Author: Wendy Taylor

Categories
Mini Tastings

2022 Syrah/Petite Sirah Mini-Tasting Wrap Up

The March Mini-Tasting featured six Syrahs, three from California and one each from France, Australia, and Chile, along with four Petite Sirahs from California. There were seven host sites throughout the county.

The Macchia Rebellious Petite Sirah from Lodi, CA was the overwhelming favorite, placing First at four sites, Second at two, and Third at the final site. Second place was Bellante’s Watch Hill Vineyard Syrah from Santa Barbara County. Third was Chronic Cellars Suite Petite Petite Sirah from Paso Robles, Ca.

The four favorite wines across the seven host sites:

In addition, attendees brought a delicious dish to share and then voted on a Chef of the Evening. The results of the Chef of the Evening at each host site are:

  • Hosts Tina & B.J. Fornadley: Tina Fornadley – Asian Style Pulled Pork
  • Hosts Julie Good: Julie Good – Ribs
  • Hosts Pam & Bill Oneida: Alice Polser – BBQ Beans
  • Hosts Greg & Cathy Risling: Elee & Don Phillips –  Pork Loin with Red Wine and Plum Sauce (with Poached Plums)
  • Hosts Pat & Frank Solis: Jim Burk – Boeuf Bourguignon
  • Hosts Beverly Genis & Bob Topham: Barbara Greenfield – Pork Loin
  • Hosts Barb & Dave White: Kim & Sam Clark – Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pecan Pudding with Whisky Sauce

The detail scores by site will be posted on the OCWS website. Congratulations to all the winners! A big Thank You to the Hosts! Please send your recipes to George Cravens at George@ocws.org for possible publications the website.

– George Cravens, Director

Categories
Members Corner

A Trip Around the World Must Always Include Wine!

Our world cruise adventure continues. Since the beginning of March, our travels on the Viking Star have had us in or near the Mediterranean with only three stops on the European continent but mostly island hopping. Three notable islands were Sardinia of Italy, Malta and Corfu of Greece. Notable because these three islands, in the Med, produce some excellent wines.

Side note, we also experienced some wonderful Madeira, from the Portuguese Island of that name, as well as Sherry from the Spanish island of Mallorca. But you don’t want to hear about that, do you? Well, maybe another time. For now, let me tell you of these wonderful island-grown wines.

Now of course, we of OCWS are very familiar with mainland Italian varietals and blends, but I cannot recall any Italian wines found in California coming from Sardinia. We docked on the southern port of Cagliari and travelled inland a bit where our tour/tasting group pulled into a winery known simply as Argiolas. This is a very large family-run winery that has its origins in the early 1900s. Antonio Argiolas, the patriarch, built it up over the years and ran it with his two sons until his passing at the age of 102. There must be truth to the belief that drinking red wine protects you from diseases and will extend your life. Today, it is run by the third generation of Argiolas, three grandchildren!

After a tour of the winery by our very friendly guide, Giulia, we were hosted by the winery to enjoy their wines along with an assortment of cheeses and breads. It was not only a great experience, but the wines were fantastic. We were offered two whites and two reds, all DOC and all made from grapes grown in the family vineyards on Sardinia.

The two whites were labelled as S’Elegas made from a local varietal known as Nuragus di Cagliari (it’s a good thing I took a brochure or I would never have spelled this correctly)! Of the whites, this was my personal favorite. Manuela, on the other hand, preferred Costamolino, made from the local variety of Vermentino, a varietal that I am sure you are familiar with.

The two reds were Pedera and Cosera. Pedera was made from the Monica di Sardegna, a popular grape on the island and had a unique but excellent flavor. The Costera came from the Cannonau di Sardegna, which I learned later is the Italian name for Grenache and tasted very much like a California Grenache. It is also the most widely grown in Sardinia. Both of these were excellent, though I favored the Cannonau. These wines are available in the United States!

Our next stop was Malta. Malta has a long political history changing hands in ownership from England to Turkey. Malta gained its independence from England in 1964, but they still drive their vehicles on the wrong side, I mean the left side, of the road. Malta is located south of Sicily, the lights of which can be seen on a clear night, and it has two official languages – Maltese and English. And before I get into the winemaking, Malta is a beautiful island country that should be on your bucket list. The incredible vast limestone block structures that fortify the small cities and dominate the Old Town areas are unlike anywhere else.

Perhaps you know all this, but what was surprising to me is that Malta has a thriving local wine production.

