Grape Stomping

What a fun weekend it was!!  I have two big things I did this weekend and one of them was a bucketlist item!  My friend Julie told me about a Groupon where you stomp grapes at a local winery.  We were originally supposed to go in late July, but we moved it to Sunday the 7^th. 

We drove to Pleasant Hill Winery in Brenham, TX for a fun filled afternoon.  It was about 100+ degrees outside that day so I knew I should probably wear shorts and a t-shirt.  As part of the Groupon you get either a tank top or a t-shirt and we both chose a tank top.  I decided I didn’t want to put my dirty feet on my t-shirt so I didn’t.  Honestly, the color looked gross and I knew I would feel weird about walking around with a grape stained t-shirt. It is a fun memento though!

They gave us a bucket to go find some grapes in the field with the grape vines.  Lots of people had already been on our lane so there weren’t too many grapes left, but the employees said that it was ok if we went to another vine instead. 

After a while we got a few grapes so we went back to stomp them.  First though, it was cocktail time.  Julie and I both got a white wine spritzer, which was delicious!  We were able to find seats under a large tent that had huge fans cooling it off. 

We watched other people stomp grapes while we waited for our turn.  While watching I got bored (I have A.D.D.) so I went inside to look around the gift shop.  I usually get a Christmas ornament when I travel someplace new or I do a bucket list item, but I couldn’t really find anything that would work.  There were a few magnets (which are my usual go-to if I can’t find an ornament), but they didn’t have the name of the vineyard on it.  I settled for a wine cork that I will make into an ornament.  There was a pretty magnet in the shape of a wine bottle, but it was glass and I was afraid of breaking it.

There were a lot of people there, but not too many that we had to wait a long time.  We waited probably about 30 minutes for our turn.  They really take their time to take nice photos of you so you can remember the experience.   The grapes were squishy and had a weird texture.  I am not sure what I expected though!  Someone told me that it hurt to stomp grapes, but I didn’t feel that way at all.  Yes, the stems are still in there, but it didn’t hurt and I didn’t even notice them.

Ewwww, it feels weird.

After we were done and we took pictures, you can put your feet on your shirt if you wanted.  Neither one of us did. 

We had so much fun!  I would for sure go back next year ( I believe it’s a yearly event).  The only thing that would have been different if they had a ‘picnic’ type event in the vine area where you could sit and eat some cheese and have wine while waiting to stomp the grapes or even have it under the tent area.   I didn’t see any food you could purchase in the gift shop, so maybe that is something that they could get for next year.  

Bucket list...CHECK!  Thanks Julie for telling me about the Groupon and going with me!!!