Wine country tourists juiced about stomping
Lucille Ball did it. And you can, too -- stomp grapes, that is. Wineries from Napa to New York are rolling out the barrel for those inclined to squish a little merlot between their toes.
"You get one person doing it and then everyone else is wanting to go along," says Ken Morris of the Grgich Hills Estate winery in the Napa 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 press technology parked at their crush pad, a number of wineries are also showcasing the retro charms of stomping in a development that builds on the recent trend of culinary tourism, said Karen Ross of the 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 to stomp grapes abound at harvest time -- generally late August through October, depending on climate. There are fairs, festivals and team competitions as well as quieter experiences at individual wineries. (Find Michigan grape stomping events at www.michiganwines.com.)
On a recent sunny afternoon in the Napa Valley, Beverly Miller of Akron, Ohio, was kicking off her shoes and stepping into the one-person barrel at Grgich Hills.
"Oh my gosh," she said as her feet slid into the purple zinfandel grapes. "I have never done this. This is fantastic."
Doing grape stomping right is "actually a relatively gentle way of managing the process of crush," said Kenneth C. Fugelsang, associate professor of enology and winemaster at California State University, Fresno, who has seen the skill practiced at port producers overseas. "The idea is not to macerate the grape, rather to gently break it open so the juices are expressed and you don't tear up the grape skins themselves."
"It's not Lucy out there in the grape vat. I've seen it done in Portugal during a harvest a few years ago. It's certainly not only a skill, but it takes quite a bit of endurance to get in there and start stomping around."
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 take care of any germs, but there is a slight possibility of contamination, Fugelsang said. Still, the skin and seeds usually get recycled as compost.
Stomping grapes is "kind of squishy. It kind of feels a little bit weird," said Morris.
At Grgich Hills, which has been coaxing visitors into the tub for well over a decade, winemaker Mike Grgich (Ger-gitch) sees the experience as a spiritual one.
"There is more in the grapes and the wine than you can see. There is a spirit of the greatness which has been carried on for 7,000 years," 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 year and I feel so happy that day. It's a special day in my life."