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Grape Stomping Parties in Santa Ynez Valley

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One of the best things about Harvest time is all the fun harvest festivals and street fairs in Santa Ynez valley and Santa Barbara wine country. The other is stomping grapes!

Several wineries in the area have grape stomping parties, some of which you can race through the vineyard, wear a toga, or see what Pinot Noir grapes taste like off the vine. Read below to find out where…

Solvang Stomp: Grape Stomp Street Festival

Visit downtown Solvang on Saturday, October 19, 2019, 2-5pm for the Solvang Grape Stomp harvest street festival! Celebrate the annual wine harvest in the Santa Ynez Valley with a traditional grape stomp, sip from dozens of Santa Barbara County’s best wineries, savor locally prepared food, drink pink in the I Love Rosé lounge and dance the afternoon away.

Grape Stomp in Solvang, Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara County

Kalyra Winery: the Great Grape Stomp

This is one of the oldest grape stomp parties in Santa Ynez valley, and I do mean a party. You can show up in anything from a Lucy Grape Stomp outfit to a toga. Any grape-related costume is encouraged, as well as drinking as much wine as possible, then jumping on a drunken tractor winery tour, plus eating and dancing to live music on the front porch. Get a first-hand account and find details here.

Sunstone Winery: Harvest Stomp Party for members

This yearly event over two weekends in September is a favorite grape stomp event in the area. It’s an all-day affair in the gorgeous Provençal-style vineyard and winery. It begins with a special bubbly cocktail made just for the event, then picking grapes in the vineyard. After being educated by the winemaker and Rice family on winemaking, you’ll climb into the grape vats and stomp to your heart’s content. A gourmet picnic lunch is also included, as well as the family’s line of wines, including some from the underground, dusty library. Get details here.

Sevtap Winery: Grape Stomp Party

Sevtap in Buellton also has an annual grape stomp party, where you can get in bins of cold grapes and crush to your heart’s content. Will also have food, music and ridiculous amounts of fun. Read more here.

The Great Grape Stomp – Kalyra Winery

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“Why are you all dressed alike? What’s with the polka-dots?”

Grape Stomping at Kalyra Winery in Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara Wine CountryThe slightly tipsy woman was staring at the seven of us dressed in various impersonations of Lucy and Ethel stomping grapes from the classic “I Love Lucy” episode. I looked our group up and down. Some did look like Lucy & Ethel, but a few of us looked more like homeless waifs. And one was more on the Raquel Welch side.

But we were all aligned in our mission and armed with wine glasses in the Santa Ynez Valley to do one thing: a grape stomp. Ok, maybe two things: taste the new Kalyra releases (especially the sparkling Brut Rose) right out of the barrels. After a few rounds of spicy bratwurst sausages in the tasting room, we headed straight for the stomping area, which just happened to be adjacent to the sparkling stainless steel barrels.

First, we needed a few quick tastes of fresh Brut Rose in various stages of fermentation, which were poured by the winemaker himself, then we placed our shoes all in a line, held up our skirts and climbed into the big trays of grapes. The water was cold, the grapes squished between our toes like slugs and the unfiltered Brut Rose was deliciously fruity. The gracious owners of Kalyra winery let us stomp grapes to our heart’s content, until we heard the band strike up on the front porch and realized our glasses were empty.

Grape Stomping at Kalyra Winery in Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara Wine Country“Look, there go the Lucys,” someone said as we traipsed to the porch, just in time to fill our glasses and jump on the winery tractor for a tour of the vineyards.

We had to explain ourselves to a few of the youngsters on the tour, but most people got our outfits that day. And stomping the grapes was great fun, but I’m glad the winemaker has enough sense to use different grapes in the wines (not stomped by these particular human feet). I wouldn’t drink it after seeing all the stompers that day; in fact, I’ll just wait for the Brut Rose to come out, thank you very much.

See more places to stomp grapes in Santa Barbara county.