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

Hello fellow LWGA members.  The AVA Celebration is right around the corner:  this Sunday!  Now we need your wines for the first members choice blind wine rating event.  We encourage everyone to enter at least one wine.  You will get blind feedback from members, which may or may not be accurate, but it certainly will be interesting.

As an added incentive, we are excited to announce that Amy Glynn, the first Lamorinda poet laureate and wine bard will be tasting wines and joining our celebration.  Amy will be impressed by the quality of Lamorinda wines and could help to build the reputation of the Lamorinda AVA by her future articles and community involvement.

All wines entered will be brown bagged and rated by members who wish to participate in the judging.  Who knows how the members judging will turn out, but one thing is certain, it will be fun and informative – and your own private “judging” notes will be given to each submitter at a later meeting. Plus, at future meetings we will get to taste the winning wines and hear how they were made!

Wine Rating Logistics:

All wine entries need to be dropped off by this Friday, April 27^th, so we have time in advance of the wine evaluation event to get everything set for the blind tasting.  Please submit 2 bottles of wine for each entry, as this will provide enough wine for the evaluation and the remainder will be made available for other members and the general public to taste during the AVA Celebration.

Please drop you wines off at Bill Scanlin’s house, 6 Lois Lane, Lafayette CA, along with a check made out to LWGA for $5 per entry to cover costs.  If someone is not home in the Scanlin’s house when you drop by, there will be an ice chest by the front door wherein you can leave your wine and the entry fee.

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

Event Details

• When:          4:30 to 5:30pm. Sunday April 29, Lafayette Community Library

To signup to be a wine judge/evaluator, please email gerardvs1@gmail.com or call Gerard at 707-758-7441.  If you have any questions, or wish to volunteer to help out, please email Gerard at the email above or Daniel Howsepian at5powderhounds@gmail.com.  If you want to coordinate your wine drop off with Bill, his email is bscanlin@gmail.com.

We are looking forward to a fun wine tasting event!  If it works out as hoped, this could the first annual!

LWGA Board

If you have not yet purchased your tickets for the 3^rd Annual Celebration of the Lamorinda winegrowing AVA designation, please purchase your tickets before this Monday, April 23.  We really look forward to seeing as many members as possible at the celebration!  Plus, purchasing tickets early will help us better plan for the number of attendees.

Plus, plus, all members who attend can also submit wines and be a judge for our first annual members choice wine judging, which will occur right before the celebration!

The link below will take you to our Eventbrite site where you can buy your tickets and learn more about the Celebration.

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

AVA Celebration Details

• When:          5:30 to 8:00pm – Sunday April 29
• Where:         Lafayette Community Library

Lamorinda wine will be served and food will be provided. On Monday, the ticket price increases from $29 to $35.  Each ticket will also include a Lamorinda AVA Commemorative wine glass.

Looking forward to seeing you there,

LWGA Board

The 3^rd Annual Celebration of the Lamorinda winegrowing area being officially designated as a unique American Viticultural Area will take place in less than two weeks!

Please buy your tickets for this fun and important event as soon as possible.   The link below will take you to our Eventbrite site where you can buy your tickets and learn more about the Celebration.

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

AVA Celebration Details

• When:          5:30 to 8:00pm – Sunday April 29
• Where:         Lafayette Community Library

Lamorinda wine will be served and food will be provided. Your $29 ticket will also include a Lamorinda AVA Commemorative wine glass. Dress is casual.

Hello fellow LWGA members.  We are excited about the upcoming opportunity for members to rate and evaluate AVA and non-AVA wines! This will be a blind tasting of wines, in different categories, such as whites, rose, cabernet, red blends, dessert, etc.  All members can enter wines to be evaluated, and we are encouraging everyone to submit at least one wine.   All members also can be a wine judge, as long as they have also signed up and paid to attend the AVA Celebration and commit to focus on tasting and rating all wines entered (so taking time to evaluate each wine and spitting instead of drinking).

After the AVA Celebration starts, there will be ample wines remaining for everyone else to taste the wines in a fun social setting, so those that judge wines will still not miss out on any of the fun. We will be compiling the wine ratings and notes, so that each wine maker will at a subsequent meeting receive ratings and notes, which should be helpful for future winemaking.

All wine entries need to be dropped off by Friday, April 27^th, so we have time in advance of the wine evaluation event to get everything set for the tasting.  Please submit 2 bottles of wine for each entry, as this will provide enough wine for the evaluation and the remainder will be made available for other members and the general public to taste during the AVA Celebration.  Please drop you wines off at Bill Scanlins house, 6 Lois Lane, Lafayette CA, along with a check made out to LWGA for $5 per entry to cover costs.  If someone is not home in the Scanlin’s house when you drop by, there will be an ice chest by the front door wherein you can leave your wine and the entry fee.

