Happy 2024 Dear Wine Folk

Please mark your calendars! The next member meeting will be on Sunday, January 28th, 3pm to 6pm, at Bill and Alissa Scanlin’s beautiful vineyard and wine cellar property, 6 Lois Lane, Lafayette, CA.

Five members of the new LWGA Educational Committee will be hosting a panel discussion on what to do in the vineyard in the Winter and Spring. The panelists, who each manage their own vineyards, are Karen Joy Maggio, Chris Maxwell, Frank Orson, Marci Ryan-Nichol and Bill Saupe. Their passion and capabilities for viticulture and winemaking will ensure that this is an engaging and very informative meeting.

Please bring a bottle of wine and an appetizer to share.

The

Hello fellow LWGA grape growers:

By now, everyone should have their harvest in for 2023.

Earlier this month, I had sent out a request for your harvest information. Thank you for those that have already responded, but there are many who have not yet responded.

Without getting all our vineyard information, I will not be able to get an accurate tally to compare with previous years as is our goal. I only have this week to complete my report, so if you have not yet sent in your harvest information, by varietal and pounds yielded, please do so by Wednesday, November 30, 2023.

Please send your information directly to me at: 5powderhounds@gmail.com

Thanks!

Daniel

BRING OUT THE UGLY SWEATERS!

Some still have grapes on the vine though it’s almost holiday time! Come in your ugliest holiday sweater – store bought or home styled. Prizes are on offer!

LWGA will cater the event and please bring a bottle of wine, or a few, to share. 

NOTE: This is in the hills of Orinda. Flat, comfortable shoes are strongly advised. Additional parking is on Barbara Road. Please observe all posted parking signs

The LWGA party is for members and their significant other

See you there!

RSVP HERE

In case you missed this, please click through the link below to take a short survey that will help Kamyar Aram, UC Cooperative Extension Specialty Crops Advisor for Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in deciding on future programs and services.

Please follow this link to take the survey.

There is a new newsletter for sharing news, resources, and events for crop producers in these counties. 

You can follow this link to subscribe to the Diablo Region Crops Newsletter.

Officially, the end of the growing season for 2023 vintners is over. And what a year! It was the best of vintages, it was the worst of vintages… For some growers and winemakers, this was a remarkable year for quality, and for others not as good. 2023 started late with exceptional moisture and delayed bud break. However, the growing season went along without any major heat waves or disruptions for an excellent extended growing season. I hope you had a good season.

Every year, the LWGA collects member information about your harvests. We would like to know what your gross weight yield in pounds (stems and all) was per varietal. I will accumulate this information anonymously by varietal and have a comparison spreadsheet from prior years to see how we’re doing.

Please send me your information soon so that I might be able to share this information with everyone very soon for an anticipated vigorous discussion.

Thank you!

Daniel Howsepian 5powderhounds@gmail.com

925-858-7000

SAVE THE DATE!

December 3, 5-8pm 2023

LWGA member holiday party. The official invitation with RSVP link will follow later this month

The Board of the Lamorinda Winegrowers Association is establishing a new committee to develop the educational topics and plans for future member meetings. This will be a great opportunity for LWGA members to get more involved. The time commitment for this committee should be fairly minimal.

The Board encourages anyone who is interested to join this committee. If you are interested or have any questions, please email Gerard van Steyn at gerardvs1@gmail.com or David Hicks at dh1780@yahoo.com

The next member meeting which will be this Sunday, starts at 3pm not 4pm, as previously announced.

It will be in the parking lot behind Wine Thieves – 3401 Mt. Diablo Blvd, Lafayette. The weather should be perfect, so please come to share in the excitement about the quality of grapes and wine this year!

Dear Grape and Wine Folks,

Our next meeting will be on Sunday October 8th, 4pm in the parking lot behind Wine Thieves- 3401 Mount Diablo Blvd, Lafayette, CA. What a great growing season we have had this year!… none of the crazy heat waves of previous years. (It seems like it has been a unusually cool year, but I was recently reading that it actually was a normal temperature year, unlike the silly hot temperatures of the last few years. Grape quality should be excellent this year!)

At this meeting we will have an open discussion about the grape growing year. Everyone will be encouraged to talk about their grapes, their viticulture and their harvest (actual or projected). If you have questions, or tried something new that worked or did not, you can share that with the group, and even ask for input. If you had any problems or issues, this meeting will be a great opportunity to bring them up to discuss with the group. And folks can summarize their harvest as in the quantity and quality of grapes, and even pH and TA, particularly if it was different than previous years. There is even some talk about making this a full harvest dance and let loose party… ok that was me, just suggesting 😉

Please park on Mount Diablo or another side street. And it was great to see everyone step up with tasty food and appetizers at the last meeting. Let’s continue this as our new tradition, because who doesn’t like good food, with good wine, and good friends?! Oh and bring a bottle of vino to share with the group, chairs and warm clothing, in case it cools off. Party hats and harvest party attire and party attitude is encouraged.