*Harvest festivals: first the hunter-gatherers, then the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Egyptians, Hebrews, and, what do you know, the Americans with Thanksgiving.
The Year Your Cup Runneth Over
We are no longer a farming community the way we were a generation or two ago, but even then we did not celebrate with harvest festivals. I don’t recall any merrymaking when the potatoes were dug up, or much hoopla about a good cauliflower year, or dancing in the streets with brussel sprouts and acorn squash. Harvest festivals, now a part of Long Island life, started here with the grapes.
Harvest times on Long Island, as elsewhere, depend on the grape variety. White grapes generally are harvested first and red grapes later, with particular varieties needing more time than others to build up the sugar levels required for fermenting. Harvest time also depends on climate conditions, both the weather during the complete growing season, and, very importantly, current conditions while the grapes are picked. Vineyard managers and winemakers I have spoken to are optimistic about a good crop and the crush pads are bustling, although weather in the next few weeks, during the harvest, can still make a big difference. In any case, the harvest festivals have begun and although they are more a commercial venture these days than a performance of a religious ceremony or magical rites, they still honor their original purpose—to celebrate the gathering of the crops. And they are still lively, happy and convivial gatherings.
Harvest festivals transcend time and place. The tradition almost certainly goes back to the time when ancient man first shifted from hunting and gathering to farming. The Greeks celebrated them. The Romans honored Ceres, their goddess of corn, and the derivation of our word “cereal.” The Chinese baked moon cakes for their festival, Chung Ch’ui. Egyptians celebrate the festival of Min in the spring, their harvest season. Sukkoth, known in Hebrew as the Feast of the Tabernacles or the Feast of the Ingathering, was celebrated just last week by observant Jewish families by taking their evening meals in a temporary structure covered with foliage (loosely covered so you can still see the sky) and hung with fruits and vegetables.
Thanksgiving, that most American of holidays, dates back to the successful harvest of 1621, when the Pilgrims, with help from the neighboring Native Americans, knew they would make it through the winter. Pilgrims and natives all shared a feast, at least according to traditional history books. Current revisionist history disputes that. Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed it as a national holiday and every president since has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation.
The common thread of Harvest Festivals is wine and food, and some ceremonial activities, usually picking grapes. Beyond that, each vineyard has a style and point of view on what constitutes a celebration of the earth’s abundance, just as they do on what constitutes a good wine—and the array of revelry and recreation adds to our pleasure.
The execution of a harvest festival these days needs some commercial assistance and often paid tickets, so what we see now are really updated and regulated versions of old, almost universal rituals, minus the religious aspects. It is good to see the vineyards continue this venerable tradition and establish a lighthearted new interpretation. Wolffer Estate, whose shindig will take place on Columbus Day, features food and fun—a bountiful fall buffet and barrel rolling contest that brings our the silly streak in people you thought you’d never see rolling a barrel.
This past weekend I attended harvest festivals on the North Fork at Laurel Lake Vineyards and at Bedell Cellars. The people at Laurel Lake take an interesting, educational approach, and judging from the questions and reactions, one that strikes a responsive chord in the audience, many of whom arrived by chartered bus from the city. Their personable young Chilean winemaker, Claudio Zamorano, takes groups through the cellar explaining the process of fermenting and aging. The groups clip grape clusters in the fields and also have an opportunity to participate in winemaking procedures. The work is not too serious and you get to sip new releases along the way.
This approach is a good idea, I believe, because the more people know about what goes into making wine the more likely they are to understand and appreciate the finished product. And they don’t have to wait long to test this understanding. A festive wine lunch follows the tour.
Bedell Cellars, owned by Michael Lynne, Co-CEO of New Line Cinema and an East Hampton resident, has a stylish image and this style was quite apparent at their late afternoon harvest festival. But they are also serious winemakers and, like Laurel Lake, interested in educating their audience, so there was plenty of substance to go along with the festivities that included a vertical tasting of merlots from their library, followed by dinner under a tent with live music.
