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Hello Lamorinda Winegrowers, Winemakers and Merry Wine Folk! By now most everyone is probably busy with harvest, planning for harvest, or planning to drink harvest wines in the future.

On this topic of wine, wine work and wine fun, the next LWGA meeting will be Sunday, September 30, 3pm to 6pm at Larry and Esther Thal’s residence 1155 Laurel Drive, Lafayette. (directions are at the end of this email)

This will be a fun and informative meeting. Some of the red wine winners from our AVA Celebration earlier this year will be pouring samples of their winning wines and explaining how the wine was made. Bring any and all questions you have about winemaking to this meeting, as our winning wine makers will have valuable answers, suggestions and opinions – and the meeting will be structured to encourage open dialogue, so other winemakers can provide their suggestions as well.

Please bring a bottle of wine, a wine glass or two (for tasting multiple wines) and an appetizer or light entrée to the September 30^th meeting.

Also mark your calendars for our Annual Lamorinda Winegrowers Holiday Party, which will be on Thursday, December 6, 2018 in the evening. This will be a real deal festive party, so you won’t to miss it!

Looking forward, our next meeting will be on Sunday, January 27, 3pm to 6pm. At this meeting we will be discussing viticulture and sharing information that may help improve the quality or quantity of your fruit.

DIRECTIONS TO THE THALS’, 1155 LAUREL DRIVE, LAFAYETTE (925) 283-7434

From San Francisco or the East Bay, take Highway 24 East toward Walnut Creek through the Caldecott Tunnel. Take the Central Lafayette/Oak Hill Road exit (the sixth exit after the Caldecott Tunnel). At the bottom of the Central Lafayette exit, take a left onto Oak Hill Road and go back under the freeway. At the top of the hill is a yield sign; turn right onto Deer Hill. At the second intersection is a stop light. Going right puts you back on Highway 24 going West; left is Laurel Drive. Turn left. We are at the top of the hill. The entrance to the house is approximately two-fifths of a mile after you turn onto Laurel. The entrance is gated. Push the intercom button on the left side of the gate. Go to the top of the driveway, after bearing to the left — you’ll find plenty of parking between the two garages.

From Sacramento or San Jose take Highway 680 toward Walnut Creek and then Highway 24 West toward Lafayette/Oakland. Take the Central Lafayette exit (the second exit after Highway 680). At the stoplight is Laurel Drive. Go straight. We are at the top of the hill. The entrance to the house is approximately two-fifths of a mile after you turn onto Laurel. The entrance is gated. Push the intercom button on the left side of the gate. Go to the top of the driveway, after bearing to the left — you’ll find plenty of parking between the two garages.

The new President of Orinda Rotary has asked if the LWGA would donate wine to this event.  DOES NOT NEED TO BE BONDED.  Of the 14 cases that they will need for the dinner, 7 have already been donated by local restaurants.  This might be a great opportunity to have your wine tasted and appreciated by the local elite, while supporting local schools and our community.  Your label will be listed as a sponsor.  Please email me: lward722@gmail.com if you might be interested in participating.  You may even want to attend the event so you can talk up your wine.  Details:

Friday, September 7th – at 5:30 p.m.

Come Party with the Cars in Orinda!

The 14th Annual Orinda Classic Car Show Weekend kicks off with our party at the beautiful Orinda Country Club – both inside and outside – on Friday September 7th, 2018 at 5:30 pm!

Join us for an all inclusive evening of:
Liberal Libations | Dinner Menu | Music and Dancing | Exclusive Car Displays

The party planners are making this 2018 event one to remember and not to be missed.

RESERVE YOUR PARTY TICKETS – CLICK HERE!

 This year’s 2018 event is produced by
The Rotary Club of Orinda

Written by Alex Russan

How ripe your grapes are when picked is one of the most important factors in determining what your wine will taste like. Delicious wines of drastically different styles can be made from the exact same vines, simply as a result of harvest time (viticultural practices make a big difference as well). From a consumer perspective, you can see production trends these days shifting from the very ripe styles of the 90s and 2000s (big, lush, powerful wines), to much less ripe offerings (lighter, fresher, elegant wines), with many of these lighter wines being produced from the same vineyards that their bigger counterparts come from. As a home winemaker (and often as a commercial one), if you are purchasing grapes, pick time may be the one factor in the vineyard you can control, and, thankfully, it is a huge one!

This article is a journey in the life of a grape from under- to over-ripeness. From bright fruit to dark, earth to opulence, pyrazines to field oxidation. All grapes develop in their own ways, so to an extent these are generalizations that may not always be the case for all grapes of all sites, but it is a solid guide, aiming to help you harvest at the moment that will be most parallel with your stylistic goals as a winemaker.

