Home.html - Nov./Dec. 2011

Our last meeting was held at the home of Denis Beaman in the Blackhawk area of Danville. The hors d’oeuvres were fantastic and Denis’ “assistant” Linda Ormonde did a great job on getting everything ready for the meeting. There were right around 40 people in attendance for our annual “Harvest Report” meeting.

Another member wanted to leave everything as is but have meeting attendees bring hors d’oeuvres with them to the meeting.

Therefore, for Question #1, the membership agrees to leave the host hors d’oeuvres stipend as it currently is. Regular meeting hosts get $100 and Large meeting (Awards nights and Nouveau nights) hosts get a $150 reimbursement.

Speaking of Large meetings, I am still in dire need of a Large home for our February 24, 2012 Awards meeting for Red Wines. I also need a Large home volunteer for 2012 Nouveau Night to be held on December 7, 2012. The only “Regular” meeting needed to be filled is for July 27, 2012. Please step up to help out your group and give me a call so that we can feel a lot more comfortable about our 2012 meeting schedule. (925) 837-9384

Clearly (to me at least) the membership doesn’t want any meeting to run out of wine! Perish the thought! Those members that haven’t made any wine yet are encouraged to bring along a commercially-made bottle of wine that they believe the attendees might enjoy.

There were no additional members who were willing to volunteer to serve as 2012 Officers for the CCWG. Therefore, Bonneau Dickson will continue as our Wine Czar, Lee Wines will again serve as our Treasurer and I will again continue to serve as your Secretary. Tony Inzerillo and Henry Kim have volunteered to supplement our Program Committee for 2012. Rupert Perera, John Walkinshaw and Matt Wood have been graciously railroaded into serving another year. That makes for a very nice Program Committee of 5 members.

Lee Wines, our continuing Treasurer, informed the attendees that Steve Abbanat has completed his review of the CCWG financial records and found everything to be in order. Steve has also sent me an email with several suggestions for the Contra Costa Wine Group Operating Procedures. I will be incorporating those suggestions into the document and will email it to the entire membership, at a later date.

Carl Lyle has informed me that he has 3-60 gallon New American Oak barrels to swap for a case of CCWG-made White Wine each. If your “consortium” has a need for these larger sized barrels, give Carl a call at (925) 743-9427.

As to the subject of the October meeting, i.e. the Harvest Report, indicated that this years’ harvest was all over the map. Some grapes were harvested fairly normally while others were 2 to 6 weeks later than “normal” for that varietal. Lots of very interesting discussions were held on where people got their grapes, how much they paid, were they late, what condition were the grapes in, etc. Please plan on attending the 2012 Harvest Report meeting. A lot of really useful information was disseminated. A turnout of 40 people was great as many members have used their wine as an excuse for not going to previous October meetings.

Al, Bonneau Dickson left a chair at my house. In addition, I have a woman's gray knit scarf, white furry vest, and a furry headband? I will gladly deliver these articles once we know who the rightful owner is. I can best be reached on my cell 925-487-3460 to make arrangements for delivery. Thanks, Denis Beaman

The WineMaker Magazine International Judging is just around the corner. As you may, or may not, remember, The Contra Costa Wine Group was the 2010 and 2011 Club of the Year. That was with absolutely no encouragement on my part. This year, however, I’m encouraging our members to get 1, 2 or 10 of their wines entered. Bernie Rooney of Oak Barrel Winecraft, 1443 San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley is again accepting entries that he will get shipped (for a small fee) to Manchester Center, Vermont to arrive before the cutoff date. Bernie feels that he must ship those wines no later than Wednesday, February 22, 2012. Please consider putting several of your best wines into this wonderful competition. Entry forms can be found at www.winemakermag.com The entry fee is $25 per entry and they only require a single bottle to enter this competition.

Please bring an extra bottle of your best homemade wine along with you on Nouveau Night for the Ruby Slippers 2012 – There’s No Place Like Home charity dinner to be held in February, 2012. I collected a case of wine at the October meeting. It would be great if we could bring that total up to around 4 cases or so. I’ll have some donation forms available at the meeting. The Contra Costa Interfaith Housing organization really does want to acknowledge any wine donations by letter and need your mailing address, etc. Thank you all for your support of this great charitable event.

On Saturday, January 21, 2012, we will hold the 34^th Annual Contra Costa Wine Group Professional Wine Judging and Potluck Dinner. The sign-up list for volunteers at the event has filled up quite nicely. Thank you all. I’d still like to have another couple of people volunteer to help out at the end of the evening. I call it “Table Cleanup & Removal of Remaining Wine & CCWG Owned Items.” Please give me a call.

