Hello LWGA Members

I am happy to announce that the Pruning Workshop can now be rescheduled for Sunday, March 8, 2026 from 1-3 PM

Anyone interest please send me an email and I’ll have you on the list for the workshop.

Please remember that there is a 10 person limit to the workshop, and will be based of first come, first served. So don’t delay with your response if you are interested on the topic of pruning your vines.

I look forward to seeing you all on March 8!

Daniel Howsepian

Raisin d’Etre Vineyards

925-858-7000

These are very brief but serve as a good reminder to get ready for bud break, familiarize yourself with potential sprays, and get to know the Gubler-Thomas mildew model which can help indicate times of high pressure. Mildew lives all around us in the environment and is impossible to eradicate, so at best we keep it at bay until the grapes reach about 12 brix and become immune. A wet early season (like last year) increases the chance of infection, and spray intervals may need to shorten to keep up. It doesn’t hurt to go look at leaves and berries with a magnifying glass!

Oh, and if you don’t want to spray for mildew, plant hybrids like Baco Noir and Lenoir that are mildew resistant due to domestic grapevine genes. I have had some really tasty Baco Noir from Sonoma County recently.

My name is Gary Goldman, and I am a candidate for the LWGA Board.  I have been a Lafayette resident for over 30 years. We live on a 3-acre parcel that backs up to the Contra Costa hills, on St. Mary’s Road at the Lafayette–Moraga border. I have an acre of vines on the front third of my property, and we are growing GSM and Zinfandel. 2024 was our first harvest, and 2025 was our first bottling.  We bottle our wines under the Cattle Chute Vineyards label.

My goal as a small proprietary winegrower is to cultivate the best possible grapes in my vineyard and produce the best possible wine from them. I have spent considerable time self-educating myself on winemaking and have consulted several local and Northern California experts. I am a first-generation winemaker and want to collaborate with local winegrower colleagues by joining LWGA to deepen my understanding of regional farming and winegrowing techniques.  I have a detailed educational background as a DDS from NYU, an MD from Drexel University, and an MBA.  I am a lifelong learner and never hesitate to try new things and pivot when necessary. I am retired from clinical practice and a 3-time serial health-tech entrepreneur. I am now the founder and CEO of a global network of health professionals focused on innovation, and the founding and managing partner of 3 venture funds in the healthcare vertical.

I have a strong interest in applying all available technologies to both viticulture and winemaking, and would like to bring the LWGA board and association members a more collaborative technology and web-based environment. I want to help LWGA build a network that provides opportunities for collaboration, education, and communication, and promotes its members’ vineyards and winemaking products.

I am a recent member of the association, and now that I am running my business from home virtually, I have more time and interest in serving as a Board member for LWGA. I have served on numerous business and healthcare boards and currently serve on the Alameda Contra Costa Medical Association Board and Council.

Hi!  I am Marcy Ryan Nichol and am a long-time Orinda resident.  

I have 200 Zinfandel vines which were planted in 2013. I thank my grandmother who provided the seed money and who enjoyed a glass of wine every day until she died at 100.  Bill Scanlin is my winemaker ( I consider myself fortunate!). 

I manage the vineyard myself, and find the many hours in the vineyard to be therapeutic, incredibly rewarding, and much like life – unpredictable.  I recognize how much I don’t know and have found LWGA invaluable in my learning trajectory.  I am eager to learn and equally important – want to contribute and give back, hence my interest in serving on the board.   I help lead the Education committee with Bill Saupe, and am committed to providing topics of interest and learning opportunities to our membership.

In my other life, I have extensive experience in Human Resources/Employee Relations and am currently employed in the financial sector. 

I appreciate your consideration and support for another term on the board. 

My name is Dave Rey and I am a candidate for the LWGA Board.  I have been a Lafayette resident for over 32 years and I have an acre of vines and a winery at my home in the Reliez Valley area.  I bottle my wines under the Reliez Valley Vineyards label.

My goal as a winegrower is to grow the best possible grapes from my vineyard location and make the best possible wine from the grapes I grow.  I am the first generation in my family to have pursued a non-agricultural career, so having grown up in that world I am very comfortable with the farming aspects of winegrowing.  I have an engineering education and I enjoy applying all the technology available to both viticulture and winemaking.

I was an early member of the group but my business travels left me little time to get involved until I retired in 2011.  I previously served on the Board from 2011 to 2016.  During that time I focused mainly on leading the committee that pursued and secured our AVA designation.

I was elected to the Board again in 2020 and I am currently leading the effort to develop a five year plan for the organization.  I would like to serve another term on the Board so that I can complete that project and help see the plan implemented.

My Name is Bill Saupe.  I have been on the LWGA board for the last two years.  I want to serve for at least another year.  I have also been serving as co-chair of the Educational Committee with Marcy Ryan-Nichol where we plan speakers and educational workshops for the LWGA. 

I’ve been a wine lover all my life, but I’m new to wine growing.  I planted 132 Cabernet Sauvignon vines in 2021 during the pandemic, and have faithfully nurtured, communed with, and battled gophers and birds for the grapes ever since.  We bottled our 2023 harvest last fall. A little young, but we had to start somewhere. 

When I am not working on being an enthusiastic vigneron, I am working in Berkeley in my Prosthodontic practice.  I went to dental school at Northwestern University in Chicago, Prosthodontic training at UCSF, and got my MBA at UOP.  

