Kelseyville >> At Steele Wines on Saturday, the mid afternoon sun shined down on a grassy green lawn as lounging spectators cheered on the kids vying for that title of grape stomping champion. Up on a platform, four giggling contenders crushed a barrel-full of wine grapes, while their teammates coaxed the liquid into waiting buckets. When time was called, whoever had the most juice was declared the winner.
The losers ran off for snow cones drenched in neon syrup.
“Our grape stomping is not a real serious competition,” said event organizer Naomi Key. “It’s fun for people that want to do it.”
While the competition drew mostly children, adults were also enticed to take part in the fun, including a bridal party from Sacramento in town to celebrate upcoming nuptials. While the kids received bragging rights, the winners of the adult wine stomping competition received a bottle of wine.
It was possibly one of the most uncompetitive competitions ever.
That was the vibe throughout the event. Wine tasting was unhurried, dozens of people relaxed in the shade of leafy trees to listen to a jazz band and shoppers meandered from both to both, scoping out wares from local artisans and vendors.
Though the Kelseyville Harvest Festival was hosted by a winery, it had a decidedly family friendly feel. “It’s a fun place to come and hang out for the afternoon,” Key said. “There’s food to eat, music to listen to, you can casually stroll around.”
This past weekend marked the 21st year Steele Wines hosted their Harvest Festival, a Lake County staple that continually draws large crowds year after year. And the event has been occurring longer than that. Mount Konocti Winery held a Harvest Festival before they sold the property to Steele Wines in 1996.
Part of the event’s appeal may be the quality of the vendors. While they may not take their wine stomping competition seriously, Steele Wines does put great care into selecting crafters to fill their 65 booth slots. The winery even juries the show months ahead of time. They only allow those artists who hand make their goods onto the festival roster.
Harvest Festivals are a fairly popular affair for wineries. As the name suggests, they usually take place in the middle of the harvest season when the grapes are coming in, hence the grape stomping competitions.
The festival also coincides with Oktoberfest, which took place on Oct. 1 in Lakeport. Both events certainly share similarities. “Maybe Harvest Festival is to wine what Oktoberfest is to beer,” Key said.
Although they’ve made tweaks over the years, such as adding a pie eating contest and a story teller, the Harvest Festival has remained relatively unchanged over the past two decades. And after 21 years, Steele Wines has things running smoothly enough that they see no need to implement changes in the future. The event has been happening for so long now that people have certain expectations.
The festival is the winery’s only large event of the year, but it is not their best weekend for wine sales. That doesn’t bother them though. “It’s about community,” Key said. “We want families to come out. We want it to be a family affair.”
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
