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Hi all, another call out to see if we could borrow a few things for the AVAnniversary event May 1, particularly event chairs. Here’s the link, please sign up if can! Tickets will be available for sale shortly

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f4babab2aa3f85-lamorinda

Offered via the Wine Industry Network. If you are interested, register directly using the link

The 2022 Growing Forward Series kicks off with our first session focusing on disease. As bud break begins, one of the biggest concerns for grape growers is around grape powdery mildew (GPM). As the growing season progresses, another major concern is around the limited availability of irrigation water. 

This session, led by Bryan Rahn, CPAg/SS, CCA and president of Coastal Viticultural Consultants, Inc. (CVC) will provide information and best practices on GPM and soil moisture monitoring that lead to more efficient GPM treatments and irrigation water use. The session will include vineyard managers from Silver Oak Winery and Trinchero Family Estates to share their experiences along with the results of implementing the programs presented.

As with everything, all things must come to an end. I have been the President of the LWGA for the past two years, and I have reached the end of my term.

I am happy to announce that David Hicks will be the new President of the LWGA. As a grape grower, a fine winemaker, and a great socialite, he will have the the experience and knowledge to take the helm and move us ever forward in our quest to serve our membership and put Lamorinda Wine Growers Association on the map!

Welcome David Hicks to your new position!

I have been very proud to have served as President and I hope that I have helped, together with the board, to improve the vision and services provided in the past and for the future years. I will continue on the board to help make LWGA a positive force in our community. Thank you for the privilege.

Sincerely:

Daniel Howsepian

former President, LWGA

Hi all,

Our 5 year +1 AVA celebration is coming up on May 1. There are a few items that we would like to borrow rather than buy or rent. If you have any of the items on our event wish list, please sign up via Sign Up Genius.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f4babab2aa3f85-lamorinda

A separate email for on-the-day volunteers will be sent closer to the time.

We’re looking forward to the celebrations!

Hello Fellow LWGA Members:

 On January 29, 2022 @ 3 PM,  LWGA held its regular member meeting via Zoom.  I know, we’re all very tired of the Zoom meetings!  Especially when there were some technical problems as we have experienced that day.  We’re very sorry about that!  With the easing of the Covid mandates, there’s a really good chance of our next meeting in March to be in person!  

However, once everything got worked out,  about 15 people logged on.  We were very mindful of the AFC game and we tried to make it brief so that the members could watch the game.  Too bad that our efforts were in vain and not rewarded with a good outcome for our team. 

A brief discussion about the elections for the board by Bill Scanlin was presented.  I am happy to report that all the candidates were elected to the board and we now we also have a new board member, Brian Cherry. Welcome Brian to the Board.

Gerard began his presentation about “What to do in the vineyard in the spring”  and was disrupted by computer problems!  Uhhhh! Gerard followed up with an email to the membership to replace his planned presentation. 

We would like to offer an in person pruning session very soon.  Anyone interested in joining this session please respond to David Hicks message which will be emailed to you very soon. He will set up a time and date that’s convenient for all.  

Larry Thal then spoke briefly about the progress on his Local Vines project. He is currently waiting for his Contractor to start with the work, hopefully March 1! We are all anxiously waiting for the grand opening! 

Sunday, May 1, 2022, from Noon to 6 PM, will be our long awaited public LWGA-AVA Celebration at the rear parking lot of the Wine Thieves! We have been working on this for quite some time and we a lot to be proud for this event. Amy will be sending out an informational message about the event, and also will be reaching out to the membership for volunteers to help out. Should be a lot of fun with food trucks, local wines presented, soft music and some fun things for kids of parents attending the event. We look for seeing everyone there!

 
We look forward to a good springtime season for everyone!  

Best Regards!

Daniel Howsepian

LWGA President

We encountered some technical difficulties during the last Zoom meeting, so attached to this post are photos of their vineyards that members submitted for the meeting. This time of year, it is helpful to walk through your vineyards and look for areas wherein your cover crop is less healthy or yellowing. That often is a sign for areas with low soil nitrogen or soil nutrients. Also, if you have gopher activity, with the dry weather, now is a great time to trap gophers. Finally, I encourage you go stick a shovel in the ground in a few spots. A sign of healthy soils is if you have multiple worms in each shovel!

Bill and Penny Pence (Tempranillo), with their new bird-proof nets rolled under the vines:

Ewa and Derek Wojnar (Cabernet and Merlot):

Brian Cherry (Pinot Noir):

Marek and Petra Fibrich (Syrah):

Hello LWGA Wine Folk

During our next meeting this Sunday, we will be discussing in general, what to do in the vineyard this time of year. This will include how to prepare for the season and perhaps how to improve vine health or address deficiencies, such as soil nutrients. Also, it could be fun and interesting to have a short picture show of member vineyards, or any other pictures you wish to share with the group, such as flowers in bloom, birds or animals on your property, worms in your soils, how your vineyard ground/cover crop is looking, other plants or trees on your property, or whatever else you wish to share)

So, please take a picture or two of your vineyard, or whatever you wish to share with the group. And if you have an issue of concern or question, such as how to prune a certain vine or unhealthy looking weeds or cover crops, send a picture of that as well.

