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July 2007 Contra Costa Wine Group
Newsletter
The June 29th
meeting at the home of Rex Johnston and Barbara Bentley was a huge
success for the Contra Costa Wine Group. Barbara, as usual, outdid
herself with all of the great hors d’oeuvres. There were
approximately 50 people in attendance, on a wonderful
Walnut Creek evening, out by the pool, making
it one of the largest meetings of the year.
Longtime CCWG member, Tom Coyne, of
the Thomas Coyne Winery in Livermore,
and former CCWG member Hal Morris, now of VV Laboratory in
Livermore, part of The Valley Vintner in
Dublin, made a great presentation on their new
Ion Exchange technology. A couple of the examples of what this
technology can do were given. A high pH wine at 4.03 had the sample
reduced to pH 2.48 and then blended with the original wine 67/33 to
arrive at a final pH of 3.57. Another wine sample, at 3.83 pH, was
reduced to 2.52 and it was blended back into the original wine 66/34
to arrive at a final pH of 3.57. Tom discussed several of the
reasons for high pH wines. Those reasons included a poor rootstock
selection (the Freedom rootstock in particular was mentioned as
being horrible), poor irrigation cycles that placed too much stress
on the vines and improper fertilization. Unfortunately, high pH and
high acid wines are becoming more and more prevalent. The winery
currently has two sizes available for rental. The first is a small
unit that can process a 2.5-3 gallon sample, perfect for many home
winemakers. It can be rented for only a $15.00 charge plus UPS
charges to and from the winery. The Pilot Unit that can process
50-60 gallons is available for use at the winery for $3.00 per
gallon of treated wine. In the near future, the winery will have a
Production Unit that can process 200-250 gallons of wine. It should
be ready near the end of summer this year. According to Tom and
Hal, absolutely no negatives for use of this technology have popped
up. The resulting blended wine ends up with a lower pH, acid still
at the previous level and it becomes a far more palatable drinking
wine. The attendees at the meeting really “behaved” themselves and
really paid close attention to what Tom and Hal were presenting,
even while passing around bottles of member wine. This was a really
great meeting!
Peter Dragovich is looking for more
people to assist on the Harvest Fair weekend over the Labor Day
holiday weekend. The CCWG has annually set up a table in the shade
at the Thomas Coyne Winery, pouring some of our wines, demonstrating
crushing/destemming, pressing and just talking about winemaking.
The “shifts” at the winery are only 2 hours in length and a good
time is typically had by all of the volunteers. Please give Peter a
call at 925-229-0187 if you cal help out.
I have contacted Brad Ring, the
Publisher of Winemaker Magazine. He assures me that the same low
subscription rate will be available for the membership this year.
Do not pay the rate in the Renewal Notice that Winemaker Magazine
has been sending out! This subscription rate will be included in
your membership dues that for last year were only $45.00. The
subject of dues will be brought up at the next meeting. I,
personally, am not anticipating any increase in the CCWG dues.
Brad Ring also gave me a “heads up”
for a Winemaker Magazine conference to be held in
Rohnert Park, CA.
The dates will be May 15-17, 2008. I’m not sure of those dates
though as that would be Thursday through Saturday. The conference
will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in
Rohnert Park where a room will be available for
conference attendees at around $140.00 per night. Brad anticipates
that there will be around 30 different seminars throughout the
conference. You’ll be able to pick and choose those that you wish
to attend. The cost of the conference will be around $400.00 per
person and will include all of your meals. Brad is trying to get
many of the Northern California home
winemaking groups to set up a table at the conference, and possibly
pour member wines. I’m not sure of the particulars yet but will
keep the CCWG membership informed.
The California State Fair Results are
in!! Click
HERE to see how our members did in the home made wine
competition.
For the Orange County Fair results go
to:
www.ocws.org
The
only Alameda County Fair results that I’m aware of are: George
Rammell and Rex Johnston - Best of Show White
- 2006 Sauvignon Blanc; Silver - 2006 Gewürztraminer; Bronze - 2006
Chardonnay, 2006 Viognier and a 2006 White Meritage. Then Rex
Johnston and Barbara Bentley - Best of Show Red - 2004 Petit
Verdot; Best of Show Dessert - 2005
Muscat
Canelli Ice Wine; Silver - 2006 Peach Chardonnay and 2006 Purple
Raspberry.
Thanks especially to Barbara Bentley
for keeping me informed about the results of these competitions and
congratulations to all of you that were given awards at these
competitions. It continues to amaze me how good the home winemakers
of the Contra Costa Wine Group really are. I apologize to those
that have been inadvertently missed. Please let me know and I’ll
publish a correction.
> >
Cabernet Franc Grapes for Sale
We will have approx 5-6 tons of Cabernet Franc available (previously
sold commercially but due to wineries lower production this year it
is available), same also goes for a small quantity of Petite Sirah
and Zinfandel. The vines have
been thinned to maximize quality, this year and every year. The
vines are over twelve years old on a south facing slope, granite
soil at approximately 2300 feet which ensures that it is not too
hot. The average Brix has been around 27-28 in previous years and
the grapes are small berry-like ensuring maximum color and flavor.
We would stratify the pricing so that the lower quantities would be
priced slightly higher, for example 500 lbs would be $1,500 ton,
$1,600 per ton at a 100 lbs. We do and can have a crusher/destemmer
available on site and that can be included in the price. We can also
have the grapes picked for you but we would need you to provide the
bins. We would also ask that you handle the transport. You can reach
me at 925-962-8689 or 510-326-6199. My name is Barbara O Brien. We
live in Lafayette but the property
with the grapes is in El Dorado
County
(Somerset
CA). The other grapes available would be
priced according to the same strategy with same terms questions. My
email address is:
mobrien2006@comcast.net.
The July meeting will be held next
Friday, July 27, 2007 at around 7:30 p.m. It will be held at the
home of George and Pam Rammell. My “boss,” Mike Orton of The Valley
Vintner in Dublin
will be demonstrating a new alternative in home winemaking. He has
imported some new vacuum pumps and will show us how they work for
racking, filtering and bottling. Ever the tinkerer, Mike has
developed different adapters that allow a maximum in flexibility in
moving wine from various sized containers, evacuating the oxygen in
the bottle being filled and the only thing that touches the wine is
the food grade plastic hose that everyone used. This demonstration
will be very worthwhile to many of you.
Following Mike’s demonstration, I’ll
be talking a little on wine blending. Steve Abbanat has prepared a
6-page handout that includes a Wine Blending Profile Sheet.
Unfortunately, Steve will be unable to attend this meeting so there
will be a “continuation” of this discussion and some actual blending
of member wines at the September meeting. Steve has developed some
very useful information on how one should go about determining
whether to blend and if you do, how much of each wine should be
used. Very good stuff!
Mark
your calendars for Sunday, August 19th.
Carl & Cherie Lyle of Deer Ridge Vineyards have offered the use of
their new facility for our “private party” annual potluck. The
hours will be 3:00 p.m. until around 7:00 p.m. with more information
to be given in the next newsletter.
Respectfully submitted, Al Turner, Secretary, Contra Costa Wine
Group 925-837-9384
p.s. Sorry for
the tardiness. We just had the inside painted and new carpeting
throughout! Painful.
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