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May 2007 Contra Costa Wine Group
Newsletter
Our last meeting was held at the lovely home
of relatively new club members, Tony & Holly Blackburn in Martinez.
Their elevated patio area made for a wonderful setting on a warm,
windless evening. The hors d’oeuvres were wonderful and everyone in
attendance had a great time. Thanks so much, Tony & Holly.
There were just over 30 members at the meeting
to listen to a very nice presentation, arranged by Tony Blackburn,
by Peter Sayre, Master Cooper, a representative of Re-coop, Inc.
This company is located at 2010 Barlow Lane, Sebastopol, CA
Telephone: (707) 829-7103. The company has devised a “shaving”
process versus a “routing” process in taking used 60 gallon barrels,
primarily French oak, and making 10-45 gallon barrels from them.
The “shaving” process, according to Peter, creates much lower
temperatures than “routing” thus is not nearly as damaging to the
“components” of the wood. Their prices seem quite reasonable and
seem worthy of a tryout. A few of our members have already used
their barrels and are, overall, pleased with their results.
Here are a couple of notes that I received from
our website ccwinegroup.com
Gentleman, Please pass this on to your Home
Winemakers Assoc.: The Contra Costa Winegrape & Olive Growers
Association is pleased to announce Phil Wente as guest speaker for
our May 10th meeting. Location is Neil and Glenda Cohn's home
located at 6740 Balfour Rd, Brentwood 925-513-0769. We welcome you
to attend and invite you to become an associate member of the CCWG&OGA.
Please feel free to bring some of the wine you’re proud of.
You can RSVP to my email. Dale Giessman-Field
of Dreams Vineyard, 925-550-6290
_____________________________________________
Alan, Folks can also contact me re: these
grapes as I work closely with Dale and the other growers out there.
Michael Parker (925) 240-6689
Alan Turner <alanturner@comcast.net> wrote:
Contra Costa wine grapes available for 2007
including Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Sangiovese. Grapes
used by Rosenblum, Hanna, Nicole, Silhouette, Sunce, Delicato and
Two Angels. Please call Dale Giessman for more information @
925-550-6290
____________________________________________
31st
Anniversary
Orange County Fair
Homewine Competition
Sponsored by the Orange County Wine Society
P.O
Box 11059, Costa Mesa, CA 92627 (714) 708-1636 FAX (714)
546-5002 ocws.org
April 4, 2007
Dear Winemaker:
The ORANGE COUNTY WINE SOCIETY,
in conjunction with the Orange County Fair, is proud to sponsor the
31st annual Orange County Fair Homewine Competition.
This will be held on Saturday, June 16, 2007 in the Wine Pavilion,
Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa. All amateur winemakers in
California are invited to submit their wines for judging. Last year
there were 674 entries from all parts of
California.
A special “COMPETITION BRUNCH” and wine
tasting will be held on July 28th, during the Orange County Fair.
This will be a time to meet your fellow winemakers and a chance to
taste some of the award-winning wines and enjoy the Fair. Passes
will be available for each participant.
The RESULTS will be posted approximately
2-weeks following the competition on the Orange County Wine Society
web site at www.ocws.org listed under Homewine Competition.
If you wish to enter in your wines again this
year or have any questions specific to the event, the entry form,
shipping instructions or delivery deadlines, please contact the OCWS
office at the above address, fax or phone number, or Jim Graver,
Competition Chairman
(949)
581-9599 E-mail –
winemaster72@earthlink.net
I have talked to members Bernie Rooney of Oak
Barrel Winecraft in Berkeley and Mike Orton of The Valley Vintner in
Dublin. Both state that they are accepting entries to the Orange
County Fair and will insure that they are shipped timely, and in a
protective carton. Wine entries must be delivered to their
respective businesses no later than May 26, 2007. If
you decide to drop your wine off at either of these businesses, your
check must be made out to the Orange County Wine Society for a total
of $9.00 per entry. That is $7.00 for each entry plus
$2.00 for the shipping. You must mail (Orange County Wine Society,
Attention: Homewine Competition, P.O. Box 11059, Costa Mesa, CA
92627) or fax {(714) 546-5002} a copy of your entry form to them and
include a copy with the wine being shipped. I’m pretty comfortable
that the CCWG will be entering lots of wine into this very
prestigious competition and, on top of that, will do extremely well
in the ribbon count!
