Hi All –
The Lamorinda AVA Celebration is April 27th and we’re looking forward to a great day sampling great wines and enjoying great company.
We still need three 6′ folding tables. Please let me know if you have one or more to share – we’d appreciate it.
Thanks!
Leanne Pilot
Hi All –
The 2025 AVA Celebration being held 4/27 is fast approaching! We are asking for people to help with set up in the morning from 10 – 12 and at the end of the day from 4 – 4:30. Please let me know if you are available to help at either time.
We are also interested in borrowing 6 folding tables. We will not be using table cloths so clean table tops are appreciated.
Finally, if anyone has flowers in their garden and would are willing donate some simple flower arrangements for the tables, we’d be very grateful. (All 6 do not have to come from the same person.)
If you are able to assist with any of these items, please let me know. The AVA Celebration Committee looks forward to seeing you all!
Thanks,
Leanne Pilot
Join us for an afternoon of wine tasting and food! Taste Lamorinda AVA wines and wines from AVA makers including:
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the formation of the LWGA, the Board would like to offer current LWGA members a free tasting. You must register for the event by logging into the LWGA website before “purchasing” tickets. If you are not logged in, the free option will not show. Limited to current members only please.
The Tasting event runs from 12-4pm on April 27 in the parking lot of Wine Thieves and will be followed by the LWGA general member meeting. Pietro Buttitta will present. If you haven’t met Pietro, is the latest addition to Local Vines and the wine maker for several wineries, including his own. This promises to be a lively and informative meeting!
Food available for purchase. For your non-member guests, entry price ($35 ahead of time and $40 on the day) includes a Lamorinda wine tasting glass and 5 tickets that can be used for tasting or purchasing wine by the glass. Bottles of wine to take home available for sale. Additional tasting tickets are 5 for $20.
Purchase tickets, including your member “priced” ticket at: tinyurl.com/LWGA-April27
Note that tasting tickets can be transferred if you are unable to attend though we don’t offer refunds
Venue: Behind Wine Thieves
Address: 3401 Mt Diablo Blvd, Lafayette 94549
Time: 12-4pm AVAnniversary; followed by the LWGA member meeting
NOET Vineyard had a lovely run from 2015 until this year. We have had a very robust vineyard from the beginning, with our first harvest being 500 lbs of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes just one year after planting the vines in early 2014. The harvest grew to 1,100, 1,600, and 2,000 lbs in subsequent years, and it has held steady between on or about 2,000 lbs per harvest ever since.
Our vineyard was initially managed by Sal Captain and was taken over by CVC after Sal decided to focus on his vineyard. Unfortunately, for reasons you may all know, in early 2024, CVC decided no longer to provide their services to the Lamorinda area.
That was very unfortunate indeed and very costly for us. The vineyard manager we chose was not up to the task. Several issues did not go right. The initial pruning was a deviation from the cane pruning, and there were way too many branches left in each vine; the spraying conducted during the summer was sub-par, and the canopy management was done incorrectly, leaving a lot of grapes exposed to direct sun, resulting raisins.
Since our vineyard benefits from the Moraga Gap and we get a lot of fog, we have not needed to water our grapes that much over the years, only a few times during the summer. One could argue that we did not give our grapes enough water this year. But since our neighbor, Captain Vineyards, tends to have a similar limited watering regime and their Cabernet harvest in 2024 was normal, that most likely was not the main issue but could have contributed to the results.
Since we were traveling a lot during the summer and had earlier learned to trust CVC in management, we did not expect this to happen. Unfortunately, we realized the full scope of the damage too late in the summer to be able to do anything about it.
The result was a significant amount of powdery mildew and raisins. We had to drop over 3/4 of the harvest, and we were able to collect only about 400 lbs of grapes.
This was a hard lesson to learn. We can only blame ourselves for not being more proactive about our vineyard and its management. We will be much more careful in the future as we consider any help we need on our vineyard.
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts due to weather, beginning last year, we finally managed to work between two storms to get in the pruning workshop. It was a beautiful day and perfect for the discussions and demonstrations for the well attended gathering. The takeaway is that pruning takes some thought since what you do now will affect not only this year’s harvest, but the following one as well.
The content of the workshop was as follows:
Demystifying Pruning
Cordon/spur vs Cane pruning techniques
Conversion methods between pruning techniques
Reading the vines for good pruning decisions
Vines should be pruned based on their capacity and how to determine that capacity
Selection of shoots for new growth and renewals
Decisions on number of buds for balance growth
Demonstrations of all of the above.
************************************
After the pruning workshop, we all gathered for a glass of wine and cheeses under a wonderful afternoon light in the vineyard, and still had plenty of time to watch the Superbowl! What a day.
