Crushin' it: Wine lovers gather for annual stomp

Wine country events make a perfect day or weekend trip from Portland

Each year in late September, thousands of people gather at Willamette Valley Vineyards for the annual stomping of the grapes.

Like Spain’s running of the bulls — although a bit less dangerous — it’s a tradition rooted in culture and celebration, thrilling for spectators and competitors alike.

The goal here is to pair up with a partner while one person stomps the grapes, barefoot, and the other collects the juice. What’s the point?

Besides sheer fun, “it’s definitely a community thing” to celebrate the region’s bounty, says Wende Bennette, the vineyard’s senior winery ambassador, also known as the queen of the grape stomp.

For the past nine years Bennette has emceed the 26th annual Oregon Grape Stomp Championship and Harvest Celebration at Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner, 10 miles south of Salem and a quick hour from Portland down Interstate 5.

It takes place starting at 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, at Willamette Valley Vineyards, 8800 Enchanted Way S.E. in Turner. Admission is $15, $10 for wine club members, plus an additional $10 per team to stomp. The event includes tastings of new wine releases, lawn games and live music, absolutely anyone can register as a team of two beforehand, or walk on that day. Festival food is available for purchase, and picnics are a popular way to spend the day. For more: www.wvv.com.

When it comes to grape stomping, each team has two important roles: The stomper’s job is to stomp on the grapes, carefully holding onto his or her partner so as not to fall out of the barrel (touching the barrel gets you disqualified).

The role of the “swabbie” is to collect as much juice runoff as possible, with a plastic jug that will be strained at the end of 30 minutes.

“They’re in the barrel, their arms are holding back the grapes,” Bennette explains. “Wine grape juice is so sweet and so sticky.”

After the event, the stomped juice gets sent to compost — even if it were to be used for wine it would not be unsanitary, because alcohol would kill off any bacteria.

The grapes come from what’s called the green harvest, the result of thinning the crop. Willamette Valley uses muscat grapes, which are huge and juicy, for stomping.

Bennette has seen a range of stomping techniques, and cautions that speed isn’t everything.

“Some people will stomp feverishly; juice will fly out of their barrel and the jug is falling over and they’ll lose,” she says. “I’ve also seen a tiny 80-year-old lady come out there ... she gently pressed the grapes with her feet, and she won. It’s not about being the fastest — it’s about technique and patience, just like making wine.”

There’s even a kids’ crush, scheduled for 3 p.m. It’s just grape juice, after all.

In past years more than 200 teams have competed each day; the weekend’s winning team gets sent, all expenses paid, to Santa Rosa, California, for the world competition.

While Willamette Valley Vineyards’ grape stomp is the site of the national competition, other local wineries also make a day of the harvest celebration.

Here are a few other reasons to make a quick Oregon wine country escape from Portland:

• Sept. 24, Patton Valley Vineyard Harvest Hike Series, Gaston — Take a guided tour through the 30-acre estate vineyard and stop along the route to learn about production and taste a few wines. Then winemaker Derek Einberger and cellar master Lee Beck will lead harvest activities, followed by lunch and wine tasting in the vineyard. $35, pattonvalley.com

• Sept. 24, La Paulée Dinner at Soléna Estate, Yamhill — In the tradition of Burgundy’s end-of-harvest luncheon, guests will enjoy a multicourse wine-paired dinner. $110 per person, www.solenaestate.com

• Sept. 24, Fullerton Wine Course: Crush or Be Crushed, Corvallis — A chance to explore a winemaker’s choices in the cellar, tasting wine at different stages of fermentation. $40, www.fullertonwines.com

• Sept. 24, seventh annual Montinore Estate Crush Party, Forest Grove — Family day with live music, hay rides, grape stomping, face painting, lawn games, food carts, and organic and biodynamic wine to quench your thirst. Free, www.montinore.com

@jenmomanderson