Village festivals are a different story.

The unique charm of village festivals

There are things that cannot be explained in words, but which anyone who has lived them understands instantly. One of them is the village festival.

They are small celebrations, lasting just a few days, where everything revolves around the town square, the social clubs, and those makeshift bars where there is always someone ordering another round.

The smell of the roasted chicken stand, the candied almonds, the hustle and bustle of those days—none of this fades from my mind when remembering the Augusts in Riópar when I was a child.

It has barely been a week since we returned from our own village festival, with little more than 1,200 inhabitants, and a smile still escapes us when we remember it. Time is measured differently there.

No one looks at the clock. Noon starts with a tapa or an appetizer and an artisanal vermouth, and suddenly the afternoon becomes a carousel of laughter, toasts, and conversations, with the occasional broken glass in between.

—"Have you ordered another one already? I was supposed to have lunch with my mother..."

—"Well, what do you want me to do, Paco, drop dead?"

Those kinds of phrases are the soundtrack of the festivals, along with the pasodobles played by the band. And it doesn't matter if you know how to dance or not: when the "¡Viva el pasodoble!" plays, you end up arm-in-arm with someone you might not have even known that very morning.

The important thing is the people

Village festivals have that something special: they are chaotic, intense, and endearing in equal measure. You go out into the street and you know you aren't going back home until your body says enough and you end up eating churros with chocolate.

Because the important thing isn't the official program, or even the band: the important thing is the people. Your lifelong friends, those who only return for these dates, the neighbors, and even the outsiders who end up adopted as one of our own.

Bring that experience home

And that, exactly, is what we want to convey at D’12 Gourmet: that every vermouth should be like those festivals, a moment without haste, full of chats, laughter, arguments forgotten with another round, and that final toast that always comes with a "one last one?"

Because in the end, life tastes better shared, whether in the town square or at home with your loved ones.

At D’12, we don't just sell vermouths or canned goods; we create moments. What we do is help you recreate those endless afternoons a little bit so you can host your own neighborhood party at home, without waiting for summer or the patron saint festivals.
You just need to open a bottle, put something on the table, and let the conversation flow.

Because if there is one thing we are clear about, it is that we are all about Vermouth & Good Vibes.

How to host your own party at home

If you feel as nostalgic as we do and want to recreate that feeling, there is nothing like preparing your home bar: Artisanal vermouth to start the afternoon, olives and gourmet canned goods to snack on between chats, cheeses and cured meats that always win over the table...

At D’12 we have selected some of our favorites so that your party starts without any hassle. You know how the rest goes: chat, toast, and ask… one last one?