There is a MAJOR change to this years’ judging. NO WINES MAY BE DELIVERED ON SATURDAY MORNING, THE DAY OF THE JUDGING! All wines will have to be delivered NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2012 to one of the five drop off homes located in the “Bay Area.” Those homes are as follows:

Concord – Rich Eber, Days @ “Amerasa,” 936K Detroit Ave., Cell:(925)518-5852

Note to these individuals: I will be bringing 40 Pre-Numbered Paper Bags, Masking Tape, a black Sharpie and Sign-In Sheet for you to Nouveau Night.

As we have a lot of new members in the group, I feel that some information on how our judging works is in order. To be able to enter the judging, everyone should have a minimum of 5 bottles (explanation follows) of each entry in their possession. If you’re attending the potluck dinner that night, you need to bring only 2 bottles of each entry to the drop off homes listed above. If your wine is given a First Place award, you will be called and told to bring an additional bottle with you when you come to the dinner. If you are unable to attend the dinner, or don’t know yet, you need to deliver 3 entries to that drop off home. This is because everyone wants to taste the First Place and Best of Show wines upon their arrival for the dinner. Note that, if you aren’t quick enough after the dinner, any unopened bottles of wine remaining will be collected and donated to the Contra Costa Interfaith Housing charity for their February dinner.

The additional 2 bottle “requirement” is so that the First Place wines can be tasted at the Awards meeting that follows in either February or March. Those two meetings are usually very well attended, thus the need for two additional bottles! We alternate years, so for 2012 the Red Wine Awards will be handed out on Friday, February 24, 2012. The White, Dessert and Fruit Wine Awards will be handed out on Friday, March 30, 2012. First place winners are asked to provide a simple handout to those attending the meeting explaining all of the details about the winning wine and present it, briefly, to those attending the meeting.

Our next meeting is one of the biggest and most fun events of the year. It’s “Nouveau Night” where members bring their “works in progress” and have them judged by everyone in attendance. We divide the wines up by Red and White (no Dessert or Fruit wines), place them on two or three different tables and go around sniffing, sipping and spitting. If you drink any of the Red wines, you’ll end up with a really purple tongue by the end of the evening! I’ll have note sheets, ballots, tape, marking pens and paper bags for the blind tasting. Get a little of your new wines into a bottle NOW so that they’ll get over, at least a little bit of, bottle shock. You only need a piece of masking tape on the bottle identifying the varietal or blend and the name of the winemaker. I’m expecting a lot of wines to not be through Malolactic Fermentation yet due to some of them being harvested so late this year. We already know that it’s a 2011 vintage! Certificates suitable for framing will be awarded to the winners of this event and handed out at the Potluck Dinner on Saturday, January 21, 2012.

The Nouveau Night meeting will be held Friday night, December 2, 2011, starting at around 7:00 p.m. We’ll start the “program” promptly at 7:30 p.m. Please try and be prompt as we need to get all of the Nouveau wines into a bag and then get them randomly numbered. Late arrivals cause the tasting to be a lot less “blind” because their wines get the higher numbers. The meeting will be held at the home of Marv and Caroline Schick, 2303 Belford Drive in Walnut Creek. Lori Beecher will be helping out as our hostess Caroline is still immobilized after major foot surgery.

DIRECTIONS: From Highway 680 going South, take Exit 48, toward Treat Blvd./Geary Rd. Turn left onto N. Main St. Turn left onto Treat Blvd. Take a slight right onto Bancroft Rd. Turn left onto Ygnacio Valley Blvd. Turn right onto Wiget Lane. Turn right onto Belford Dr. The Schick home, 2303 Belford Dr. will be on the left.

From Highway 680 going North or Highway 24 from the West, take the Ygnacio Valley Blvd. exit. Turn right onto Ygnacio Valley Blvd. Turn right onto Wiget Lane. Turn right onto Belford Dr. and the Schick home at 2303 Belford Dr. will be on your left. If you get lost you can call them at (925) 945-6199.

Bring a bottle of your best homemade wine for the Hors D’oeuvres (half) Hour, your Nouveau entry, another for the Contra Costa Interfaith Housing dinner and a wine glass for the tasting. There will be no chairs for sitting for this event. For those of you that haven’t made any wine yet, please bring a bottle of commercially made wine that you believe the group will enjoy. I’ll see you all there.

Respectfully Submitted, Al Turner, Secretary, Contra Costa Wine Group (925) 837-9384