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May 2009 Contra Costa Wine Group
Newsletter
The April meeting was held high in the hills of Lafayette at the
home of Steve and Joyce Mirabito. The meeting was very well
attended. My guess is that there were right around 45 people
present. Joyce laid out a wonderful spread of hors d’oeuvres for the
attendees. People were shuttled from the bottom of their driveway up
to the house. Everything went very smoothly. Joyce wanted us to know
that somebody left behind a dark blue fleece throw blanket at their
home. If you come to the May meeting, you can get it back from
Joyce. Anyhow, thank you very much Steve and Joyce for letting us
use your home.
Our speaker for the evening was Rod Santos of
Wine Thieves
in both Lafayette and Clayton. Rod has served as one of the
professional wine judges for the CCWG several times over the past
few years. We had asked Rod to give us a presentation on what wine
judges, in general, are looking for in a wine competition. He
brought along 3 wonderful wines that he used to demonstrate to us
things that most wine judges are looking for. The first wine was a
2004 Cynthus, Olivet Lane Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma
Chardonnay that has a retail price of $9.99 per bottle. The second
wine was a 2006 David Noyes Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma Zinfandel
retailing at $12.99 per bottle. Lastly, Rod poured a 2005 Souverain
Alexander Valley, Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon with a retail price of
$15.99 per bottle. Rod stated to us that the most common flaw in
wine, any wine, is too much oak. His second most common flaw is for
white wines and that is full malolactic fermentation and the
associated loss of fruit. There were lots of very pointed questions
asked of Rod, but since I was also deeply involved, I didn’t take
very good notes. Suffice to say that Rod did a wonderful job with
his presentation. Thanks Rod.
Thanks to everyone that donated wine for the
WineMaker
Magazine pouring last Friday night, May 15th in Napa at the
Marriott. We really “wowed” them! I didn’t hear a single negative
comment about any of the wines that we poured. Thierry Thys, Agnes
Ledeboer, Tony Blackburn, Mike Parker and me were the designated
pourers. Just like last year, we had a blast! We did note that, even
though the conference was sold out, there seemed to be fewer home
winemakers from states in the Eastern U.S. as was the case last
year. The Economy sure had an impact on their attendance. At the end
of the evening, we were left with 3 full cases of wine that are now
being donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for their charity
auction. Member, Rupert Perera, has volunteered to speak before
their group on June 5, 2009 at the home of Iris Stone in Alamo. I’ll
deliver the wine to her next Thursday.
Our Treasurer, Lee Wines, has informed me that
he has finally completed the accounting for the Contra Costa Wine
Groups’ 31st Annual Professional Wine Judging and Potluck Dinner
held on January 24, 2009. Our Treasury went down by a total of
$1,607.42. We still have almost $4,000 in the bank. The major
expenses were the Mt. Diablo Woman’s Club Hall rental @ $450, gifts
for our 10 professional judges @ $893.26 and the cost of the ribbons
and awards @ $535.28.
I received an email from Maria Terry, one of our judges this past
January. Here it is:
"Just a quick note to let you know about some new stuff I have
been doing. If you have a moment, check out the links below.
Fun summer wine ‘tastings’ at Le Jardin at the Spa in Pleasant Hill
Wine classes at Two Mile Wines in Berkeley
Daily wine updates on Twitter And, a new website to put it all
together .
If you want to be on my ‘official’ mailing
list, let me know and I will add you (or you can add your address on
the website). Also, if you feel the membership might be interested,
I would be delighted for you to forward the information on. Please
let me know if there is anything I can do for you or the group."
Thanks, as always,
for being interested in my wine life!
Most sincerely,
Maria Terry, Wine
Buyer/Educator, Certified Sommelier, La Sommelierre
Office: 925.939.0607
Fax: 925.945.0226
Cell: 925.980.6475
www.lasommelierre.com
"Expanding your
knowledge of wine… one taste at a time"
Entries into the Orange County Fair should be dropped off or shipped
no later than about May 26, 2009. Entry forms and guidance can be
found at www.ocws.org
Entries into the California State Fair, now run by the Amador County
Home Winemakers and the Lodi Home Winemaker groups, need to be
shipped no later than June 20, 2009. Entry forms and guidance can be
found at www.bigfun.org . Look under the “Competitions” Tab.
