Part Two
 

Part One
 

Scroll Down for the Slideshow
 

Happy Winners - The Wright Stuff team


Costume Contest Winners - The Vineyard Vixens

Opening a Wine Bottle
 

Father and Son Team Up in Calaveras Grape Stomp Upset

The Wright Stuff Wins Championship Stomp

Hatcher Winery 2^nd, Grapeful Dead place 3^rd 

Murphys, CA ~  As a big and boisterous crowd looked on, the rookie father-son team The Wright Stuff staged a dazzling upset to win first place in the 16^th Annual Calaveras Grape Stomp® held Saturday, October 3^rd in Murphys, CA. 

The Calaveras Grape Stomp is produced by the Calaveras Winegrape Alliance, an association of Calaveras County wineries and vineyards.

The expected show-down between last year's Champion, Hatcher Winery, and the legendary Murphys team (the) Cluster Busters failed to materialize.  Hatcher held up their end by placing 2^nd, but an up-and-coming team from Los Gatos, CA, the Grapeful Dead, finished third.  The Cluster Busters finished fourth.

Greg Wright, Swabber for the Wright Stuff, said he had attended “around ten” Calaveras Grape Stomps previously, but that “Fate” had always intervened to prevent his son Brian from also attending and forming the team.  This year however, Fate smiled, and the Wright Stuff was not only able to enter the Grape Stomp, the team went on to dominate the Championship by stomping 14.39 pounds of juice, over a pound and a half more than the second place Hatcher team.

The Calaveras Grape Stomp features twelve heats of 10 teams each.  Teams consist of two persons, a Stomper, who stands inside the barrel and stomps the grapes, and a Swabber, who stands outside the barrel reaching in to assist the Stomper, ensuring a free flow of juice through a screen and out the drain spout.  Teams are measured by the amount of juice, measured by weight, that accumulates in buckets placed under each barrel's drain spout. 

Proceeds from the Calaveras Grape Stomp go to support local community organizations.  The event is held in conjunction with the Gold Rush Street Faire in Murphys.

Wright, 55, from Hercules, CA, said that he “didn't have a clue” how he and his son were able to do so well on their first try.  Wright, a Master Mechanic with Manson Construction, added that he was “totally shocked” that they were the new Calaveras Grape Stomp Champions.  Brian, 29, is a project manager with RingCentral.com a telecommunications services firm.  As Champions, Greg and Brian took home cash, Calaveras wine, a T-shirt, and free passes to the the Calaveras Winegrape Alliance's popular annual event, PassPort Weekend.