Romance is missing from modern life.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Gone are love letters, treasured photo albums and children’s tree-climbing adventures.
In are Tinder hookups, family shots on Facebook and computer screen battles.
Winemaking is no exception.
At Murrumbateman Winery, Bob Makin and Jennifer Lawrence are trying to change this.
Their small operation takes a hand based approach, from the picking, to crushing to pressing and bottling.
Basic machinery is obviously necessary to the process, but the slow approach allows the winery to produce a high quality boutique wine specific to the Canberra-region.
Now, the winery is bringing the romance of the past into the 21st century, for the entire family.
On Saturday it will host a ‘Grape Stomping’ event suitable for young and old. Even canine companions will be welcome, they’ll have plenty of friends with the winery’s two dogs, Mollie and Tannin.
The event will be a taste of wine production methods of yore, when a whole family or community group would join together to stomp wine for the village.
Stomping was then a necessary part of the production process, to eliminate any non-grape matter from the brew of proto-wine.
After crushing, the liquid is fermented, stored and bottled.
“It’s romantic to look back at history, and that’s a lot of the wine industry in general,” says Mr Makin.
“Some of the [things we do] in modern crafting are being lost, say corks and even barrels are becoming less and less used for storing wine.”
Attendees will be invited to roll up their trousers and buckle down to some stomping on the day at the winery, to the backdrop of live music, sunny weather, acres of grape vines and the rolling hills of the Yass Valley.
- Grape Stomping on April 14 and 15 at Murrumbateman Winery, 131 McIntosh Circuit, Murrumbateman, for more information contact info@murrumbatemanwinery.com.au