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JANUARY 2007 CONTRA COSTA WINE GROUP
NEWSLETTER
Happy New Year
everyone! It’s now almost time for the biggest CCWG function of the
year. Get your wines cleaned up, labeled and ready to go. I’ll
have more on that subject later in this newsletter.
Last months’ meeting
was held Friday night, December 1, 2006. It was our annual Nouveau
tasting and was held at the home of Marv & Caroline Schick in
Walnut Creek. The hors d’oeuvres were
wonderful and everyone had a great time.
The winners in the
White Wine Category were:
Third Place: Marv & Caroline
Schick-Gewürztraminer;
Second Place: Steve & Susan Abbanat-Sauvignon
Blanc; and First
Place: Dick Ingraham/Bob
Hussey Gewürztraminer.
The winners in the Red
Wine Category were:
Second Place
(Tie): Dick Ingraham/Bob Hussey Lynch Merlot;
Second Place (Tie): Al &
Michele Turner Quartz Hill Vineyard Merlot and First Place:
Lee & Mary Wines Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
I feel that I must
apologize to Dwight Busalacchi as he brought a very nice
White
Port and I told him (or his
wife, Sherry) (rather abruptly, I’m afraid) that there wasn’t a
dessert category. There really wasn’t a Dessert Category, but I
should have made the attendees aware of his entry. Sorry, Dwight.
A signup sheet for
2007 Host Homes was sent around during Nouveau night. I believe
that we have now secured Host Homes for all of our 2007
meetings. Thank you all very much.
I received the
following note from Jack Starr: Al: As you probably know by
now, Diana and I sold our home in Clayton and have moved into a
condo in Rossmoor. The buyers of our Clayton home wanted to have
some of our winemaking equipment as they are going to continue to
produce wine. So, I did leave our crusher/stemmer and #40 basket
press. Do you know of anyone that has similar used equipment they
want to dispose of? I did talk to Bernie Rooney of the Oak Barrel
and of course could purchase a used press and crusher/stemmer from
him but I thought if there is a good unit or two in the club, I
could take it off the hands of a family that no longer wants to make
wine. Also, I only have a 50 gallon stainless steel primary
fermenter and would like to purchase some other primary fermenter
that would handle about 1000 pounds of grapes.
The vineyard in Marsh
Creek will produce about 1200-1500 pounds of Merlot grapes this
coming season if the critters do not get to the grapes before we
do!!!! I also think we will get about 2-300 pounds of Zinfandel
this coming season as well.
Happy Holidays. Jack 925-935-2166
Mr. Bernie Miller, of
Dublin, is looking for someone with some nice,
inky black Petite Sirah or Syrah that would be interested in
blending with his 2006 backyard grown Pinot Noir. He has about
23 gallons of quite light Pinot Noir, chemically sound, but in need
of some color and body.
Now for all of the
information on our next function. Saturday, January 20, 2007 is
going to be the Contra Costa Wine Group’s 29th
Annual Professional Judging and Potluck Dinner. It’s our
biggest function of the year. John Kirtley will have the keys to
the Mt. Diablo Woman’s Club so will be turning the heat on to a
respectable level the night before our function starts. Those that
were there at the start of the judging two years ago will remember
the 38 degree temperature inside the building when we got there!
That’s not going to ever happen again!
If you plan on
attending, be sure to call Our Exalted Queen, Josie Fike, to sign up
for either: Appetizers; Salad and Bread; Entrée or Dessert. Plan on
enough for at least 12 servings to insure that there is
enough food. Please bring a larger portion if you are bringing
guests. Remember, one membership is allowed to bring only two
guests. Give Josie your count! If you’ve all ready put in your
selection, please call her again with your count so
that we can set up the proper number of seats for the dinner.
The Fike telephone number is: (925) 942-0452. Hurry or Josie
will have to direct what you need to bring! Josie informed me
today, Friday, that we’re in need of Entrees or Salad and Bread.
Call early!!
Our wonderful judges
this year are as follows:
1. Tom Coyne of The Thomas Coyne
Winery in Livermore, long time CCWG member.
2. Joel Butler, long time CCWG
member and was the first American awarded the Master of Wine
designation (1990) in London and now
works for Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Washington and is
flying in just to help us out. He’ll likely have wine entries, as
in years past.
3. Pamela Thatcher, has
previously judged for us and works with wine for Young’s Markets.