Once again, our tour group took to the road, making a trip to the Marsovin Wine Cellars in the port city of Valletta. This winery was established in 1919 and, surprisingly, was created out of a vessel storage and repair facility located within an easy reach of the Mediterranean Sea. For over a hundred years, this winery has been owned and operated by the same family starting with the brothers Cassar. But when one of the brothers dropped out, the business stayed with Anthony Cassar, then later his son, and then on to the grandchildren. Our tour was conducted by one of those grandchildren, Stephan Cassar, who clearly knew well the history and operation of the Marsovin Wine Cellars. We were shown the sparkling winemaking process in particular. Of note, 2019 was the 100th anniversary of Marsovin and had been celebrated in style with a special vintage that was hand prepared and bottled.

After the tour of the cellars, we were than treated to a taste of some of the wines, all made from Maltese-grown grapes, coming from either the island of Malta or Gozo, largest of the other Maltese islands. There were two white varietals by names I could not repeat. But one of the reds we tried that stood out was the Ulysses Shiraz.

In the local stores and restaurants, you could find Marsovin. In fact, later, we enjoyed a glass of Marsovin’s local reds while observing a traditional 4 pm canon salute from the nearby military batteries. Excellent!

A third Mediterranean island that makes very good wine is the Greek island of Corfu. Unlike Sardinia and Malta, which are quite some distance from the continental mainland, this island is right up against mainland Greece. In fact, it was within sight of the snow-covered Albanian mountain range to the east. We did not have a formal wine tour here, but the locally produced wine was everywhere. We tried a few at local cafés and found the wines to be excellent, particularly the whites. The photo above shows a store display in Corfu that presented only Corfu-grown varietals, with a few from mainland Greece. I could list some of the varietal names, but instead, I encourage you to come here – or to any of these wonderful Mediterranean locations – and discover some of remarkable regional wines on your own. Our trip continues for eight more weeks.

– W. Scott Harral, Contributing Writer

 

Categories
Commercial Competition Courtyard

Earn OC Fair Drink Tickets Redeemable at The Courtyard this Year

Help us get new wineries registered for the 2022 OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition!

On March 17, the Orange County Wine Society sent you an email entitled: “2022 OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition – Help Us Get the word out …”

Here are the easy steps for you to take to earn extra drink tickets:

  1. Forward the email mentioned above to your favorite wineries that have not signed up for the Competition before; and
  2. Make sure to blind copy Liz Corbett (Liz@ocws.org) on your emails so that we can give you credit when they sign up.

If your winery enters their wines in this year’s Competition (and they are new to our Competition), you will be rewarded with additional drink tickets during the OC Fair. Your efforts will also be recognized in the OCWS Wine Press newsletter.

Thank you for supporting the OCWS and getting the word out about the OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition which is the largest competition of wines from California grown grapes.

Questions, contact Liz at the above email address.

– Liz Corbett,
2022 Commercial Wine Competition Administrator

Categories
Members Corner

Hotel Reservations for Commercial Wine Competition

If you plan on staying at the Costa Mesa Hilton Hotel for the weekend of the Commercial Wine Competition please make reservations no later than May 20, 2022. The OCWS has booked a block of rooms for OCWS members at a discounted rate and this rate is guaranteed only until that date.  The special rate […]

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Categories
President's Message

President’s Message-Competition Time is Fast Approaching

I mention often enough that we are in an especially important partnership with the Orange County Fair & Events Center which affords us the opportunity to run the Commercial and Home Wine Competitions each year. What I have not touched on is the behind-the-scenes workings that make these Competitions a reality. Unless you’ve volunteered for these amazing, professionally run, and labor-intensive events, I assure you, it is mindboggling as to just what it takes to run successful Competitions. And the fact that volunteers do everything is truly unbelievable!

By the time you read this, preparations for the 2022 Commercial Wine Competition have been well under way for over seven months. The Competition, which is traditionally held the first weekend of June each year, isn’t technically completed until the last bottles are sorted and the award medals are mailed by the end of June. Planning for the next Competition begins barely two months after the prior Competition has been put to bed. Hardly time for a short nap and a glass of wine in between.

The hotel contract for each year is negotiated three years prior. The first of a number of communications to over 4,000 wineries are sent in September in preparation for the next Competition, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Commercial Competition Committee is comprised of a number of people from the Chairperson, who heads the Committee, to the Head of Judges, who contacts and coordinates 90+ professional winemakers and winery principals who judge the Competition, to the Tech Coordinator, who oversees the software programs and equipment, to the Facilities Coordinator, who handles rooms and meals, invitations, etc., to the Volunteer Coordinator, who schedules and directs over 300 volunteers in two days, to Scoring and Verification Coordinators, and so on and so on. Impressed yet? No? Just keep reading.

