One of the best things about Harvest time in Santa Ynez valley and Santa Barbara wine country is the annual Celebration of Harvest event. The other is stomping grapes.

Several wineries in the area have grape stomping parties, some of which you can race through the vineyard, wear a toga, or reserve some of your own wine that you stomped (along with the other stompers). Read below to find out where…

Kalyra Winery: the Great Grape Stomp

This is one of the oldest grape stomp parties in Santa Ynez valley, and I do mean a party. You can show up in anything from a Lucy Grape Stomp outfit to a toga. Any grape-related costume is encouraged, as well as drinking as much wine as possible, then jumping on a drunken tractor winery tour, plus eating and dancing to live music on the front porch. Get a first-hand account and find details here.

Sunstone Winery: Harvest Stomp Party

This yearly event over two weekends in September is a favorite grape stomp event in the area. It’s an all-day affair in the gorgeous Provençal-style vineyard and winery. It begins with a special bubbly cocktail made just for the event, then picking grapes in the vineyard. After being educated by the winemaker and Rice family on winemaking, you’ll climb into the grape vats and stomp to your heart’s content. A gourmet picnic lunch is also included, as well as the family’s line of wines, including some from the underground, dusty library. Get details here.

Andrew Murray Vineyards: Harvest Open House

When Andrew Murray opens his winery to the public, you want to go. The food is really good, the Syrah is plentiful, and the music and ambiance makes for a lovely fall afternoon in the vineyards. A bonus: this year you get to stomp grapes as well. You’ll also see some of the best Weekend Wine Specials of the whole year. It’s a good time to stock up, eat your fill and stomp down. Held at the winery on Foxen Canyon Road, call for directions.

Tres Hermanas Winery: Your Own Custom Crush

Each fall at this event in Santa Maria Valley, you can pick, crush and stomp your own grapes, and make your own wine. Winemaker Luke Lindquist will guide you through the process, then give you some of his wines’ barrel select tastings and feed you lunch. After your wine is bottled (roughly 15 months), you’ll get your own case of wine that you helped make! And you’ll get much more information and instruction than you bargained for with Luke’s vast expertise. It might just end up being the best wine you’ll ever make. Will be held at the winery on Foxen Canyon Road, contact the winery here.

Gainey Winery: Grape Stomp & Crush Party

Enjoy a full day of activities like grape-picking, special barrel samples, aroma demonstrations and the ever-popular barefoot grape stomp. Held each September, read more here.

“Why are you all dressed alike? What’s with the polka-dots?”

The slightly tipsy woman was staring at the seven of us dressed in various impersonations of Lucy and Ethel stomping grapes from the classic “I Love Lucy” episode. I looked our group up and down. Some did look like Lucy & Ethel, but a few of us looked more like homeless waifs. And one was more on the Raquel Welch side.

But we were all aligned in our mission and armed with wine glasses in the Santa Ynez Valley to do one thing: a grape stomp. Ok, maybe two things: taste the new Kalyra releases (especially the sparkling Brut Rose) right out of the barrels. After a few rounds of spicy bratwurst sausages in the tasting room, we headed straight for the stomping area, which just happened to be adjacent to the sparkling stainless steel barrels.

First, we needed a few quick tastes of fresh Brut Rose in various stages of fermentation, which were poured by the winemaker himself, then we placed our shoes all in a line, held up our skirts and climbed into the big trays of grapes. The water was cold, the grapes squished between our toes like slugs and the unfiltered Brut Rose was deliciously fruity. The gracious owners of Kalyra winery let us stomp grapes to our heart’s content, until we heard the band strike up on the front porch and realized our glasses were empty.

“Look, there go the Lucys,” someone said as we traipsed to the porch, just in time to fill our glasses and jump on the winery tractor for a tour of the vineyards.

We had to explain ourselves to a few of the youngsters on the tour, but most people got our outfits that day. And stomping the grapes was great fun, but I’m glad the winemaker has enough sense to use different grapes in the wines (not stomped by these particular human feet). I wouldn’t drink it after seeing all the stompers that day; in fact, I’ll just wait for the Brut Rose to come out, thank you very much.

See more places to stomp grapes in Santa Barbara county.