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January 2009 Contra Costa Wine Group
Newsletter
Happy New Year everyone! I hope that your
holidays were good for you all.
Our last meeting was held at the lovely home
of Rupert and Eran Perera in
Martinez. It was Nouveau Night and was very
well attended. My estimate is that there were over 40 people in
attendance. Eran prepared many wonderful and tasty hors d’oeuvres
for the meeting. Thank you both for being such gracious hosts.
Before the tasting, a vote was held on how much
a Host Family should be reimbursed for the hors d’oeuvres prepared
for meeting attendees. It was decided that for a “normal” meeting,
$100.00 would be sent to the Host Family. For the Nouveau Night
(early December) and the First Place Winners & Awards meeting in
late February, $150 would be paid to the Host Family. This is
because the attendance at these meeting is substantially higher than
the “normal” meetings.
Speaking of Host Families, the CCWG is still in
need for the “normal” meeting on Friday, October 23, 2009 and
Nouveau Night on Friday, December 4, 2009. Please give me a
call if you can help us out. New members, especially, need to “step
up” and help out! My number again is (925) 837-9384.
There were 9 White Wine entries this year and
16 Red Wine entries. Overall, that’s down from last year, but there
were more White Wines this year than last. Also before the tasting
started, a vote was held to award a nice Certificate to the 1st,
2nd, 3rd
Place and Honorable Mention (if any) to the
winners. These Certificates will be handed out on January 24th,
our 31st Annual Professional Wine Judging and Potluck
Dinner (much more on that later).
The White Wine
Nouveau Winners are as follows:
3rd Place - Dick Ingraham & Bob
Hussey -
Latrobe
Rd.
Amador
County Sauvignon Blanc
2nd Place - Peter & Martha Dragovich
- Quartz Hill Vineyard,
El Dorado County
Sauvignon Blanc
1st Place - Mike & Sharon Orton -
Lodi
Viognier from Tom Coyne
The Red Wine Nouveau
Winners are as follows:
3rd
Place - Rupert Perera & Tony Blackburn
-Martinez, Contra Costa Co. Cabernet Franc
2nd Place - Very new members, Frank
Sisko & Maria Weidner - Tzabaco Rancho Vine-yard, Healdsburg, Sonoma
County Cabernet Sauvignon
1st Place - Ken & Gail Muehring -
Bebe Vineyards, Livermore
Cabernet Sauvignon
Congratulations to all of the winners
on a great Nouveau Night! It was a lot of fun and everyone walked
away with a purple tongue!
I recently received an email from Ty Sponchia,
President of Gulf Coast Amateur Winemakers. They are holding their
Vinalia Urbana 2009 on April 23, 2009, open to any and all home
winemakers in the U.S.
and Canada.
The deadline for them receiving your wine is April 15, 2009. For
more information and entry forms, etc., go to their website at:
http:www.gcawinemakers.com/
They are awarding a custom made Mother of Pearl inlaid award
for First Place
in each category and Best in Show.
Now for the “good” stuff! Saturday, January
24, 2009, is going to be the 31st Annual Contra
Costa Wine Group Professional Judging and Potluck Dinner!
It will again be held at the Mt.
Diablo Woman’s Club in
Concord. 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.
Former CCWG President Josie Fike is again ably
serving as our “Potluck Coordinator.” Be sure to call her to sign
up for either: a) Appetizers; b) Salad and Bread; c) Entrée or d)
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! The
facility’s size limits us to 9 tables of 10 people each. The
Fike telephone number is: (925) 942-0452. Hurry
or Josie will have to specify what you need to bring. The absolute
“last minute” for accepting “reservations” is early Wednesday
night, January 21, 2009. Only the first 90 people to get their
“dibs” in will be able to attend this great evening. It is possible
that we could fill the facility. BEWARE!!!
Our wonderful judges this year are as follows:
1. Tom Coyne of The Thomas Coyne
Winery in Livermore, long time CCWG member.
2. Tom Doczy owner and winemaker
of John Christopher Cellars in
Livermore.
3. Lance Bellamy has previously
judged for us and is the Directeur General of Left Bank Restaurant
in Pleasant Hill.
