the Inail lot next to Piazza Prunotto, used as free parking over the summer, closed on 9 September. If you were in Alba in August and expect to find it open, you'll be driving in circles. The practical advice doesn't change: arrive by 10:30. Tables open at 11 and car parks fill up between 11:30 and 2:30 — half an hour early saves you three laps of the block. The same logic we set out in our Alba truffle fair parking guide applies here. On-street paid bays in Alba are chargeable Monday to Saturday, so street parking is usually free on Sundays — check the signs anyway, since temporary restrictions can apply on big event days. For a longer trip combining the city and the hills, see Weekend in Piedmont: build your own itinerary, and our updated calendar of what's on is at events and surroundings.

What I'd tell a friend

After a few seasons handling requests for exactly these dates: don't try to book the Festa del Vino on the Friday before. Places in central Alba go two or three weeks ahead, and from 20 September onwards they don't come back until December, because the Palio and the Truffle Fair take over.

If you're reading this a few days out and still want to come, the move is simple: stay fifteen minutes away. The Roero and the lower Langhe cost less, still have availability, and on Sunday morning you'll reach central Alba before anyone driving down from Turin. The second Sunday, the 27th, always has a little more space than the first.

Many Langhe cellar visits and vineyard tours can be booked online, often at short notice.

And for the night before, our houses across Alba, Turin and the Langhe are all a few minutes from the centre.

FAQs

How much does the Alba wine festival cost?€18 at the gate for the Via del Vino tasting tables, €15 if you buy online at gowinet.it. The package adding the Go Wine Lounge for Barolo and Barbaresco is €30 at the gate, €25 online. Go Wine members pay €12 and €20. The glass and pouch are always included.

Do I need to book in advance?No, tickets are sold on the day. But buying online is cheaper and lets you collect your glass at a dedicated desk in Piazza Duomo instead of queuing. Note that no refunds are issued from 18 September, even if you can't attend.

Is it worth visiting Alba if I'm based in Turin?Yes — it's just over an hour by car, and the festival runs 11am to 7pm, so a day trip works comfortably. Staying overnight in Alba or the surrounding hills is better if you also want to visit wineries, which are hard to reach without a car on a Sunday.

What happens if it rains?The festival goes ahead. In bad weather it moves to a covered venue near Piazza Risorgimento, with the same 11am-7pm hours.

Dates, times and prices verified on Go Wine's official website on 14 September 2026. This article was written with the support of artificial intelligence tools and reviewed by Walter Perlo of AlbaTorinoEscapes. Dates, times and prices were checked against Go Wine's official website on 14 September 2026 and may change: always confirm with the official source before travelling.