4. Lance Bellamy, has previously
judged for us and is the General Manager of Left Bank Restaurant in
Pleasant Hill.
5. Heather Pyle, wine educator,
winemaking consultant and wife of David Lucas of the Lucas Winery in
Lodi,
CA.
6. James Waltz, an Engineer by
profession, has assisted in many past judgings at the Concannon
Winery in Livermore.
7. Mike Wangbickler, works with
(for?) past judge Paul Wagner of Balzac Communications who has
taught wine classes at
Napa Valley
College and comes highly
recommended.
8. Unknown at “Press” time!
Lance Bellamy has assured me that he has the situation well in
hand. If one friend can’t do it, then he knows of someone else who
can. Both individuals are very highly qualified. (Just let me
know Lance-thanks)
We need lots and lots of
assistance throughout the day at the Mt. Diablo Woman’s Club to make
this event as successful as past years have been. From December 1st’s
meeting, I noted the following volunteers: Setup: Lee
Wines (I presume), Al Turner, Kristen Salinas and Bob Bogardus;
Glass Washers: Bob Hussey, Bill Ryan, Bob & Mary Lu
Burchard, Thierry Thys and Annette Thuesen; Table Decorations:
Steve and Susan Abbanat; Computer Support: Mark Brown,
John Kirtley and new member Tony Blackburn;:
Judges Gifts: Barbara Bentley and Rex Johnston for
Ribbons & Plaques: Peter and Martha Dragovich. Bonneau
Dickson and Ron & Maria Pilkington have also volunteered to be there
to help out where needed. We need lots more “helpers” than
that so please plan on spending at least a couple of hours during
the day helping us with the preparations, distribution of the wine
to the judges, etc. Please bring a dish towel with you so that we
have enough to dry all of the wine glasses throughout the day.
I urgently need a volunteer to pick
up Lunch for the Judges and workers. In the past,
we’ve had sandwich fixings, veggie platters (Costco?), turkey rolls
(Costco?), sodas and bottled water for about 20 people.
PLEASE GIVE ME A CALL IF YOU DECIDE
THAT THIS IS A TASK THAT YOU CAN PERFORM. Everyone
should plan on helping with the cleanup after the event is
completed. The doors will be opened at 8:00 a.m. so that we
can get the place set up.
There was a vote was taken at the
October meeting. The entry fees for this year’s event are, each
individual wine entry now be $5.00 (Change #1) and we require
that you bring 2 bottles (Change #2) of each entry the morning of
the judging. MAJOR CHANGE (#3): Absolutely no
entries will be accepted after
9:45 a.m., Saturday, January 20, 2007, the morning of
the event. No exceptions! Sorry. Set your clock a little earlier
if you have to, but this change must be adhered to. The previous
10:00 a.m. cutoff simply didn’t allow us enough time to establish
the wine categories, etc. If you find that you’ll be unable to
assist the day of the judging, arrange with a fellow member to get
your wines to the Mt.
Diablo Women’s Club. We set a record last year with 113 entries.
More this year?
The doors will open at 6:00
p.m. for the sampling of all of the wines, winning and otherwise,
plus Appetizers. The dinner will start promptly at 7:30 p.m. with
tables again being drawn by lottery for the entrees and is reversed
for the desserts. Clear?
I must state again that we must not
cluster around the wine tables. Pour your sample and step away from
the table. Let others in so that they may partake of the wines.
Please inform any of your guests that they should do the same. This
is all just common courtesy. As those of you that know me, I’m not
bashful and am not afraid to tell someone to get out of the way and
go talk elsewhere. This is a reunion of sorts as many
members and/or spouses haven’t seen each other since last year.
Spread out throughout the facility. Don’t block the aisles or the
wine tables to hold your discussions. Thank you.
DIRECTIONS: From
Highway 680, take Treat
Blvd. East. Go several miles and turn left
on Clayton Rd.
About a half-mile later, turn right on
Farm Bureau Rd. The Mt. Diablo Woman’s
Club is down about four blocks and located at the corner of Farm
Bureau Rd. and Walnut Ave.
TO THE MEMBERSHIP: I am
attaching the 2007 Contra Costa Wine Group Membership List to this
email. Please print it off for your future use. Please “Reply” to
this email to let me know if you require a “hard” copy. I will make
a few extra copies and make them available at the dinner.
Respectfully
submitted, Al Turner, Secretary, CCWG (925) 837-9384 |
