Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The village of Russin, on the outskirts of Geneva, pulled in a crowd of 40,000 according to organizers, for its weekend Wine Harvest Festival. Sunny weather and a holiday in other parts of Switzerland, notably in neighbouring canton Vaud, plus the reputation gained over the years, attracted crowd’s, but this year’s festival was special.

For the first time, the organizers banned hard alcohol, and some 50 bottles were seized. The idea was to encourage the traditional encounter between city and countryside, and discourage urban youths from coming to the outskirts for a boozer.

The event featured street performers as part of Geneva’s 2010 year of the circus celebrations. The overall success, following on the Geneva May open day for wineries, appears to confirm efforts to keep wine festivals focused on learning about wine in the broadest sense: villages, wineries, growers, producers, and the countryside covered with vineyards.