4. Jim Waltz, a previous judge
with lots of experience over at Concannon Vineyards.
5. Dave Everett, Enology and
Viticulture Professor at Las Positas
College
in Livermore.
6. Maria Terry, Certified
Sommelier at La Sommelierre.
7. Mike Zitzlaff, GM and Chief
Winemaker of Crushpad Wines in
San Francisco.
8. Rod
Santos of Wine Thieves in Lafayette and
Clayton.
9. Bryan Avila, professor and
expert at analyzing wine defects at
Napa
Valley College.
10. Joel Butler, longtime CCWG
member, now working at Chateau Ste. Michelle in
Woodinville,
Washington. About 20 years ago, Joel
became the very first American to win the Master of Wine designation
from an organization in
London,
England.
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 the last meeting, I
noted the following volunteers: Setup (8:00 a.m. till
11:00 a.m.): Lee Wines, Al Turner, Ron Pilkington, Eric Rotsten;
Designated “Gopher” (you know, go for this and go for that!):
Bonneau Dickson; Glass Washers: First Shift
(Changed) (11:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m.): Bob Hussey only;
Second Shift (Changed) (2:00 p.m. till 4:30 p.m.): Thierry
Thys, Annette Thuesen, Bob and Mary Lu Burchard; Lunch Runner
for Judges and volunteers: Bob Bogardus; Table
Decorations: Eran Perera (who has the majority of candles,
etc.), Maria Pilkington and Jessie Rotsten (Please Coordinate);
Computer Support: Tony Blackburn and John Kirtley;
Judges Gifts: Barbara Bentley and Rex Johnston; Dinner
Set-Up (4:30 p.m. till 6:00 p.m.): Bernadette Homen only;
Ribbons & Plaques: Peter Dragovich and Ken Muehring.
We need lots more “helpers” than that (especially early glass
washers and for dinner set-up (CALL ME!) 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.
Drop-ins are gratefully welcome throughout the day!
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 set up.
The entry fees for this year’s event are the
same as last year i.e., each individual wine entry is $5.00
(a check made out to “Contra Costa Wine Group” makes it much easier
for our Treasurer, Lee Wines to keep track of everything) and we
require that you bring 2 bottles of each entry (750 mL bottle or 375
mL bottle for Fruit and Dessert wines) the morning of the judging.
Absolutely no entries will be accepted after
9:45 a.m., Saturday,
January 24, 2009, the morning of the event.
No
exceptions! Sorry. Set
your clock a little earlier if you have to, but this time must
be adhered to.
We are also changing the entry procedure a
little this year. If your wine label inadequately describes your
wine, and is unclear (redundant?), you will be asked to complete an
Address Label with the pertinent information on it, on the spot! We
especially need to know the percentages of each grape in your
blends. Another requirement is the Appellation and Vintage (or
non-vintage) of your wine. Vineyard designations are very nice to
know but will not be a requirement. Lee Wines will be our
“Enforcer” for this change. As you hand him your check, he will
ensure that the necessary information is on your entry labels. I
believe that the more information that we provide to our fellow
members on where your grapes came from, the better their
decision-making in grape buying will be in future years. If you
find that you’ll be unable to get to and/or assist the day of the
judging, arrange now with a fellow CCWG member to get your entries
to the Mt. Diablo Woman’s Club. We had a record 144 entries last
year and this has caused us to go to three judging panels. Note
that we will be calling all of the
First Place winners to ask that they
bring another bottle of their wine to the tasting. If you’re
either away on vacation or going to be at the Mt. Diablo Woman’s
Club all day, arrange to have a third bottle of your wine arrive at
the facility by 6:00 p.m. I believe that CCWG members Carl & Sherry
Lyle will again graciously volunteer to supply us with enough of the
one ounce measured pour spouts to be placed on all of the First
Place wines and, especially, the three Best of Show winners.
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 very much.
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, a 4-way stop.
I just hope that I haven’t forgotten anything.
See you all on the 24th!
Respectfully submitted,
Al Turner, Secretary, Contra Costa Wine Group
(925) 837-9384 |
