Grape Stomp Kicks Off Altus Festival | News

The wine is already being poured at the 29th annual Altus Grape Festival. This year is sweeter than usual, because the grape harvest came early.

“We’re about three weeks early for the grape harvest. And it should be a good one. There’s not as much, but they’re very sweet,” said Paul Post of Post Familie Vineyards and Winery in Altus.

Since the grapes are sweeter, the wine will be, too. Something Post says will set this year’s wine apart.

“It’s going to be an interesting year. I think we’ll have some vintage wines from this…where people will talk about this year for a while.”

One out-of-town visitor sampled a few of the different wines Friday morning. She said her favorite so far was Blue Parachute, a white wine offered at the Post Winery.

“We’re going to visit all of the wineries, so I’m trying to get of bottles from each place.”

If you’re not up for the wine, there are plenty of other things to do and see at the festival this weekend. More than 60 vendors are set up and selling their wares.

Vendor Jackson Keimig, a Kansas resident, is back again to sell homemade ceramic kitchenware.

“The people were so great [last year]. And Arkansas in general is just a great place to be. We just love it. We love coming here,” said Keimig.

 Other vendors will be selling clothing, jewelry, crafts, food and drinks on Friday night and Saturday.

To see the schedule of events for this weekend, visit the Altus Grape Festival website.