How about the most vital of roles as Head of Cataloging, who oversees upwards of 2,700 entries? That is 16,200 bottles, as each entry consists of 6 bottles. Then take into consideration the bagging coordinators, as the Competition is a blind tasting; one bottle of each entry has to be bagged and labeled for pouring at the Competition. Then think about not only transporting the wines to the hotel, but the glassware, racks, trays, towels, and computer equipment, too. Also take into consideration that everything that is done has to be undone upon closing of this year’s Competition – then prepared for the next. No sooner does the Competition conclude, a Steering Committee of six compiles and reviews all the information and confirms the awarding of medals. This is followed by each and every entry being photographed for publication on our results website (WineCompetition.com) and mailing notifications to the award-winning wineries, followed by mailing of their medals.

This is just a brief glance into the Commercial Wine Competition.

On a smaller scale, the Home Wine Competition is run with basically the same dynamics and is held on the Fairgrounds the following weekend and receives well over 600 entries a year.

Have I provided you with enough information yet to have your head spinning? I could easily continue to bore you with more statistics, positions, lists of the names of people who, out of their passion for this organization and goodness of their hearts, take the lead positions. Rest assured, this is just the tip of the iceberg wherein you hear about volunteers running this organization.

All of this is accomplished at the hands of hundreds of dedicated volunteers without whom the OCWS would not be what it is today. Utterly amazing in my opinion! I am so proud to be your President and, as of this year, Chair of the Commercial Competition Committee, and to have the opportunity to share stories of incredible people and events with you.

If you are new members or have never worked at either of the Competitions, I promise you, you won’t regret trying!

– Fran Gitsham, President

Categories
Members Corner

A Trip Around the World Must Always Include Wine!

Retirement is GREAT!!! If I had known retirement would be this great, I’d have done it sooner. OK, probably not, as there is a reason that we do work.

But I am enjoying it now. And so far I have shared with you, through my submissions to The Wine Press, a few of my experiences traveling that, most importantly, have included the delight of wine from many parts of the world. Allow me to do so again.

On Christmas Eve, now two months ago as I write this, Manuela and I embarked on a venture of a lifetime, to cruise around the world. We left from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, heading south to the Panama Canal, with planned stops in Mexico, Nicaragua, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica and then to Los Angeles, before heading west to Hawaii and southern Asia. Well, thanks to COVID, we never made it to Nicaragua nor Columbia. And when we got to LA, guess what? We could not leave the ship the three days we were there. More importantly, we were no longer going to go west to Asia. Instead, we were to go back south to sail along the western coast of South America, around Cape Horn, up to Uruguay – sadly, no stops in Argentina – and then over to the Mediterranean where we resumed our original itinerary in Saudi Arabia. We had just spent the day in Cape Verde, a country of ten islands off the coast of Senegal and we were about halfway through the trip.

Enough about our trip though. The good news about the changes and what I want to share with you is the incredible wineries and wines that we experienced in Chile and Uruguay. Plus, there is another little wine adventure I will tell you about.

I am sure most of you know and enjoy Chilean wines. They are extraordinary and becoming very popular in California restaurants and wine circles. On this trip, we got to go more in depth and learn about Chilean winemaking history and what it means to their wines. For one, did you know that Chilean wine is organically grown and processed? There are strict laws in place that require the vineyards to be managed without chemical treatment. And in further support of this condition, Chile also imposes restrictions on any food or plant materials coming into the country. They enjoy a very healthy grape growing environment in Chile, and they strive to keep it that way.

Our first stop in Chile was in the port city of Valparaiso. From here, some of us took an excursion to a winery in the region known as Casablanca. Know that this region is in central Chile and is in the same latitudes south as the wine-growing regions of California, France, Italy and other wine regions of Europe are to the north, between the 30th the 38th parallels. Thus, this is an ideal growing region for wine grapes. The winery we visited was called Viñamar. While Chile grows and makes the usual vitis vinifera (old world) reds and whites, Chile is known for its Carmenere. Like Argentina’s Malbec, Carmenere originated in France, transferred to Chile and flourished there. Some of the great wines we had in Chile included Carmenere from Viña Tarapacà (my top pick) and San Pedro Castillo de Molina Pinot Noir Reserva. There were so many more.

