Nov./Dec. 2008

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 CONTRA COSTA WINE GROUP NEWSLETTER

             The last meeting was held at the home of Bob & Ruth Hussey, high in the hills of Danville.  There were just under 40 people in attendance for the meeting.  Barbara Bentley was kind enough to take notes for me during the meeting and I’ll paraphrase (briefly) those notes.  Home vineyardists Dick Ingraham, Ron Pilkington and John Walkinshaw all discussed the harvests of their grapes, the various problems that they had and how they solved them.  Members commented on leaf thinning, watering schedules, fruit dropping, sulfur applications for powdery mildew and the like.  There were winemaking discussions about YAN, Cupric Sulfate, Bentonite, Vitaben from the Wine Lab, Tartaric Acid additions, and Malolactic fermentations.  General comments about purchasing grapes indicated that although yields seemed to be down this year, prices were also down as there are many more vineyards coming “on line” with maturing grapevines.  The costs of new oak barrels, their storage, treatment etc. was discussed as well as alternatives such as oak chips, cubes, balls, staves and spirals.  It sounds to me like a lot of great information was disseminated at this meeting.  As the October meeting subject is fairly “set” I would suggest that you try and make next years’ meeting and be part of what sounded like a great discussion.  Thanks a lot to Bob & Ruth for volunteering their home for this meeting.

            Ron Louis has about 60 cases of Bordeaux and Burgundy bottles, some with labels and some without, available for free.  Just give him a call.

            Continuing members and new ones should receive their WineMaker Magazine with either no interruption or will start up in January (estimated).  Our check to them was mailed off recently by our Treasurer, Lee Wines.  Ignore WineMaker notices!

            The WineMaker Magazine Conference in the Napa Valley will be held May 15-16, 2009.  To insure a space, simply mail them a check for $499 by March 2, 2009 to take advantage of the “Early Bird Discount.”  I believe that the CCWG will again be collecting wines from our members for the “Winemaker Wine Swap & Tasting Party” to be held from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Friday, May 15, 2009.  It was great exposure for us at last years’ event.

            WineMaker Magazine’s 2009 Winemaker International Amateur Wine Competition is now officially accepting entries for this year.  Each entry will cost you $25.00.  More information is available, I’m sure, at www.winemakermag.com .  Longtime member, Bernie Rooney, owner of The Oak Barrel in Berkeley, has again graciously volunteered to ship member wines to this competition.  He will charge you $5.00 for each bottle to be entered.  This is a lot more reasonable that you as an individual can ship it.  That, and the UPS Store won’t accept wine for shipment, even though it’s perfectly legal.  You have to lie and call it Olive Oil or something like that.  To insure that your entries are received timely for the competition held in Vermont, Bernie is cutting off submissions by Saturday, March 7, 2009.

      Four families signed up as “Host Homes” for the upcoming year.  We still need five months to be spoken for, including two that require larger homes due to the larger turnout.

             Friday, February 27, 2009                  Large Home - 1^st Place Winners & Awards

            Friday, March 27, 2009                                  Regular “normal” meeting

            Friday, April 24, 2009                                    Regular “normal” meeting

            Friday, October 23, 2009                    Regular “normal” meeting (to avoid Halloween)

            Friday, December 4, 2009                  Large Home - Nouveau Night

 We currently give a check for $75 to the Host family to cover the cost of Hors D’oeuvres.  I intend to request that the February and December Host families be reimbursed $100 for the cost of Hors D’oeuvres due to the larger turnout.  It will be put to a vote on Friday, December 5, 2008, our next meeting.  PLEASE CALL ME TO VOLUNTEER YOUR HOME FOR ANY OF THESE MEETINGS.  THANK YOU.

 Saturday, January 24, 2009 is the date of our 31^st Annual Professional Judging & Potluck Dinner.  MARK YOUR CALENDAR!  A Volunteer List was passed around at the last meeting.  We still need people to sign up to help out in the following positions:

Computer Support (Mark Brown, John Kirtley & Al Maas?)          All day.

Set-Up Crew - Need 5 more people 8 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Gopher (“Go for” this, etc.) 8 a.m. to Noon

Glass Washers - 1^st Shift (Need 4 People) 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Glass Washers - 2^nd Shift (Need 3 People) 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Lunch Runners (Buy Food & Deliver to Judging site) NLT 11:15 a.m.

Dinner Set-Up (Need 6 people) 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Post Dinner Clean-Up (All dinner participants) After dinner till done 

Ribbons, Plaques, etc. (Retired Mr. Peter Dragovich?)Compl. by Feb. 29^th Meeting

             So far, the Pilkingtons (and their friends, the Rotstens), Rex Johnston & Barbara Bentley and Bob Hussey have all signed up to help out.  The lists above will be brought to the next meeting.  If you specifically desire one of the positions above, please call me and I’ll reserve it for you.

             Dig out your Wine Thieves!  Our next meeting is a fun one that we call Nouveau Night.  It’s not exactly the traditional French release date of November 15^th but it seems to work for us.  The two categories are simply White Wines and Red Wines.  At this time, there are no awards handed out.  I guess that could change if the membership so desired.  There will be score sheets for your comments and ballots for your selections, and plenty of “spit” buckets!  The voting is simply 3 Points for your favorite, 2 Points for your second favorite and 1 Point for your third favorite, in each category.  The wines totaling the most points are declared the winners, at least for the evening!  This is usually a very well-attended meeting and I guarantee that you’ll leave there with a purple tongue and purple teeth!  If your wine is unfinished, it doesn’t matter.  Use your Wine Thief to pull off a bottle full, put on a piece of tape (minimum) showing the Varietal, Appellation, and your name.  We will all ready know that it’s from this year!

            If you’d like, bring also a bottle for the Hors D’oeuvres table.  It doesn’t have to be homemade.  It could be your eclectic selection that you believe members might like.

            The meeting will be held Friday night, December 5, 2008, starting at around 7:30 p.m.  Please try and be prompt as it takes quite awhile to get through the entries and to count up the votes and announce the winners.  The meeting will be held at the home of Rupert and Eran Perera in Martinez.      

 DIRECTIONS          (See the emailed newsletter for directions