Address: 1829 St. Helena Highway Rutherford, Ca. 94573
Grgich Hill Winery is located in Rutherford California in the heart of Napa Valley. Grgich Hill Winery was established in 1977 by Miljenko “Mike” Grgich which is a peasant in the communist country of Yugoslavia and came to America who later became a winery owner. It was in 1977 when Mike Grgich and Austin Hill started to build Grgich Hills Cellar. Grgich Hill Winery is natural wine-growing farming without artificial fertilizers, pesticides being used. Their vineyard is also certified organic and biodynamic. They offer wine tasting, winery tours, and seasonal grape stomping experience.
It took us about 1 hour and 30 minutes (70 miles) to drive from San Francisco to Grgich Hill Winery via I-80 East and CA-29 North. We arrived at the winery around 10:30 a.m. to avoid the crowd and get to finish early. The winery is open daily from 10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. We were greeted by a friendly staff member and were politely directed to the grape stomping area. We paid $20 per person that came with a t-shirt and a grape stomping experience. There were 3 barrels with crushed grapes already prepared for the customers in the stomping area. There was already a group of people waiting in line for their turn. We were instructed to remove our socks/shoes and each one of us hopped inside our respective cur off wine barrel. It was a cold, mushy feeling but we weren’t bothered because we were excited and having fun. They kept on adding a few fresh grapes while we happily stomped and dance on them. After our stomping, we all then stepped out and placed both our feet on the t-shirt with our stained footprints. The staff member immediately hang our shirts to let them dry and informed us that we can walk around their garden or vineyard while waiting for our shirts. The cool thing is that they allowed us to picked the grapes right off the vines for us to taste their wide variety of fresh grapes.
We even took a picture of the unique go-kart that was on display in front of their wine tasting room. After the grape stomping we then proceeded to the tasting room as my wife tasted a few wine samples and my daughter enjoyed the olive oil samples. It was very nice inside the wine tasting room with all the beautiful wine barrels on display while we enjoyed our tasting experience. Overall, we had a great, fun and unique grape stomping experience that we will never forget.
Tips: The grape stomping experience is only available during Sept-October. The grape stomping is not offered this year due to Covid-19 restrictions. The place is also a kid and dog friendly winery. They also have a beautiful area in the back terrace with a gorgeous views of the vineyard.
Let me know if you have any questions or what you think about the Grgich Hill Winery after your visit in the comments below. And kindly share our family travel blog site with your friends and family. Or even include our travel blog website address when you post your pictures on social media. Have fun and stay safe. Thank you.