Barefoot stomping on squishy, juicy grapes that have just been freshly picked is probably one of the strangest but most amazing feelings ever!  Purav and I went to Messina Hof’s annual harvest festival this past weekend in Bryan, TX.  Messina Hof is one of those hidden gems in the countryside of Texas.  It is a beautiful vineyard, bed and breakfast, and tasting room that spans over 100 acres.

We began the activities at 8am and after a brief orientation with the owners and a rousing song of “Pick pick pick your grapes gently down the row. Merrily merrily merrily merrily stomp them with your toes,” we all headed out to the vineyard to start cutting the grapevines.  Purav and I even tasted a few as we collected our clusters.  They were super sweet and juicy.  These plump grapes are used in one of Messina Hof’s signature port wines.  It was a very peaceful morning and in total we all picked about 3 tons of grapes.

After picking, the grapes were put in big vats, and this is where the fun really began.  We all took turns getting into the vat and started stomping away!  It was a really crazy feeling.  At first, the only thought that goes through your head is that this is soooo weird.  When we were kids, being messy was just part of the fun, but now that we are older, the idea of this just makes us cringe.  Once you get past that initial thought and start realizing that hey it’s kind of freeing to be able to make a huge mess, the stomping on the grapes becomes a lot of fun.  All you can see is your feet and toes slowly turning a deep red. And the minute you stomp, the grapes burst and the juice starts oozing down your feet.  The ticklish feeling of the grapes between your toes is definitely kind of strange but also kind of fantastic!

After we were done stomping we stepped out onto a t-shirt and left our red footprints as a keepsake of the event.  Then we got hosed off and went inside to drink some wine and eat a wonderful lunch.  A glass of wine following a playful day in a tub of grapes, I don’t think anything can beat that!