Photo via viavecchiawinery on Flickr
Via Vecchia (vee-ah veck-kee-yah) Winery began as a hobby back in 2003 for partners Paolo Rosi, Michael Elmer and Marty Huster, who got together periodically to crush grapes with their feet for fun. In 2006, the trio applied for Federal and State winery licenses and starting stomping grapes with the public. Via Vecchia moved to the current Front Street location in 2010 and is open to the public for tastings every Friday and Saturday evening.
“We choose to make wine by stomping grapes because it is traditional, we don’t know how to do it any other way and if we didn’t how else would people know what wine should taste like?” said Rosi.
In addition to the now-uncommon grape stomping process, Via Vecchia does not chaptalise their wine; that is, they do not add sugar to the crushed grapes in order to increase the alcohol content during fermentation. They rely on nature to decide how potent their pours will be.
National Geographic recently featured Via Vecchi Winery’s annual grape crush in a list of top 10 fall travel destinations, alongside Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and Lynd’s Fruit Farm.
This year, the crush is scheduled to take place Saturday, October 1st – it’s held annually sometime around the first weekend in October, varying by the harvest. Even a week and a half out, the date is still subject to change, dependent on when the grower picks the grapes for the season. Whatever the final date may be, plan to arrive at 9am and “dress for mess,” in Rosi’s words.
Via Vecchia is located at 485 South Front Street. For more information, call (614) 893-5455.
