There are many great traditions embedded within the historic fabric of the Barossa Vintage Festival, and grapestomping is probably right up there as one of the most quintessential.
What could be more down-to-earth than jumping barefoot in a bin full of grapes with your arms wrapped around a partner, trampling every possible drop of juice into a bucket while the crowd cheers you on to exhaustion for a full two minutes?
It’s hilarious, it’s entertaining, it’s frantic, and at the end of the day, it’s all about the bragging rights.
Who knows? There may even be a trophy involved.
“We have found the old grapestomping trophy – it’s an antique, it’s special,” revealed Festival Co-Director, Rebecca Reynolds.
Whether or not the trophy goes home with this year’s winners remains to be seen, but for sure the victors will be stamped into grapestomping history, in one way or another.
This year, grapestomping is going ‘on the road’, with the event appearing at several locations over five days.
From April 23 to 27, it will move daily, starting at Angaston Town Day, followed by Touchdown & Taste off at the Barossa Rugby Precinct; the ANZAC Day football match at Nuriootpa Centennial Park; the Parade After Party at Tanunda Recreation Park; and culminating at The Great Vintage Picnic at the Lyndoch Village Green.
It is here the winners from across the five days of grapestomping will be announced.
“Like every other year we’ll be judging it on the amount of grapes that people have stomped and the amount of juice they get out,” explained Rebecca.
There will also be a couple of mini-competitions running within the event, such as between The Barossa Council and Grapevine, Texas, and local high schools, explained Maz McGann, Festival Co-Director.
“People love a bit of competition as well, whether it’s between wineries or schools… all of that is fun,” she added.
But at the heart of this event, lies the lifeblood of the harvest, without which the Festival would have no need to exist – those beautiful, fragrant, ruby red Barossa grapes.
“It is a nice story to tell, people can get their hands dirty, and people are looking for an experience like that,” said Rebecca.
“It does then sort of hark back to that European tradition of winemaking. It is a festival, at the end of the day, which was set up to celebrate our vintage, why wouldn’t we do something where people can touch and feel?
“You can’t really walk in vineyards anymore… but we can do a bit of grapestomping.”
With a limited number of grapes set aside for stomping, registration for this event is a must.