Barbara Bentley just dropped me this line: “I just talked to Homer
at the Oak Barrel in Berkeley and he said that Marin County has
extended their entry form deadline for wine and labels to May 28th.
You may want to add this to the newsletter. Vintners get judging
sheets so it's a good way to get feedback for only $7 per entry. For
more information, www.marinfair.org “
Barbara Bentley was also kind enough to transcribe for me the CCWG
member winners from the WineMaker Magazine International Competition
held in April in Vermont. These winners will be available online
soon and will also be printed in the magazine in the near future.
Congratulations to all of the CCWG winners listed below:
Joe Caturegli.......Silver
Chardonnay 100%
Chardonnay 2008
Bonneau Dickson.....Gold
(Cabernet Sauvignon)
100% Napa County Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Gold (Merlot) 100% Danville California Merlot 2007
Silver (Shiraz/Syrah) 100% Amador County Syrah 2007
David Hicks.......Gold
(Other Red Vinifera
Blends)66% Primitivo, 34% Syrah 2007
Silver (Zinfandel)...................................85% Zinfandel,
15% Syrah 2007
Rex Johnston & Barbara Bentley Gold
(Port Style) 100%
WineExpert Selection Speciale Chocolate Raspberry Port 2008
Gold (Berry Fruit)
100% Red Raspberry 2008
Gold (Berry Fruit) 100% Marionberry 2008
Gold (Berry Fruit) 100% Loganberry 2008
Silver (Berry Fruit) 100% Olallieberry 2008
Bronze (Red or White Ice Wine) 100% Late Harvest Gewürztraminer 2008
Bronze (Red or White Ice Wine) 76% Viognier, 24% Peach Ice Wine 2008
Bronze (Stone Fruit) 100% Peach 2008
George Rammell & Rex Johnston
Gold (Sauvignon Blanc) 100% Sauvignon Blanc 2003
Silver (Sparkling Grape, Dry/Semi-Dry) 75% Pinot Noir, 25%
Chardonnay 2006
Silver (Other White Vinifera Varietals) 100% Viognier 2008
Bronze (Chardonnay) 90% Chardonnay, 10% Viognier 2008
Lee Wines
Silver (Cabernet Sauvignon) 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Napa Valley
Merlot 2005
Long time CCWG member Tom Coyne of the
Thomas
Coyne Winery in Livermore and Bob Scharpf, former CCWG member,
Owner & Vineyard Manager,
Quartz
Hill Vineyard, Placerville (El Dorado County) are putting on
their great seminar again. The seminar is entitled Viticulture &
Winemaking, The Grower & Vintner Partnership. It is being given the
July 18-19, 2009 weekend at the Thomas Coyne Winery, 51 East
Vallecitos Rd., Livermore. The cost of the seminar is $225 per
person and includes written handouts, coffee, luncheon, wine and
cheese social each day. The class size is being limited to the first
14 people that apply. Fifteen percent of the net proceeds will be
donated to the American Vineyard Foundation (AVF) to further
research on vineyard diseases. For additional information, contact
Bob Scharpf by email at qtzhill@d-web.com or Tom Coyne at (925)
373-6541.
Our speaker for the Friday, May 29th meeting is Susan Captain of
Captain
Vineyard in Moraga. The title of her talk is "Great Wine Begins
With Great Grapes". Her e-mail address is susan.captain@captainvineyards.com
I’m sure that it’ll be a great talk and give us all some good tips
on what to look for from a grape grower to get the most for our
money.
DIRECTIONS: Again, Friday night, May 29th from around 7:30 p.m.
until around 10:00 p.m. at the home of Stuart and Debbie Bussey in
Lafayette. Be sure to bring a jacket, a wine glass, a folding chair
and a bottle of your best wine, or a commercial one that the group
might enjoy, for the hors d’oeuvres table. I’ll see you there.
Respectfully submitted, Al Turner, Secretary, Contra Costa Wine
Group (925) 837-9384 |