Please send your pictures to gerardvs1@gmail.com

Hello fellow wine growers and lovers!

I can’t believe that January is almost gone! The hills are beautifully green, Oak trees are about to blossom and it’s almost time to prune back those marvelous vines. What a great place we live in!

So you may remember that we will be having our regular LWGA General meeting on January 30, 2022 @ 3 PM. The COVID epidemic continues to hinder personal meetings, so the Zoom meeting is our only alternative, for now. I have already sent out the the agenda for this year’s General meetings, but in case you have not read it yet, topics this time will be mostly focused on social meeting & mixing, with some discussion about the board elections nominees, then a short presentation by Gerard about “What to do in the Spring in the vineyards“. There will be a break out session about pruning and the time and place to be decided at the meeting for those who are interested.

Please join us at 1/30/22 @ 3 PM:

https://warriortrading.zoom.us/j/9252007676

I look forward to seeing all of you again there!

Thank you!

Sincerely;

Daniel Howsepian

Pres LWGA

Hello again! In my last message to the membership on 1/16/22, I had included a calendar of events for 2022. In the Calendar, I had indicated that the LWGA AVA Celebration would be held on June 5, but that is incorrect.

The date for the LWGA AVA celebration will be on May 1, 2022

I apologize for the error, and I hope that this date suits you better.

Please stand by for further information on this event.

Thank you for your understanding!

Sincerely;

Daniel Howsepian

Pres. LWGA

Happy New Year!!!

As we move into the dawn of 2022, we have a lot to be thankful for already! December’s rainfall totals have given us a great start in the ground moisture, which will give us a great start for the upcoming growing season. Let’s hope that we’ll see more rain in the coming months.

In my last message to you, I had given you the crop harvest information within our group. I have since looked back to see how we did in the last couple of years. So, in 2021 the gross total was 66,363 #; in 2020 the gross total was 58,763 #; in 2019 the gross total was 51,774# and in 2018 the gross total was 48,242 # Quite an impressive improvement over the years! All thanks to your hard work and good practices.

For those of you who also make wine; we will be encouraging you to submit your wines for wine tasting competitions. We think the tasting events will resume once more and we feel that our wines should be represented. We’re making great wines these days and we should be out there showing how good they are. There’s also a bit of pride when you get those ribbons to show off in your cellar! We will be issuing information on the dates and places to do so. Don’t be shy!

This year’s calendar of general meeting and events will be as follows:

*** January 30, 2022: Viticulture/Farming Educational Meeting; Zoom

Board Elections

What to do in the Spring in the Vineyard

Prebud spraying, covercrop mowing or not, nutrition, soil enhancements, etc

*** POTENTIAL FIELD DAY – DATE TBD – EARLY FEBRUARY ***

FIELD DAY: Pruning, members and/or an outside expert share techniques

and best practices for pruning

*** March 27, 2022 Overview of Best Practices for Canopy Management, Heat Mitigation, Quality Fruit

*** POTENTIAL FIELD DAY – DATE TBD – LATE APRIL OR EARLY MAY ***

Overview of Best Practices for Canopy Management, Heat Mitigation, Quality Fruit

*** June 5, 2022; 5th Annual Lamorinda American Viticultural Area Celebration. Plans are being made right now for our LWGA AVA Celebration in June! We will be serving local wines for our members and the public, and will have a lot of information about our past, present and future plans. This will be an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon together! Stand by for more information as they become available.

*** July 31, 2022 Food & Wine Pairing. A food and wine expert will guide us on food and wine pairing and wine sensory evaluation

*** POTENTIAL FIELD DAY – DATE TBD – AUGUST ***

A food and wine expert will guide us on food and wine pairing and wine sensory evaluation

*** September 25, 2022; White, Rose and Red Wine Winners

Commercial and Non-Commercial Gold medal winners from major competitions (Sacramento State Fair, Orange County and SF Chronicle) pour their wines and discuss how they were made.

*** December 1, 2022: LWGA Holiday Party: Members and guests will gather to enjoy good food, good wines, holiday sharing. This celebration is for members (and guests) to celebrate a successful harvest and the holiday season together. A short presentation on the harvest and accomplishments of the year will be provided.

In Closing, you will be receiving a notice to vote for the candidates for the LWGA Board. It is important that every member participate in these election. Please try to return them by the end of January.

As noted above, our next General meeting will be on January 30, @ 3 PM. We had hoped to have an in person meeting then, but because of the Omicron Covid surge, we felt it wise to hold this meeting on Zoom.

Please join us at;

https://warriortrading.zoom.us/j/9252007676

Our emphasis this year will be to have primarily social meetings, with a light touch of relevant discussion points as outlined above. If you have an interest in the topics raised, or wish to contribute to the presentation of the topic, we will have a field break-out session available to attend where you can get a deeper dive into the subject matter. We hope this format will be useful to you. Please contact me if you would like to help us in these presentations.

I wish you all a great 2022 and a happy and healthy year ahead! See you on January 30 for our first General Meeting of the year. We hope to be able to have in person meetings as soon as possible again.

Sincerely;

Daniel Howsepian

LWGA President