Flag Hill Grape Harvest

There are two movies I love - Under A Tuscan Sun and A Walk in the Clouds. Both these movies take place at vineyards. I have always been in awe with photos of vineyard landscapes.


Here in New England we have several "small" wineries. Back in June my husband and I visited two of the lcoal ones. One of them, Flag Hill, has a grape harvest every year. If you are signed up on their email list you get a chance to be invited to help with the harvest. This year I got picked. I was able to bring other people. So my husband, sister in law, brother in law and myself attened out first grape harvest festival. It was a chilly New England morning. My husband and I went for breakfast before heading to the vineyard. We met up with my husband's sister Kathy and her husband Bob. I could not believe how many people were there, 200 in total. The owner of the vineyard went through what was expected of the day and then sent us on our merry way. We were sent down to the Cayuga grape section first. These grapes were plump "white" grapes witha sweet taste. Yes, I took one off the vine to taste it and I wasn't the only one. Next we were sent onto the Vignoles grapes. These grapes were a "white" grape but with a bitter taste. The Vignoles also were a lot smaller in size than the Cayuga and they seem to rot faster. I'm not sure why. After we were done harvesting the grapes we went upto the white tent area (like the type for wedding receptions). Lunch wasn't ready, since we got done with harvesting the grapes so quickly, so the winery opened up the "bar". You could order chilled bottles of wine, draft beer and soda. We also got a commorative wine glass for the harvest. They had a couple of activities that we could do. The first one was the stomping of the grapes. You could do your best Lucille Ball inpersonation. I tried and almost fell. The second activity was to paint the bottom of your feet and "stamp" then on the festival shirt (if you bought one). The last activity was a relay race. I didn't understand completely what you needed to do so I skipped it. Lunch was finally ready. They served grilled chicken and roast beef with pasta salad and cole slaw. My husband asked how many pounds of beef and was told 60-65 between the two pieces. Boy, was this food worth waiting for. For dessert they brought out pumpkin cheesecake, raspberry cheesecake and apple crisp. I went straight for the pumpkin cheesecake, man that was delicious. I can not wait til next year and hope that I get picked again.