Jumping in with both feet

Niagara News — 9/23/16

By JOHN HOPKINS-HILL
Staff Writer

Students in the Wine Business Management program at Niagara College took part in the annual Grape Stomp for the prestigious Sour Toe Award.

The event took place on Sept. 13 at the Niagara College Teaching Winery, in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The Winery and Viticulture Technician program held their own grape stomp on Sept. 8.

Professor Ron Giesbrecht has organized the class activity for the past four years as a way of giving students perspective on the history of grapes and winemaking.

“It gives context to a wine student. Where it comes from, how it’s made, and it’s a wonderful experience for them to use as a foundation for the rest of the year,” says Giesbrecht.

All 28 students in the Wine Business Management program took part in the event, while 39 out of the 41 students in the Winery and Viticulture Technician program participated in the earlier stomp.

Students began the event by splitting into pairs and picking just over 100 kilograms of grapes for use in the stomp.

With the grapes gathered, the group divided into two teams and the stomping began with two people from each team hopping into their respective team barrels and stomping for a minute.

All participants had a chance to give it a shot, and, after enduring 14 sets of feet, the grapes were almost completely crushed.

The juice was collected in large glass jars, which are known as ‘carboys.’

The winning team was the side that managed to squeeze the most juice from their grapes.

“It feels exactly like you think it would,” says Stephen D’Orazio, a student in the Wine Business Management program.

“It’s everything you imagine and more.”

D’Orazio thinks the experience provided insight into what grapes were used for before wine and how winemaking has developed over time.

This notion was reinforced by Giesbrecht’s lesson to the group, challenging students to imagine winemaking in a world where grape varieties weren’t neatly labeled on the end of every row.

“We’re Neolithic,” he told a student who tried to describe the different tastes of grape varieties using their modern names, rather than physical characteristics like size, colour and texture.

At the end of the day, Team One edged out Team Two and will receive the Sour Toe Award – a loaf of sourdough bread with five “toes” baked on one end.

The stomping may be over, but the lesson is not. The juice will be used by the students to produce their own wine during the course of the semester.

“We taste as we go,” says Giesbrecht, explaining the experience allows students to see all the steps involved in winemaking and how wines develop and change during fermentation.

Giesbrecht says traditional methods like these, while no longer the industry standard, are still in use in some parts of the world.

Grape stomping may seem like a fun, novel way to get back to nature and experience the winemaking of the past, but D’Orazio has a word of warning for would-be stompers.

“It tickles a lot. If you have ticklish feet, don’t try it.”