Thank you for your consideration with a toast to all for 2026—may we always have old wine, old friends, and young cares. 

My name is Bill Scanlin and I have been on the LWGA board and run the website since 2008, have been President in 2016, 2017 and 2019 and have been Treasurer Since 2020. I have been growing grapes and making wine since 1998 and started my commercial winery Deer Hill Vineyards in 2010.

I have been in technology my entire career and am currently Chief Technology Officer at a fintech startup. I am also the Vice-President of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and will be President in 2027.

I believe the organization needs to be an important resource for its members to help them grow better grapes and make better wine. We can also educate the Lamorinda community on what we are doing and help them setup their own vineyards and try some of the great wine made here. I think we have made great improvements in meeting these goals and would like to continue to move the organization forward.

We just moved last July to Moraga from Lafayette and have 1100 vines on about 1-1.5 acres of 50% syrah / grenache. We have young kids and dont have time to do it ourseleves yet. the prior owners were making good wine until a few years back when they aged out of it. We are looking for any recs for vineyard managers and micro crush options for the grapes. Thanks in advance! – Zach

You may recall my post from about a year ago describing the disastrous 2024 season we experienced due to some very questionable vineyard management at NOET Vineyards. There were simply too many issues to repeat here, but if you’re interested in the details, please feel free to look up my earlier post.

In short, the outcome was heartbreaking. In 2024, our harvest came in at only about 400 lbs, compared to an average of roughly 2,000 lbs in prior years. Even more painful was the drop in quality—the grapes were noticeably below the standard we had come to expect for our double-gold-winning wines.

For the 2025 season, we reached out to Coastal Viticulture (https://coastalvit.com), who had managed our vineyard in earlier years. They had previously stepped away from the Lamorinda area due to conflicts with some vineyard owners, a decision made at the time by Dylan, who is no longer with the company. With Bryan now leading operations, I was able to convince Coastal Viticulture to return and help heal our vineyard.

What a difference a year can make.

I honestly did not expect such a strong and rapid recovery. It turns out our vines are remarkably resilient, and with proper care, they flourished once again. In 2025, we achieved a record-breaking harvest of over 2,400 lbs—and remarkably, this was accomplished with little to almost no irrigation.

Bryan at Coastal Viticulture is currently open to taking on additional clients in the Lamorinda area. If you are looking for professional, thoughtful vineyard management, I can highly recommend their services based on our experience.

Eero Teerikorpi @ NOET Vineyards (eero@teerikorpi.com)

Daniel Howsepian has offered have a limited attendance pruning workshop at his home. He will discuss the various types of pruning and reasons for each, with live demonstrations in his vineyard. It will be Sunday February 15, from 1:00 pm to approximately 3:00. Please either email him directly at 5powderhounds@gmail.com or call him at 925-858-7000 to get a spot on the list. His address is 3345 Hermosa Way. We will be in the vineyard, so please wear appropriate shoes.

Save the date! Tuesday, January 27 is the date of our next LWGA General Meeting. Note: This meeting is taking place on Tuesday evening rather than our customary Sunday afternoon meeting.

Pietro Buttitta will present “Mildew Control in your Vineyard”. This promises to be very relevant and informative!

Time: 5 – 7 pm

Location: Local Vines 3393 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette

Please bring an appetizer and bottle of wine to share for our social hour prior to the presentation.

We look forward to seeing you on January 27th.

We are pleased to announce that LWGA is seeking passionate and dedicated individuals to join our Board of Directors. As we continue to grow and expand our reputation in the community, we are looking for leaders who bring diverse perspectives, strong strategic thinking and a commitment to advancing the mission of the LWGA.

Elections will be held at our first General Meeting in January, slated for TUESDAY EVENING JANUARY 27TH (please note change in date), at Local Vines.

If you are interested in contributing your expertise, or just enthusiasm and energy to our Board, we would love to hear from you. Please submit a brief statement of interest to lward722@gmail.com, or any of our current Board Members.

Thank you for your interest and support as we continue to grow our association.

Leslie Ward, President LWGA

We have a generous harvest this season and would love to connect with anyone interested in putting the fruit to good use. Based on previous years, we expect:

• Zinfandel (~1,000+ lbs)
• Petit Sirah (~1,000+ lbs)

The grapes should be ready within the coming week. Both varietals have consistently produced delicious blends, and we’ve enjoyed making both red and rose wines in the past. At this point, though, we have more wine than we can possibly drink or gift, so we’d like to see the grapes go to someone who can use them.

If you’re interested, please reach out at mlberolz@gmail.com for details.

Michelle & Michael

Or was it, “It Shouldn’t Be Done” or “Never Ever Should It Be Done!”? After having lost over half of my harvest these past two years due to critters of all shapes and sizes, I did the unthinkable and had two wonderful volunteers in my Tarabrook Elders Success Team bag over 90% of each cluster of grapes! (see photos) The result? I over doubled my harvest! My vineyard physical make up doesn’t lend itself to setting up an electric fence. I tried that 5 years ago with very limited success. Yes, I do have anti-peck proof netting on each side of each row but STILL I lost over half my crop these past two years. Send me an email at aewpence@comcast.net and I’d be happy to talk to you about it.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMJbHXkFHzhjhUYVsS8NPWrq_1WjXj9qb10Y-89