I concur, Mr. Mondavi. A grape harvest is a miracle; it's also a whole lot of hard work. I know this because I have had the pleasure of participating in a local winery's harvest this past month. I, a long-time lover of the vino, was luckily able to convince the editor of the gardening publication that I am a sometimes contributor to, that the wine harvest would be a great story for me to write. The editor, being a lover of the vino himself, agreed... and I found myself returning to the winery again and again to shall we say, drink in the experience.
Day 3:My mission: Stomp some grapes with my bare feet. The winery is having its annual Harvest Festival and I figure I better not miss the opportunity to put my bare feet in a barrel of grapes
ala Lucille Ball. It's freezing cold today with highs in the 40's... I'm not looking forward to the bare feet in the cold bit, but adventure is my mission. My photographer is late. He's apologetic on the phone, while I'm just...well...impatient. I'm hoping he shows up before the snowstorm does. I love the vino, but certainly don't want to die of frostbite with my bare feet in it.
He arrives, and wearing my old khaki gardening pants, already stained with a few seasons worth of mud and grass, I eventually venture into a half barrel full of pinot grapes. Someone yells "go" and I lose all trace of the fact that I am really there for a photo opp. I literally forgot to look up and smile...I was too busy trying to win. Yes, that's right, the grape stomping was actually a competition. Whoever could fill up a glass with the juice that was pouring...okay, dripping out of the hole near the base of the barrel would win a prize. Every bit of my competitive nature kicked in along with some adrenaline and a little bit of the wine I'd already sampled, and the next thing you know I was IN IT.... The competitive spirit, I mean.
In the end, I didn't win. Some guy who outweighed me by 75 lbs. did. And we didn't get a good photo for the magazine article...just me with head bent, stomping furiously until I couldn't feel my frozen toes anymore...
Photo taken by Kenneth James Photography
