Picking Grapes

Last Saturday, on August 27, the Missouri Valley Wine Society went as a group to a vineyard in Augusta, Missouri to pick Seyval grapes. The idea behind our trek is for members of the group to make the wine from the same grapes from the same vineyard and see what each individual member comes up with in a few months. It was an experience! Fortunately, Justin thought to bring the wagon for the kids (yes, it fits in the back of our Prius!) instead of a stroller and baby carrier. When we got there, it had been raining, and the vineyard is on a hill so everything was wet and muddy! The boys enjoyed their extended wagon ride, and Kyle liked helping to put the grapes in the lugs. We got pretty wet from that morning's rainfall still sitting on the vines! After we picked the grapes, we went down and used Bob's crusher/de-stemmer and bladder press to get the juice from them. Fortunately we didn't have to do it all by hand, like last time we made wine from grapes! Kyle enjoyed playing on the playset that the vineyard's owners had in their backyard, and Tyler liked his nap in the wagon. All in all, I'd say it was a good morning picking grapes side by side with a group of great people. We can't wait to see how our wine compares to that of our fellow club members in a few months. We hope we have the opportunity to do it again next year!