MISSOULA — Ten Spoon Vineyard & Winery bottles up Missoula’s support during its community grape harvests. At the events, volunteers come to the Rattlesnake winery from all over to help with harvest and keep the wine flowing.
“We couldn’t have picked this crop over the years without community volunteers,” said Andy Sponseller, who owns the vineyard with his wife, Connie Poten.
In exchange for snipping off grapes, volunteers get to hang in the vineyard, have lunch and of course — drinks. This week, they picked white grapes for Ten Spoon’s Going to the Sun wine. The winery and Missoula itself have cultivated the event for years.
“It's just a fun time to get people together and harvest grapes,” Tasting Room Manager Tamara Kindred said.
Kindred said the harvest is her favorite part of the wine-making process.
“I know other vineyards in other places around the country, and they don't have the support like this from the community,” she said. “This is my 20th grape harvest here at Ten Spoon. It's been an honor to be a part of this. I've seen these vines grow up.”
It is not just the vines, all of Kindred’s children have all grown up alongside the grapes too. Her daughter Ella, a freshman in high school, has been around the vineyard her whole life. Now, she works there and helps with the harvest.
“It’s kind of satisfying in a way, but also hot and hard right now,” Ella said.
Sponseller’s favorite part of making wine is when it is all done, including the dishes. But he is especially grateful for the help with the grapes.
Some of the harvest helpers return every year, and some are just passing through. Sponseller has met people from all over the world at the vineyard. No matter how many grapes they pick, they all help make the wine possible.
“If you're running a small specialty crop business like this, you really need community support, people that are bought into what you're doing, and the harvest really is an inclusive thing,” he said. “Just a lot of things that make Missoula easily appear on almost every top 10 livability list regularly in the country, so we just really appreciate being part of that.”
The harvest is not over yet. Ten Spoon is hosting another event to pick red grapes on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5..
“Come pick grapes,” Kindred said.
