Grape Stomping: Visitors to Lehm Berg Winery participate in process

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Kaylee Lyle of Austin visited the winery with her grandmother, and certainly enjoyed smashing the grapes under her little feet. -Staff photo by Taylor

August 25, 2005 - For everyone who remembers the famous “I Love Lucy” television show where she stomped grapes at a local winery, the Lehm Berg Winery in Giddings offered visitors the same fun on Aug. 6.

Early risers were offered the experience of helping harvest the grapes, earlier in the morning, and the “stomp” officially started at 10 a.m. Those brave hearts were given a free lunch and t-shirt for their help, and the fun of getting into a vat … barefooted … to stomp the grapes and make footprints on their new t-shirts. Other visitors were welcome to purchase the shirts and stomp, too.

Lehm Berg Winery was opened in 2002 by Carl and Mary Beth Droemer and his family, and it’s been “full speed ahead” since then. When Carl’s family settled in the Giddings area in 1913, they made bricks from the clay soil during “down” time from their farm chores. By 1930, they purchased a brick press and grinder to process the brick clay and began making bricks. The name “Lehm Berg” means “clay dirt” in German.

At the winery, Jared loads the grapes into a power-driven device that separates the stems from the fruit. -Staff photo by Taylor

Carl noted that as the family expanded, John E. Droemer and his wife, Anna Marie, decided they needed a larger home and built the house which now houses the winery. Although it stood empty for about 20 years, after Carl and Mary Beth built another home, close by, they decided to restore the old home place and many memories.

By 1997, Carl and his son, Ben, decided they wanted to try making homemade wine. It was such a hit with their friends and family, they decided to go into the winery business, and it took until 2001 to get everything in place.

At first, Carl had to purchase all of the grapes to use for their wines, but planted his own vineyard, which is now producing many of the grapes for the various wines they offer.

The grapes that were harvested on “stomp day” were Lenoir, or Black Spanish, and according to granddaughter Caroline Boriack, the harvesting season is “usually” between July 4 and the first part of August. Of course, weather conditions can change things, but this is what the Droemer family plans for each year.

The grapes that were picked this year were planted about six years ago, and Caroline explained that “last year was wonderful for the Wild Mustang” grapes. The Lehm Berg Winery offers 10 reds and five white wines, along with sherry.

Once the grapes were hauled up to the winery, they were placed in big tubs where the stems were removed by automatic machinery and then the grapes were pressed into juice and moved into another tub. Carl is proud of the fact that his winery has had the distinction of being the only winery in Texas to use natural yeast in their processing.

According to Jared and Jarvis Boriack, grandson and son-in-law of Carl’s, they usually expect to get about 200 gallons of juice from 2,400 pounds of harvested grapes.

Although Carl and Mary Beth are considered “retired,” they still enjoy working with their family in the winery, and are hopeful that this latest undertaking of the Droemer family will continue throughout many more generations. From the conversations with Jared and Caroline, it’s obvious they are well versed in the vineyard operations, so the winery has already progressed through three generations.

The Lehm Berg Winery is open to the public and information concerning hours, etc., can be found at www.lehmbergwinery.com or by calling 979-542-2726.