____________________________________________
If you would like to place an entry into the
Marin County Fair, entries may be dropped off at Oak Barrel
Winecraft, 1443 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley. Forms must be received
no later than May 17th with a dropping off of your wine
no later than June 1, 2007. Each entry costs $7.00.
_____________________________________________
Rex Johnston and Barbara Bentley emailed me the
following information:
The Cowie International Amateur Wine
Competition results are posted:
www.cowiewinecellars.com/
Barbara and I won the one ounce gold coin for
the Best of Show - 2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine and two one ounce
silver coins for the Best of Class - 2005 Muscat Canelli Ice Wine -
Semi-sweet White Class-2006 Chardonnay - Dry White Class; and 7
first places, 2 second places, and 3 third places. Rex and Barbara
______________________________________________
Rex Johnston and Barbara Bentley also emailed
me the information below:
Al, The 2007 Winemaker Magazine International
Competition results were posted this morning.
www.winemakermag.com/feature/697.html
We are happy, no - ecstatic that we have
repeated as Winemakers of the Year. (My emphasis)
Sincerely, Rex and Barbara
I noted that Barbara and Rex won 8 Gold, 4
Silver and 1 Bronze Medal at this competition. The only other CCWG
entrant that I saw in the 24 pages of winners was Dennis Miner with
his Cabernet Franc 33%/Cabernet Sauvignon 33% and Merlot 33% blend
winning a Silver Medal at this competition. Congratulations to
these great winemakers! I sure hope I didn’t miss anyone.
_____________________________________________
Tom Coyne and Bob Scharpf are again putting on
their two-day seminar on Viticulture and Winemaking, The Grower and
Vintner Partnership. The seminar is intended for a) small vineyard
owners and those contemplating starting a small vineyard; b) Those
contemplating starting a small winery; c) Home winemakers and home
vineyard owners. Class is limited to the first 16 applicants. The
cost of the two-day seminar is $200 per person with coffee,
luncheon, wine and cheese social included each day. Fifteen percent
of the net proceeds will be donated to the American Vineyard
Foundation (AVF) to further research on the vineyard fungal disease
eutypa. The dates of the seminar are August 4th and 5th,
2007 and it will be held at the Thomas Coyne Winery, 51 E.
Vallecitos Rd., Livermore. Your check should be payable to Robert
Scharpf, include your name, address, City, State, ZIP and telephone
number in the envelope.
_____________________________________________
The next meeting is going to be of great value
to many of the CCWG membership. Our speaker will be Lisa Van de
Water, formerly of The Wine Lab and now of Vinotec, Napa. She
plans on speaking to us about wine fermentation, when to press, how
to avoid H2SO4, how to avoid stuck fermentations and the use of
enzymes. On enzymes, she will inform us as to what many of them do,
i.e. complete malolactic fermentation, etc. and how to avoid a
secondary fermentation in your wine. She’ll be making a Power Point
presentation and will have handouts for everyone to help us all make
better wine! This is a unique opportunity to speak to one of the
true winemaking “gurus.” Her presentation will last between 30 and
60 minutes, depending on how much detail she decides to throw in.
If you can think of any “burning” questions that you absolutely have
to have answered, we’ll have you write them down on a piece of paper
so that we can keep the Q&A portion of her talk well organized. I
really do encourage you all to try and attend! We can thank Bob
Hussey for his efforts in lining up Lisa’s presentation for us.
Thanks Bob!
The next meeting will be held at the home of Al
& Michele Turner in San Ramon. The meeting is going to be held
Friday, May 18, 2007 at around 7:30 p.m. to avoid a conflict
with the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Al Turner, Secretary, Contra Costa Wine Group,
(925) 837-9384 |