Let’s get something out in the open here: The concept of ripeness is a moving target, and, quite frankly, a bit of a mess! Ripeness does not progress in a simple linear fashion. All of the different factors that determine ripeness develop somewhat, or entirely, independently of one another, and each will have a different pace every year. Vineyard management practices will also affect the pace of many factors. Sugar levels, acidity levels, and grape taste are the most common parameters used to decide when to pick, but there are many more — 20 worth considering, according to the insightful Winegrape Berry Assessment Handbook by Winter, Whiting, and Rousseau!

If you’re growing your own grapes, you’re able to pick at will, and micromanagement of any and all ripening variables is an option. For the rest of us who are purchasing grapes, however, Brix and, perhaps, acidity levels will likely be the only indicators of ripeness we will receive prior to requesting a harvest date. That being the case, understanding the grape variety and site is crucial to understanding how “ripe” the grapes will be (and how close they will be developmentally) relative to those numbers — which, to be clear, are very important numbers, but do not tell the entire story.

For example, a Chardonnay picked at 21 °Brix in a hot climate will be very different than that of a cool climate: The hot climate will be well into tropical aromatics with lower acid, whereas the cool climate will remain on the stony and citric side and contain more acid. In the same vein, a Chardonnay picked at 3.1 pH in the hot climate would likely be grossly underripe and green, with very low sugars, whereas the cool climate may be well developed with reasonable sugar levels. Understanding where the different ripening variables will be relative to one another for a grape in a specific climate is paramount to picking at the moment that will lead to the wine you want.

The same goes for vintage variation, although you cannot completely control the pace of the many ripening variables (and vertical tastings would be boring if you could!), you can choose to pick earlier or later, aiming to keep the wine in line with your style goals and for what would be best for that vintage.

A factor I rarely hear discussed, and one I consider of the utmost importance to pick decisions, is the stage of aromatic development of the grape at the time of picking. This, of course, is not a factor that can currently be measured and is also one of the only factors that cannot be directly manipulated post-harvest. Brix, acidity levels, tannin, and color can all be measured, as well as manipulated after harvest. Beyond what the grape provides, aromatics can only be imprecisely tinkered with via yeast selection, added to with oak, or, especially in whites, use of enzyme preparations high in beta-glucosidases. The type of aromatics a grape will yield change tremendously during ripening, and, I believe, so does the degree to which a grape can express its individual terroir.

Of course, matching an appropriate grape variety to a vineyard site is critical in growing grapes in which ripeness characteristics will come together harmoniously in most years. In vintages or areas where they do not, the aforementioned manipulations or additions may be necessary.

Dear Members,

Just a reminder that the bi-monthly membership meeting that will be held at the Raisin d’Etre Vineyard (Howsepian), 3345 Hermosa Way, Lafayette on Sunday, July 29th at 3pm.

The winners of white and light red wines from the members choice wine judging on April 29th will pour their winning wines and talk about how they were made.

Please bring a bottle of wine and appetizer to share.  Parking is limited so having people carpool would be ideal.

If you haven’t paid your 2018-2019 dues, please make a payment thru the website or bring your checkbook to the meeting.

We hope to see you at the meeting!

LWGA Board

Fellow Growers,

Happy Summer!!

                                        Captain Vineyard July 2018

if you are out and about your vineyard the activities that you would expect at this time of the summer are:

1-  Check your water system for faults and breaks

2-  Sucker, tuck, hedge your vines for accessibility and visual appearance

3-  leaf thinning, north side of the canopy, to expose the clusters to air & sun

4-  Take a stroll between your vines and assess your 2018 quality and quantities  of grape

5-  Proper integrated pest management, is for sure, a must in the Lamorinda Area

6-  Make sure you have a home for your 2018 crop, if you are doing any trade,     please consider the attached document between grower & winemaker

                                      contractWinegrowerandmaker

If you have any questions please contact: susan@captainvineyards.com

Cheers!!

Dear Members,

We hope to see you at our bi-monthly membership meeting that will be held at the Raisin d’Etre Vineyard (Howsepian), 3345 Hermosa Way, Lafayette on Sunday, July 29th at 3pm.

The winners of white and light red wines from the members choice wine judging on April 29th will pour their winning wines and talk about how they were made.

Please bring a bottle of wine and appetizer to share.  Parking is limited so having people carpool would be ideal.

If you haven’t paid your 2018-2019 dues, please make a payment thru the website or bring your checkbook to the meeting.

We hope to see you at the meeting!