After several more days of visiting Chile and sailing around Cape Horn, we stopped in Uruguay. Have you heard of Uruguayan wine? Well, I hadn’t either, but it was fantastic.

From our port stop in Montevideo on the mouth of the Plate River that separates Uruguay and Argentina, we visited a winery inland near a town called Canelones. Some more background, the wine region of Uruguay is between the 30th and 35th parallels. It is in the same latitudes as Mendoza, Argentina, and of the Chilean wine region we had just visited a few weeks earlier. That should tell you something!

Once there we were given the grand tour of Familia Deicas Winery. Because we were in the southern hemisphere, it was approaching harvest time, so we observed the field labor teams organizing to hand pick the grapes. In Uruguay, the grape of choice is Tannat, but the usual varietals were grown there as well. One unusual grape was called Lacryma Christi or the Tears of Christ. The fruit was sweet and had a bright red juice. See the picture.

Back in the cellar we enjoyed seven of their wines that included the Tannat, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and another popular white, Albariño. Some were sold under the name Don Pascual. It was a great day and memorable experience!

If you should ever get the opportunity to travel to South America in search of great wine (or otherwise), you will find it in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, for sure.

After departing Uruguay, we headed for the African coast. Along the nine-day voyage I was given a wonderful opportunity. Some background, while we were in the Port of Los Angeles, though we could not leave the ship, I did arrange for several bottles of my homemade Nebbiolo to be brought onboard.

The day after we departed LA was my birthday. So, we celebrated in style sharing my wine with some of the passengers and crew. Well, somehow, I was asked to make a presentation on home winemaking. “I would love to!”  Not knowing exactly what to do though, I reached out to Kevin Donnelly. Wow, he was great! He provided me with his 110-page PowerPoint presentation on home winemaking!  After a few modifications and including a few photos of my own winemaking experience both at home and in Italy, I made the presentation. Wine was provided by the Viking Bar Manager Andrej and Sommelier Dejan while I made the presentation to a packed theater of about 45 people. It was a great success. I have even been made an honorary sommelier on board the Viking Star, and I have the badge to prove it.

We still have 2½ months to go, and we will be hitting many Mediterranean ports which will include more visits to wineries such as in Malta.

So a follow up to this story just might be in order.

– W. Scott Harral,
Contributing Writer

Categories
Courtyard

2022 Courtyard at the OC Fair

Feel the Sunshine – July 15 through August 14

It will be time again to Feel the Sunshine at the 2022 OC Fair while helping the OCWS continue to rebound from these past few years of COVID by volunteering at our major fundraiser of the year, The Courtyard at the OC Fair.

Volunteer opportunities will be here before you know it! So, plan accordingly, as all willing hands and wonderful hearts will be needed and greatly appreciated.

  • Servers – Sign-ups open May 1 on the OCWS website
  • Managers, Stewards and Cashiers – Check your inbox (and spam folders) for invitations to sign up for these positions
  • Dates for set-up, decorating and tear-down will be announced soon

We are sure you are all wondering what this year will look like. Well, so are we!  At the writing of this article, we had been advised that we should plan on running The Courtyard the same as we did last year, which means we may only be serving wine by the glass again. However, the final determination is yet to be made by the Fair. Therefore, depending on COVID numbers and State and County guidelines as we get closer, we may, and are hopeful to, be able to have wine tastings and in-person seminars, but will not know this until a later date.

The Featured Winery Program will be returning! More details will follow as we get closer to Fair time and receive OCFEC confirmation of any parameters and restrictions at that time.

If you have any questions regarding volunteer sign-ups, please contact our Courtyard Scheduling Coordinator, Rich Skoczylas at Rich@ocws.org, or reach out to me at Fran@ocws.org.

We look forward to seeing you at the Fair and continuing to get back to sharing fun, great laughs, and wine together in person!

– Fran Gitsham, Courtyard Committee Chair

Categories
Commercial Competition

Commercial Wine Competition Volunteers

This year is speeding by so quick, it is hard to believe we are preparing for the 46th Commercial Wine Competition this year!!  The sign up is on our website, (must be login), released Friday, March 11.

