Stomping out your own shiraz

EVER wondered how wine is made?

Throughout March, each weekend The Shiraz Republic have been hosting picking and stomping parties on their vineyard for the Festival of Winemaking.

An experience anyone can take part in, The Shiraz Republic in Heathcote have opened its door to regular customer and first-time pickers to take part in the initial stages of the winemaking process.

“We have a combination of both our customers who join us for the entire winemaking experience from the beginning to the end and bottle their own wine as well as one off tickets to come and join in,” The Shiraz Republic’s front of house manager Sarah De Borre said.

“It’s a bit of a workshop where the groups come and learn about the vineyard, they go out and pick grapes with our owner Brian who explains everything, come back and go through the process of destemming, crushing and stomping the grapes.

“That all happens and all throughout they’re learning about the winemaking process and they end up going home with a bottle of our wine.”

With a specialty in Shiraz grapes, the stomping parties offer exclusive access to see how the vineyard turns them into their signature wine varieties.

After the workshop wraps up, also included in the day pass, participants will leave with a bottle of The Shiraz Republic wine and visit the vineyard’s cellar door for a wine, or beer, pizza and live music.

“It’s so affordably priced for amazing quality, you can’t even describe the difference when you buy wine from a small vineyard such as this,” Ms De Borre said.

“It’s a really wide range of people who come and get involved so it’s a real motley crew to see who is heading out there as a team because it brings together everyone.

“It’s a great way to learn some fundamentals and basics of winemaking and just to have a great day outdoors in the country in the middle of amazing farmland and bushland, surrounded by grape vines.”

To book your own one-day or all-inclusive wine making experience, visit bit.ly/31aHaMy.