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January 2012 Contra Costa Wine Group Newsletter
Happy New Year everyone! I hope that your holiday season was good for you and your families. The Turner’s made it till midnight but the rush to bed after that was a sight to see. Our last meeting was our Nouveau Night, held on Friday night December 2, 2011 at the home of Marv & Carolyn Schick. As Carolyn was recuperating from foot surgery, Lori Beecher ably stepped in to help in the setup. Our thanks go to all of you for making Nouveau Night such a successful evening. We had 10 White/Rose Wine entries and 27 Red Wine entries for this competition. There were right around 50 people in attendance at this meeting. It was great fun. The winners this year are as follows: White/Rose Wines 3rd Place Steve & Susan Abbanat 2011 Chardonnay #2 2nd Place Dick Ingraham & Bob Hussey 2011 Gewurztraminer 1st Place Steve & Susan Abbanat 2011 Gewurztraminer #3 Red Wines 3rd Place Rich Eber 2011 Petite Sirah 2nd Place David Hicks 2011 Red Blend (60% CS, 25% Primitivo, 15% Syrah) 1st Place David Hicks 2011 Petite Sirah Congratulations to the winners listed above. Award Certificates (suitable for framing) will be handed out during the Potluck Dinner on Saturday, January 12, 2012. Here is a rendering of the CCWG meeting schedule for the remainder of the year: Meeting Mo/Date Meeting Type Host Family City Friday, February 24, 2012 Awards Night for Red Wines Friday, March 30, 2012 Awards White/Des/Fruit Burchard Martinez Friday, April 27, 2012 Regular Hunt Lafayette Friday, May 18, 2012 Regular Blackburn Martinez Friday, June 29, 2012 Regular Beecher Walnut Creek Friday, July 27, 2012 Regular Friday, September 28, 2012 Regular Hussey Danville Friday, October 26, 2012 Regular Beaman Danville Friday, December 7, 2012 Nouveau Night Please mark your calendars for those dates. Then, please seriously consider volunteering your home for the 3 meetings for which we have no host. CALL ME! Our next meeting is the highlight of our year. It will be the Contra Costa Wine Group’s 34th Annual Professional Wine Judging and Potluck Dinner. The date is Saturday, January 21, 2012. The venue is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall located at 1924 Trinity Avenue in Walnut Creek. Here is a refresher listing of Volunteers and their tasks for the day: Task Volunteer Time Commitment Computer Support Brown, Kirtley & Maas All day Gopher (Go for this, etc.) Michael Parker 8 a.m. until Noon Glass Washers (1st Shift) Hussey, Beaman, Ormonde 10:00 a.m. – 1 p.m. Glass Washers (2nd Shift) Archer, Albrecht 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Wine Pourers & Distrib. Burchards, Merrill, Anders if not judge 9:30 a.m. to end of judging Lunch Runner Weible Deliver by 11:30 a.m. Dinner Setup Kochs, Beekleys, Abbanats 4:30 to 6 p.m. Table Decorations Jim & Bette Felton 5:00 to 6 p.m. Judge Gift Baskets Debra Hussey, Lori Beecher & Eran Perera NLT 3:30 p.m. 1/21/12 Ribbons, Plaques, etc. Ken Muehring, Al Turner-Asst. NLT 2/24/2012 Meeting Table Cleanup & Removal John & Janine Walkinshaw & Mark Scheberies (hopefully) Start No Earlier than 9:30 p.m. Temp. Ribbon Placement Al Turner On all winning bottles as & Pour Spout on winners category is completed
In order for this to be a successful event, we can use all of the volunteers that we can get. No dishpan hands for glass washers so could use some more, plus Jim & Bette Felton could use a hand decorating the tables and I need all the help that I can get to load my Jeep with CCWG owned items after the dinner. SCHEDULE: Doors of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will be opened at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 12, 2012. Judging will start at approximately 10:00 a.m. The “Tasting Hour” starts at 6:00 p.m. (please no Early Bird sampling). Appetizers need to arrive NLT 6:15 p.m. and placed on either Center Table #2 or Center Table #4. Dinner will start at 7:30 p.m. As of this moment, I have 5 judges lined up for the judging on the 21st. Depending upon the number of wine entries, I need to line up either 8 or 10 judges. This also impacts the number of Gift Baskets that we purchase in advance of the event. What I’m trying to say is that it would be really appreciated if you could get your wine entries dropped off soon. The entry fee this year has been raised to $10 per entry. Have a check made out to “CCWG” for the person below. If you’re coming to the dinner, we need two bottles per entry and if you can’t make the dinner, we need three bottles per entry. Don’t forget that the “Drop Dead” last day to get your wines to one of the volunteer “gatherers of wine” is Wednesday, January 18, 2012. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS! The drop off homes and volunteer are as follows (Please call ahead):
Also, as of this moment, only approximately 60 people are signed up for the dinner. We have room for 128. I would feel a lot more comfortable if more were signed up! Please check and clear your schedules and call Josie Fike to let her know what you’d like to bring to the Potluck. I would suggest to you that guests are extremely welcome. Two persons per membership please. Warning-If you wait too long to call her, she’ll TELL YOU what to bring. Give her a call very soon at (925) 942-0452. Please note that any unopened bottles of wine remaining after the dinner will be donated to “Contra Costa Interfaith Housing” for their Ruby Slippers 2012 Dinner that is being held on Saturday, February 4, 2012. That’s all that I have for right now. This newsletter therefore is respectfully submitted. Al Turner, Secretary, Contra Costa Wine Group |