LWGA Board

Fellow Winemakers and Winegrowers,

To make our association both more informative and fun, we will now have a meeting every other month, instead of every third month, and the meetings will include new information and resources for improving winemaking and winegrowing.  See below for our new and improved plans for meetings!

Also, mark your calendars and hold the date: the next meeting will be on Sunday, July 29th from 3 pm to 6pm. Location TBD.  At this meeting some of the members choice white and Pinot winners will be pouring tastes of their wines and talking about how the wines were made.  This will be a fun and informative meeting!

New Meeting Schedule:

1. Viticulture and Farming EducationalMeeting – last Sunday, January
   • Topics such as pruning, foliar sprays, organic options, sunlight and leaf pull, irrigation, mildew control, leaves/clusters, soil health, etc
   • Potluck and social
2. Member’s Choice Wine Rating – Last, Sunday, March
   • Members submit wines for judging, with categories for within and outside the AVA
   • All members can taste and rate wines.. all they need do is pick their 1^stand 2^nd choices in any category of wine
   • Everybody gets to taste and broad range of AVA and non-AVA wines and compare notes.
3. Annual AVA Celebration and Dinner/Fundraiser – 4^th Thursday in May
   • Celebrate AVA and generate some funds
   • Promote local AVA wines
   • Examine the unique terrior of different areas within the AVA
   • Eat, drink and be merry.
4. LWGA White and Light Red Wine Member’s Choice Winners – Tasting, Winemaking Explanation and Discussion – last Sunday, July
5. LWGA Red Wine Member’s Choice Winners – Tasting, Winemaking Explanation and Discussion – last Sunday, September
6. LWGA Holiday Party – 1^st Thursday in December
   • Fun potluck/wine/social party!

LWGA Board

Happy Mother’s Day/Sunday Wine and Vineyard Folks!

It’s been a very nice spring, and vines in Lamorinda generally are starting out with more, and larger clusters.  We don’t want to jinx things, but its safe to say we are off to a good start to the 2018 growing season!

Following are the results from the AVA Celebration Wine Tastings.  Thanks to all the members who participated in the judging.  Next year we are thinking to redo the wine judging at a separate meeting devoted just to that.  And to make the judging easier for members, instead of rating each wine, all we will need to do is taste them all and then select your two favorite wines (in each category).  This type of members choice rating format will be more fun and will let more members participate as well!

Now we can get to the fun and informative end-result of the evaluations: 

The next meeting will be on Sunday, July 29, 3 – 6pm.  At this meeting, the makers of winning whites will be pouring samples of their wine and will explain how it was made.  This will be a fun and informative meeting, with lots of great white wines to sample!

And then at the following meeting, which will be on Sunday, September 30^th, the winemakers of winning red wines will be pouring and explaining.  This meeting should be even more interesting, because we will be able to taste and compare side by side more AVA and non AVA wines made from the same grape!  One thing we will be focusing on is what unique characteristics are in AVA wines.

Next will be our annual Holiday party, which will be on Thursday, December 6^th.  Mark your calendars, start getting your party hat designed and dancing shoes shined, cuz this is going to be a fun night.  We will also be sending out more information soon about the new plans for meetings to occur now every other month.

Here is a link to a slideshow from the AVA Celebration: https://lamorindawinegrowers.com/photos/?wppa-occur=1&wppa-slide&wppa-album=16

LWGA Board

Hi Vine/Vino Folks,

Your wine submissions for the 1^st AVA Celebration Wine Rating event are due by end of today.  If you are dropping your wine off tonight, Bill Scanlin will be dressed in his chef’s apron and will be handing out freshly baked cookies.  (okay, the part about the cookies is fake news, and we are not really sure what Bill will be wearing)

We have a good group of judges on board, including Lamorinda’s poet laureate/wine writer and the wine buyer for Diablo foods.  Plus, we have members as judges as well, just so we all can agree to disagree with whatever they say.

So, if you have been playing classical music (or Milli Vanilli) to your bottles of wine, getting them fully prepped for the event, today is the day to get them to Bill, dressed in his apron and all.  (6 Lois Lane, Lafayette)

And if you still need tickets, or more tickets for friends or family, or fans of Milli Vanilli

LINK FOR TICKETS:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-lamorinda-american-viticultural-area-celebration-tickets-44563386288

Important:  Each bottle of wine needs to be labeled with the following:

• Wine/Winemaker name 
• Wine Type and Varietals if a Blend:   ie Cabernet Sauvignon 90%, Cab Franc 10%
• Year of Vintage
• Source of Grapes:  ie:  100% AVA sourced: Orinda  or Non-AVA Napa: Mt. Veeder
• $5 per wine entry, 2 bottles per entry (so Bill can drink one)

LWGA Board