Stomp those Texas Grapes
Texas grapes are being harvested mostly through the interior of Texas. Hybrid grapes along the Texas Gulf Coast were harvested in June with the earliest harvest of Blanc du Bois grapes on June 2nd in Brownsville. As the emerging Texas Wine Industry is blossoming, a Texas tradition of Grape Stomps is beginning to emerge at a variety of Texas wineries. These Grape Stomps are either done in a small, three-foot-diameter plastic tub such as held at Messina Hof Winery or in a six-foot-diameter wood vat as found at Bernhardt Winery, similar to what was in the epic “I Love Lucy” television show. These Grape Stomps are fun, slippery, and produce a lot of purple grape stains on your feet, legs, clothing, and more. I suggest a clean set of clothes to change into after the stomping of the grapes and a towel and possibly WIPES to remove some of those purple grape stains. Those purple stains will eventually wear off in a few days. It does help to go online to find out more details on the Grape Stomp events, including stomping contests where the amount of juice from the stomp vat is measured to determine the winner. Those small juice tubes at the bottom of the vat get plugged so use a wire or pipe cleaner to assure your grape juice bucket get ALL of the juice from the vat in these contests. Most Texas wineries will have commemorative Tee Shirts so you can implant an impression of your “purples piggies” on the back of the Tee. In additional, several Texas Wineries have “Lucy Look-A-Like” contests. Several Texas Wineries also host LIVE Concerts. Of course, wine tastings are available at all Texas Winery Tasting Rooms. This is all fun in celebration of a great Texas Harvest of Texas grapes.
Below is a partial listing by date with these Grape Stomps occurring on the weekends when the public can stomp those grapes:
August 5th and 6th
• Bernhardt Winery near Plantersville (not on Sunday)
• Westcave Cellars near Johnson City
• Hawk’s Shadow Winery near Dripping Springs
• Messina Hof Winery in Bryan (not on Sunday)
• Lost Oak Winery near Burleson (not on Sunday)
• Barons Creek Vineyards near Georgetown (not on Sunday)
• Barons Creek Vineyards near Granbury
• Hye Meadow in Hye (not on Sunday)
August 12th
• Hye Meadow Winery in Hye
• Texas Wine Collective near Fredericksburg
• Free Stat Cellars near Orange
• Wildseed Vineyards near Fredericksburg
August 19th
• Wildseed Vineyards near Fredericksburg
• Enoch’s Stomp near Harleton
• Texas Hills Vineyard near Fredericksburg (Stomp on Sunday)
August 26th and 27th
• Texas Hills Vineyards near Fredericksburg
• Pedernales Cellars near Stonewall
September 1st and 2nd
• Messina Hof Winery near Fredericksburg
September 2nd and 3rd
• Becker Vineyards near Fredericksburg
September 14th thru 17th
• Grapevine Annual Grapefest
September 23rd
• Williams Ranch Vineyard near Plains
It is imperative that you plan ahead to visit the winery’s website. In most cases, tickets will need to be purchased to help defray the costs of the stomped grapes. Please plan ahead for an enjoyable day of celebrating the Texas Harvest!