This could be an annual event for our members if desired.
Hello fellow LWGA wine lovers;
I have prepared below the results of the compiled harvest reports for your review. I would like to thank everyone who responded to my requests for your harvest report. The numbers below are a total of the information I was able to gather from the responses. I am sure the numbers are a little low because I have not received responses from everyone. The numbers below are in pounds reported.
Cab Sauvignon 18,589
Merlot 4,056
Pinot Noir 10,705
Petit Sirah 6,850
Sauv. Blanc 760
Cabernet Franc 570
Tempranillo 837
Sangiovese 3,225
Chardonnay 3,315
Petit Verdot 900
Syrah 3,887
Zinfandel 3,440
Malbec 907
Grenache 1,300
Mourvèdre 1,500
Total reported gross Harvest combined for 2024 is 60,741 pounds
Well done everyone! You can see we have a wide variety of grapes for everyone’s tastes.
Looking forward to 2025!
Thanks again for your participation!!
Sincerely:
Daniel Howsepian
Raisin d’Etre Vineyards
Below are the bios and headshots of the 5 candidates running for the board for 2025.
My name is Pietro Buttitta and I have spent the last 25 years working in food and wine, first as a professional chef in Portland, Or., San Francisco, and Napa Valley, and then as a full-time professional winemaker and grapegrower for the last 15 years while living in Oakland. My wines have been featured in Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Bloomberg and the SF Chronicle, and I have also produced wines for other brands in Napa and Paso Robles and out-of-state wineries while focusing on my own Prima Materia Vineyard & Winery label while growing grapes and producing up to 3,500 cases per year. A grape grower at heart, I have experience planting and managing vineyards and have consulted for wineries and vineyards in Lake County and Dry Creek Valley. In addition to building my own wine brand I also worked extensively with the Lake County Winery Association and the winegrape commission, representing the AVA and wines at national gatherings ranging from New York City to online classes.
In pursuit of deeper wine knowledge I also acquired sommelier certification, have spoken at national wine conferences, and co- directed two wine competitions and have judged at others. A global wine perspective is very important for me, so I also acquired sommelier certification, have spoken at national wine conferences, and co- directed two wine competitions and have judged at others. I also try to keep up with the latest Italian pruning techniques, historical fermentation methods, and keeping pace with the international world of wine in general. I spent last year with working with Bill English and am involved with the Local Vines project which has been a great opportunity to learn about this area and transfer my focus to the Lamorinda AVA, and I am excited by the opportunity to help grow and promote this unique area and the diverse potential it so clearly has.
Pietro Buttitta
I first became aware of the world of quality wine with a family visit to Bordeaux with my French Father in Law in 1980. Eye opening, mouth watering, and highly educational, was that trip. Within a few years I decided I wanted to learn how to grow grapes and make quality wine. But as with many of us I was raising kids and earning a living running my own software consulting business. That dream was forestalled until 2003 when it became clear that I was going to need a 3d act. It was then that I decided to take full suite of Vit and Eno extension courses at Davis with the intention of planting a vineyard and making wine at my family property in the Lake County Red Hills AVA.
In 2004 I planted the vineyard and in 2008 my first vintage materialized. This and subsequent vintages turned out nicely which was confirmed by entering several competitions. By 2010 I had joined the Lake County Grape Growers Assoc. and was able to acquire grapes from commercial local growers as well as learn some of their secrets. In the subsequent years I have made 8 different reds, 3 different whites, Port, Sauternes style botritus desert wine, and brandy. These wines have won many Best of Show, numerous Golds, and a few Silvers over 14 years at 9 different wine comps. I do all the vineyard tending and winemaking to this day myself but do get help for the heavy lifting stuff.
I’ve lived in Lafayette since 1978. I have been on the LWGA board for the past 5 years, the last two as President. My Presidential term ends in January and I will not be standing for President in 2025. However I will be standing for election for another 2 year term as a board member.
We have been successful in offering educational programs to the LWGA membership in both vineyard care and winemaking and will continue and expand those offerings going forward. In the year ahead we on the board look forward to establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with the Local Vines Winery which will be opening this Spring at its location on Mt. Diablo Blvd. The facility currently has a working winery on its lower floor, will have a retail store in one half of it’s street level floor, with the other half being a commercial catering kitchen. I urge you all to closely watch for the announcement of Local Vines grand opening fiesta coming soon?
I thank you for reading my election statement and would very much appreciate your vote for another term as a LWGA board member.
Thank you, David Hicks, LWGA board member and retiring President.
My name is Leanne Pilot and I am a candidate for the LWGA Board.
I have been an Orinda resident for 7 years, living and working in the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood where we grow approximately 4500 vines of Grenache, Syrah, and Chardonnay. Our wines are bottled under the Crane Terrace Winery label.
