On the Farm: Customers help with the harvest at one Virginia winery

GOODVIEW, Va. (WFXR) — As the Beatles once sang, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

So, what does that have to do with Virginia wine? In this case, a lot.

Every year, the folks at Fables and Feathers Winery

in Goodview, Virginia throw a few grape picking parties. They invite their customers to help with the harvest. It cuts costs, cuts the time needed to pick the grapes, and it give their wine-loving customers an immersive experience in the winemaking process.

“It’s amazing to see them all come out for it,” said Genny Luedtke, one of the Fables and Feathers owners. “When we first started and we didn’t know anyone down here, we were doing it all on our own. It was a lot. Once we opened and we started meeting people, I mean Virginia is just full of the friendliest people I’ve ever met.”

“We love it,” said Ruth Potter, one of the customers helping with the harvest.

When asked about drinking the wine from the grapes she picked, Potter laughed and said, “oh, yeah!”

On this day, Traminette grapes, which are turned into a semi-sweet white wine were being harvested. White grapes are picked earlier. Red grapes are picked later in the season. Fables and Feathers will host more customers then for that harvest.

For Kathy Hammer, another customer who chose to spend her Saturday morning picking grapes, it is all about being part of the total experience: “I like coming out and doing it because for the finished product, when i go to drink that, I’m like, i was part of that. You know, you really feel like you’re immersed in the whole thing.”

That is a sentiment echoed by other customers. They say being part of the winemaking process from grape to glass, gives them a better appreciation for the wine they love.

Debbie Schultz is one of those customers: “To be part of the process, to coming out here in the vineyards to seeing the grapes and how they’re grown, and to harvest them yourself, and then come back and drink tht wine, it’s a great experience.”