In keeping with the continuing trend of adult summer camps, wine lovers now have a weekend of their own to sneak away to and engage in their passion.
Joel Stein of Time Magazine recently spent a couple of days in Napa Valley at Crush Camp where he and fellow oenophiles picked, crushed, and blended a variety of grapes and then consumed their end product in hefty quantities. Stein, who paints an ironic picture of affluent yuppies paying $875 to pick grapes alongside migrant laborers being paid $2 a bucket to do the same thing, seems to have had a nice time on the retreat.
This year’s Crush Camp, organized by Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, occurred last month, however, and if you are interested in attending, you’ll have to wait until next season.
There are similar opportunities at other wineries throughout the fall and early winter as well. One of the more popular, according to an article in rival Newsweek, is the St. Supery’s “Harvest Adventure,” also in Napa Valley. This one is only half a day and $295. According to its website, it includes “grape harvesting and a grape stomp followed by a behind-the-scenes tour of the winery and barrel room for a taste of last year’s wines in progress.” Unlike Crush Camp, participants actually get to use their feet to stomp the grapes, making it more kitschy, and as a result, far better in my book–as long as I don’t have to drink what Fungal Frank from Modesto just squished between his toes.