Prior to managing the property at Crane Terrace I’d spent twenty years working for both PeopleSoft and Oracle in education, training, and pre-sales consulting.
In the past year I’ve enjoyed spending time in the community educating through wine tastings and other events, sharing information about the Lamorinda AVA, the Lamorinda Wine Growers Association, and the excellent wines being grown locally. It’s been very rewarding to see people gain an awareness about what’s available locally and getting excited about our local wines and the region.
I would like to serve on the board in order to continue to share what we are doing, share our wines and assist in executing current LWGA growth plans.
Leanne Pilot, Member and Candidate for Board of Directors
I am currently serving as LWGA Secretary. I have considerable board experience and look forward to continuing to serve the Lamorinda Winegrowers’ Association and its members, if elected to do so.
My wife, Esther, and I planted approximately 2,300 vines in 2010 and had our thirteenth harvest this past year. Our varietals consist of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. Thal Vineyards, LLC is bonded with an O-2 license.
I am retired, having done so for the third time (United States Air Force, private practice of optometry and Clinical Professor and Assistant Dean, University of California). Some of my other board experience includes serving as President of the California State Board of Optometry on five occasions and serving two years as President of the California Optometric Association. I have completed two terms on the board of an independent private school in the East Bay, and for over 20 years I have served as president of two homeowners’ associations.
I am a strong supporter of our AVA and the quality wines we produce. Esther and I are renovating a downtown Lafayette building as a winery and tasting room which we hope will actively promote local wine and offer a venue to introduce our wines to the public. It can also serve as a focal point for viticulture education and LWGA activity. Hopefully it will open in early 2025.
Larry Thal, Current Board Member and Secretary
Relationship to LWGA: One of the founding members of the LWGA (2005). Past posts with LWGA include President of the Board (2014); Board Member (2013 – 2024); Board Member of the Orinda Chamber of Commerce (2016 – 2022) as Secretary and Liaison for the LWGA.
Vineyard: Los Arabis Pinot Noir (1500 vines in Lafayette) planted in 1999. Currently our wine (250+/- ) cases are being produced at Local Vines in Lafayette! We sell to local restaurants and retail in Lamorinda. Much of our wine is donated to local schools, church and hospital fundraising programs, and other charities and non-profits.
Personal: Our Construction firm, Sausal Corporation, Concord, CA, builds schools, fire stations and public buildings throughout northern California. Our Son Josh, Orinda resident, now runs the company. I am a graduate of Cal Poly, SLO, in LA&ED.
Leslie Ward, Current Board Member
Hello fellow grape growers.
If you remember, last year I tried to have a pruning workshop but it got cancelled twice due to weather.
I’m going to give it another try on Feb 1, 2025 @ 10 AM. And the weather forecast is looking good!
I have five spots left on this workshop and if you are interested, please send me an e-mail to:
Raisindetrevineyards@gmail.com and the first five to respond can join us.
Looking forward to seeing you in the vineyard for this special workshop!
Daniel Howsepian
Raisin d’Etre Vineyards
925-858-7000
Hello fellow LWGA members:
I am in the middle of trying to complete my annual Harvest Report for 2024. Unfortunately, I am far from completion because many of you have not responded to my earlier request for your harvest information.
I need your names; Vineyard name; total gross weights of each varietal you grow and any other information you may wish to share.
Please send this information to: Raisindetrevineyards@gmail.com
I am supposed to complete this by 12/31/24
Thank you again for providing this information.
Please call me at : 925-858-7000 if you have any questions.
Daniel Howsepian
Pietro and his family have a vineyards and winery in Kelseyville 6 miles from my home vineyard in Lake County. I’ve taken many guests to his family winery over the years and become acquainted with his father and their Italian wines. Pietro recently joined Bill English at Local vines as a winemaker and he has extensive knowledge of grape growing and winemaking that can be valuable to you. Over the last several years Daniel Howsepian and I visited a number of member vineyards in Lamorinda and we became aware that the knowledge and experience of our membership is highly varied. In Pietro’s write up he has points out several areas that our owners need to pay attention to. such as, water: unless you have a well you are going to pay city prices for vineyard water as well as the need and timing of water use, spraying: under spraying is common here and the result is vine disease, how to do I right, soil: the nature of our soil and its challenges, pruning: types and timing, just to name a few.
He goes on to discuss winemaking. So members, you now have a knowledgeable and available resource to help you solve problems and get your vineyards to produce top quality grapes. Without great grapes there is no great wine. Enjoy the read. Hope to see you all on Wednesday evening.
DAVID HICKS President LWGA
Celebrating the Lamorinda Appellation Anniversary
Wine Spectator News