Wine country tourists juiced about grape stomping

Tag : grape

RUTHERFORD, Calif. -- Lucy did it. And you can, too -- stompgrapes, that is. Wineries from Napa to New York are rolling out thebarrel for those inclined to squish a little merlot between theirtoes.
"You get one person doing it and then everyone else is wanting togo along," says Ken Morris of the Grgich Hills Estate winery in theNapa Valley, where visitors can stomp daily during harvest.
The days when winemaking was done by the foot are long gone.
But even though they may have the latest in gleaming wine presstechnology parked at their crush pad, a number of wineries are alsoshowcasing the retro charms of stomping in a development thatbuilds on the recent trend of culinary tourism, said Karen Ross ofthe California Association of Winegrape Growers.
"Doing these kinds of features is very homey, authentic," she said.
With wine now being produced in all 50 states, opportunities tostomp grapes abound at harvest time -- generally late Augustthrough October, depending on climate. There are fairs, festivalsand team competitions as well as quieter experiences at individualwineries.
On a recent sunny afternoon in the Napa Valley, Beverly Miller ofAkron, Ohio, was willing to bare her sole for a new experience,kicking off her shoes and stepping into the one-person barrel atGrgich Hills.
"Oh my gosh," she said as her feet slid into the purply-blackzinfandel grapes. "I have never done this. This is fantastic."
Miller is one of the few people who don't remember the classic "ILove Lucy," episode in which the intrepid redhead has to make agrape escape after trying her hand, or rather, foot, atold-fashioned winemaking.
Still, "nine times out of 10 people say, 'Oh, it's just likeLucy,'" said Morris. "They all remember that episode."
Doing grape stomping right is "actually a relatively gentle way ofmanaging the process of crush," said Kenneth C. Fugelsang,associate professor of enology and winemaster at California StateUniversity, Fresno, who has seen the skill practiced at portproducers overseas. "The idea is not to macerate the grape, ratherto gently break it open so the juices are expressed and you don'ttear up the grape skins themselves."
"It's not Lucy out there in the grape vat. I've seen it done inPortugal during a harvest a few years ago. It's certainly not onlya skill, but it takes quite a bit of endurance to get in there andstart stomping around."
Lucy's escapades live on in DVDs and on the Internet -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAqDi1p3cCM . And for a clip of a more modern vintage, there's the much-viewedvideo of "Grape Lady Falls," showing a TV newswoman who took a veryunfortunate tumble from a grape-stomping tub -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMS0O3kknvk .
Grape stomps are offered in other parts of the country as well. TheWhite Fences Vineyard in Irvington, Va., held one in August, andGrapevine, Texas, hosted one as part of its annual GrapeFest inSeptember, as did the Cobblestone Farm Winery in the Finger Lakesregion of upstate New York. In Santa Rosa, Calif., the SonomaCounty Harvest Fair hosts a World Championship Grape Stomp Oct.3-5.
A stomper stumper: Can your stomped juice be turned into wine? No,due to all sorts of regulations governing commercial wineries.Technically, the alcohol produced during fermentation should takecare of any germs, but there is a slight possibility ofcontamination, Fugelsang said. Still, the skin and seeds usuallyget recycled as compost.
Stomping grapes is "kind of squishy. It kind of feels a little bitweird," said Morris.
Make that a lot weird. Stepping on a few pounds of burstingly ripegrapes is one part really organic pedicure, one part the kind ofHalloween parties where you sit in the dark and trustingly plungeyour hands into bowls of wet spaghetti.
But once stompers get used to the feeling "they just keep going andgoing," said Bob Rozzano of the Cobblestone Farm Winery in NewYork's Finger Lakes wine region. The winery, which has been runninga grape-stomping festival for three years, bottles the juicevisitors make and sends it home with them.
The bottles are clearly labeled that the juice inside isn't fordrinking. On the front is a label dreamed up by Rozzano's wifeJennifer Clark -- get ready to groan all you connoisseurs who'veheard about the world-renowned French winery Chateau LafiteRothschild -- Chateau Les Feet.
At Grgich Hills, which has been coaxing visitors into the tub forwell over a decade, winemaker Mike Grgich (Ger-gitch) sees theexperience as a spiritual one.
"There is more in the grapes and the wine than you can see. Thereis a spirit of the greatness which has been carried on for 7,000years," said the 85-year-old Grgich.
"Every year in September I get itch in my feet and they tell me,you should go and stomp the grapes. And that's what I do every yearand I feel so happy that day. It's a special day in my life."
If You Go...
GRGICH HILLS ESTATE: 1829 St. Helena Highway, Rutherford, Calif., http://www.grgich.com or 800-532-3057. Stomping is included with a tasting fee. Offereddaily through the end of harvest. Call to check on timing.