Back during the days when Nick-at-Nite was awesome, I was a huge fan of the I Love Lucy show. One of my favorite episodes was “Lucy’s Italian Movie,” where she went to work at a vineyard stomping grapes to “prepare” for a movie role (that ended up being completely unrelated to grape stomping). Imagine my excitement when I found out that Irvin House Vineyards on Wadmalaw Island, SC has a Grape Stomp Festival!

My family has had this event on the calendar since the spring, so of course on August 29 we piled into the car for the big event. In addition to food trucks and vendors, wine tastings, and bands, there were also fun contests – the Lucy Look-A-Like Contest and the Grape Stomping Contest. My sister and I were on the waitlist for the grape stomping, but we made it into the first round, she as the “swabber,” or the juice catcher, and me as the stomper.

This is the face of a pumped up grape stomper.

We didn’t win (those darn grapes kept getting stuck in the juice pipe), but it was so much fun. My sister’s face was covered in grape juice and skins, I almost slipped numerous times, and had grape slime all over my legs and neck. My poor mom *thought* she was recording everything, and she almost cried when she realized none of it recorded, which is fine because we were all there together to laugh and enjoy it. It’s such a fun memory to have!

If you’re in North Carolina, Cypress Bend Vineyards is having their 11th Annual Fall Harvest Festival and Grape Stomp this Saturday! Go stomp some grapes and drink some delicious muscadine wine!