It’s easy enough to feel like you’re part of the wine country harvest simply
visiting in the fall. But there are ways to truly be part of the
action. Short of pulling up stakes and moving here, you can act like a local
by getting involved with one of the many programs designed by wineries to
make guests feel right at home. These events and programs don’t only take
place during harvest, but there’s no better time to take advantage.
There
are a number of excellent behind-the-scenes programs at wineries
throughout wine country and in all of California’s various wine
regions. They range from full-fledged, yearlong grow-your-own courses to
afternoon-length grape stomps. The programs are fun, educational ways to
get to know wines first hand.
A good example is the selection of courses
offered by Ravenswood Winery (18701 Gehricke
Rd., Sonoma; 707-933-2332; www.ravenswood-wine.com), who still seem like they’re having
more fun than anybody when comes to making wine. Ravenswood—with
the tagline “no wimpy wines,” and who has one of the friendliest, funniest
staffs in Sonoma valley—offers tours every day at 10:30 in the morning
that begin with a stroll through the estate vineyards to inspect the fruit
up close. Then you returning to the cellar to sample wine straight from
the barrel. Or, you make your own Ravenswood wine. Try your hand at the
subtle and complex art of wine blending in a blending seminar, which allows
you to build a wine to your personal tastes – it’s not as easy as it sounds!
At Ravenswood, guests go home with a 375-ml bottle of their own concoction.
In
Napa, St. Supery Winery (8440 St. Helena
Hwy, Rutherford; 707-963-4507; www.stsupery.com) features numerous
programs that let visitors get personal with the wines and the winemaking
process. Each season, the winery holds harvest camp, one-day programs
that start with grape picking and culminate with wine blending. In winter
months, St. Supery offers a behind-the-scene program that lets guests
explore the employee-only wine cellar in the company of an expert who
explains the winemaking process in terms everyone can understand. The
tours, each Sunday at 11am December-March (as well as Sat. Nov. 18 and
25), conclude with barrel tastings of estate grown cabernet. In past
years, St. Supery has also offered a grow-your-own program; about the
closest thing you can get to owning your own winery. From rootstock
and grapevine clone selection and grafting, guests get hands-on instruction
through the entire process. Typically held in the early part of the
year, the winery has yet to determine if they’ll offer the program in
2007. “If not that, we’ll definitely do something like it,” a winery
source says.
And for the serious amateur winemaker, there’s the
winemaking program at the Napa Valley Reserve (707-986-3192;
www.thenapavalleyreserve.com). This members-only, by-invitation
club was founded in 2003 by Bill Harlan, of Harlan Estate, to offer
people the experience of having their own vineyard at a fraction of
the cost, stress, and effort. The year-long program not cheap at $145,000
per member, but those who can afford it are afforded an opportunity
to plant and work their own vines, harvest and process their own grapes,
and finally bottle and enjoy their own wine.
The
How-To Harvest 
