Freetime: Dennis O'Hagan, Pur-O-Zone Inc.

The grape stomping scene from “I Love Lucy” is one of television’s most iconic moments. But people really do get into a large vat and stomp grapes to make wine. Just ask Dennis O’Hagan, Kansas City area sales manager for Pur-O-Zone Inc., a Lawrence, Kan.-based distributor, who along with his wife Janet, hosts an annual grape stomp at his home.

“The day before the stomp, our family makes a fun day out of going to the vineyard about an hour away,” says Dennis. “We pick 300 pounds of grapes, bring them home, take them off the stem and put them into a circular vat with rigid sides that is actually a water trough designed for animals.” 

The O’Hagan Grape Stomp started five years ago. The stomp takes place outdoors in the evening, and before people get into to vat, there is a foot-washing protocol.

“The first year we did the grape stomp, to set the example, I washed my wife’s feet,” says Dennis.

As one would imagine, the O’Hagans are very particular about cleanliness (and not just because Dennis works in the jan/san industry), since the grapes that are stomped are eventually turned into wine. The pre-stomp foot washing station features a battery-operated stand with foaming soap, a warm water rinse and commercial towels.

Once in the vat, people hang on to handrails or each other because it gets slippery when one is ankle-deep in grapes.

“We take every precaution possible to make it safe, but once in a while we do have a mishap and somebody slips and ends up in the grapes,” says Dennis.

The 75 guests are encouraged to bring a change of clothes if they’re concerned about staining their clothes with the grape juice.

 The day after the grape stomp, Dennis says they capture the juice from the pressed grapes, draining it from a plug in the bottom of the vat.

“After we’ve captured the original ‘pressing,’ we repress it to get more juice, which is then sterilized. The reason we pick 300 pounds of grapes is to cover the circumference of the vat so that the grapes are ankle-high or deeper,” says Dennis. “Originally, we thought we’d discard the juice from the grape stomp, but we didn’t want to waste it. We get 40 to 50 bottles of wine from what we crush. There is a lot of loss when the wine is transferred from one container to another.”

The wine produced from this year’s stomp will be ready to taste around St. Patrick’s Day in mid-March.

“We’ll drink the wine from previous years during the holiday season,” says Dennis. “I always bring some to the Pur-O-Zone Christmas party so people can taste it; and at home, we like to make sangria.”

However, Dennis is modest about his winemaking abilities.

“I don’t want to come across as an expert in winemaking...this is a hobby for me. I just feel good when I get a reaction like, ‘This wine isn’t half bad’ or ‘This is surprisingly good!’