We appreciate your flexibility in w/2022-commercial-competition-volunteers/orking together to make this another fun event. There are many areas where volunteer help is needed such as stewarding, glass washing and drying, as well as a handful of positions for computer verification. Continuing the efficiency of the past, the computer input positions will be assigned. A sign-up form is included on the website that identifies stewarding days, bagging nights, and other work parties with times and dates. In order to qualify for stewarding, it is required that you to sign up for a minimum of two additional work parties. We offer bagging and moving of wine to and from the Competition site, and including sorting day later in June. We need your support for our work parties in order to run a successful Competition. The good news is that we will have some hired help for heavy lifting. No training is necessary, as newer members will be teamed with Competition veterans.

As a heads up, if you volunteer to steward, it means carrying trays of glasses—it’s physical and can get tiring. Along with stewarding, you need to be prepared to assist your Steward Captain with opening wine bottles, preparing glasses for tags and cleanup of the judges’ tables as needed, under the direction of your designated Steward Captain. Please dress accordingly, using your OCWS apron is recommended. Sneakers or shoes you can walk (forward, always forward…not against traffic) comfortably in all day.

If you have any questions, please feel free to phone me at 562.822.3382 or email me at Strompharms@earthlink.net. We look forward to your participation in making this very important event as successful as ever.

.– Robyn Strom, Volunteer Coordinator

Categories
President's Message

President’s Message – The Vines Our Grapes Thrive On

The Orange County Wine Society is known for running The Courtyard at the OC Fair each year and reaping the benefits, but most people don’t know how this came to be. Income from The Courtyard, along with the Wine Auction each year, pay for the running of the Commercial and Home Wine Competitions and sustaining the organization; however, this does not come from the OCWS alone. We are considered a non-profit partner to the Orange County Fair & Event Center (OCFEC) which affords us the opportunity to run the competitions and realize the benefits. The Competitions that we run each year are, in fact, owned by the OCFEC, but it was a small group of home winemakers that not only began our organization 46 years ago, but also approached the OC Fair with the idea of running wine competitions in tandem with the Fair each year. Hence, with a single table and a handful of wines, the OC Fair wine competitions were born.

From that handful of passionate people and one small table, the OCWS now runs one of the most prestigious commercial wine competitions in the country. The OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition, which is held offsite over the first entire weekend of June, finds entries upwards of 2,800+ California commercial wines each year that are judged by a distinguished panel of nearly 90 judges comprised of mostly renowned California winemakers and winery principals. The Competition finds over 300 OCWS volunteers working hard to make each competition more successful than the one before.

The Winemakers’ Group of the OCWS, which is comprised of about 80 die-hard home winemakers, many of whom are award-winners in their own right, and a couple of hundred more supporters, run the OC Fair Home Wine Competition on the second weekend of June on the OC Fairgrounds. Over 100 of the volunteers at this Competition are trained home wine judges who judge upwards of 650+ wines that are served by about 80 stewards.

The Competitions ultimately bring us to The Courtyard at the OC Fair, where we have the pleasure of serving commercial wines to the public throughout 23 days of the Fair. All of this is accomplished at the hands of hundreds of OCWS dedicated volunteers without whom this organization would not be what it is today.

I urge anyone who has not had, nor taken, the opportunity to volunteer at these events  to give it a try this year. It’s more fun than you can imagine! For more information about the Competitions and The Courtyard, please visit our website at ocws.org.

– Fran Gitsham, President

Categories
Commercial Competition

Commercial Wine Competition Volunteers

We are headed toward the 46th Commercial Competition this year!! As in previous years, we will have signups online in March.

We understand that these are changing times and conditions, so we appreciate your flexibility in working together to make this another fun event. There are many areas where volunteer help is needed such as stewarding, glass washing and drying, as well as computer verification. Continuing the efficiency of the past, the computer input positions will be assigned. A sign-up form is included on the website that identifies stewarding days, bagging nights, and other work parties with times and dates. In order to qualify for stewarding, it is required of you to sign up for two additional work parties.

We offer bagging and moving of wine to and from the Competition site, including sorting. We definitely need your support for our work parties in order to run a successful competition. The good news is that we will have some hired help for heavy lifting. No training is necessary as newer members will be teamed with competition veterans.

A heads up, if you volunteer to steward, it means carrying trays of glasses. It’s physical and can get tiring. Along with stewarding, you need to be prepared to assist your Steward Captain with opening wine bottles, preparing glasses for tags and cleanup of the judges’ tables as needed, under the direction of your designated Steward Captain.

If you have any questions, please feel free to phone me at 562.822.3382 or email at Strompharms@earthlink.net.

We look forward to your participation in making this very important event as successful as ever.

– Robyn Strom, Volunteer Coordinator