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

• Wine/Winemaker name 
• Wine Type and Varietals if a Blend:   ie Cabernet Savignon 90%, Cab Franc 10%
• Year of Vintage
• Source of Grapes:  ie:  100% AVA sourced, Orinda  or Non-AVA Napa, Mt. Veeder

Event Details

• When:          4:30 to 5:30pm. Sunday April 29
• Where:         Lafayette Community Library
• Details:        2 bottles of wine per entry; $5 per entry, each wine labeled with Winemaker, Year, Varietals, Source of Grapes (within AVA or not and where more specifically), dropped off at Bill Scanlin’s house no later than April 27^th.

To signup to be a wine judge/evaluator, please email gerardvs1@gmail.com or call Gerard at 707-758-7441.  If you have any questions, or wish to volunteer to help out, please email Gerard at the email above or Daniel Howsepian at 5powderhounds@gmail.com.  If you want to coordinate your wine drop off with Bill, his email is bscanlin@gmail.com.

We are looking forward to a fun wine tasting event!  If it works out as hoped, this could the first annual!

LWGA Board

Last week you should have received an email from Eventbrite announcing the Lamorinda Winegrowers 3^rd Annual AVA Celebration.  It is coming up soon:  Sunday April 29 @ 5:30 PM  at the Lafayette Library Community Hall!

Please click on the link below to buy your tickets.  We are expecting a large turnout and encourage everyone to buy their tickets soon, so we can plan for the number of attendees.  We also encourage you to invite any friends or guests who are interested in learning more about Lamorinda wines to attend this fun night.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-lamorinda-american-viticultural-area-celebration-tickets-44563386288?aff=es2

Lamorinda wine will be served and food will be provided. Your $29 ticket will also include a Lamorinda AVA Commemorative wine glass. Please bring one bottle of Lamorinda wine per person or commercial wine if you can’t bring local wine. Dress is casual, but fun, crazy or wine-themed outfits are encouraged!

As a special feature of this celebration, we will also be holding an informal wine tasting and judging event prior to the start of the AVA Celebration.  More information on this wine judging event will be sent to you soon.  Please keep on the lookout for more informational emails from the LWGA.

So please, buy your tickets now for a fun filled, informative, interactive gathering of the proud Lamorinda Wine Growers Association celebration of the Lamorinda AVA.

Sunday, April 29^th, is almost around the corner!

LWGA Board

Join us to celebrate our hard earned and important AVA designation at the second annual Lamorinda AVA celebration, On Sunday April 29 @ 6 PM  at the Lafayette Library Community Hall.

We’ve got plans for you that evening and we would like you and your guests to attend this fun night.

As a special feature of this celebration, we would like to invite all our members to submit bottles of wines they made from AVA or non AVA grapes for an informal tasting and judging by your peers. $5.00 per bottle to cover costs.  This will be done between the hours of 4-5:30pm on April 29, 2018 as well.  All members will have the opportunity to judge the wines – with each member who wants to be a judge committing to evaluate and rate each wine between 4pm and 5:30pm.  The results will be tabulated and announced at a later date, and the winners will be asked to give a short presentation of how the wine was produced, from the vineyard management perspective; fermentation processes; to the bottling;  at the next membership meetings.  There will be several categories both for AVA and non-AVA wines, depending on the submittals received.

Then we will have a short General meeting for our members, status of our club; and letting you know of all the wonderful plans and activities we have for the membership for the coming year.

For example, we will be proposing to expand the regular meetings to bi-monthly meetings, every year, where we propose to have relevant and timely discussions and activities as well as discussions by the wine judging results, to help all become better grape growers and wine makers, so that the Lamorinda AVA brand will shine!  Look for more info to follow.

For all of the founding members of the AVA, the beautiful AVA certificates with your names on them will be on display and available for distribution.

At 6 PM, the Lamorinda AVA celebration begins.  $30.00 per person entry fee.  There will be food, beverages, music and lots of mingling and talk about our upcoming wine growing season.

So please, save the date for a fun filled, informative, interactive gathering of the proud Lamorinda Wine Growers Association celebration of the Lamorinda AVA.

See you then!

LWGA Board

The Orinda Trivia Bee sponsored by the Orinda Rotary and Orinda Chamber of Commerce is on Friday, April 6th (6:00pm) at the Orinda Masonic Lodge (8 Altorinda Road, Orinda).  It’s a fun event for a good cause and Lamorinda wine will be poured.

See flyer below for more details:

Dear Members,

We are looking for board member candidates for our upcoming election at the end of January.  We have 3 board directors running for reelection and one open director position.

Being a board member gives you more input into the direction of Lamorinda Wine Growers.  We meet once a month and cover a variety of issues including: finances, membership, proposed regulations, events, promotion of LWGA/AVA and much more.

If you’re interested in becoming a board member, please contact me before the general meeting on January 28th.

Best,
Bill Scanlin
President, Lamorinda Wine Growers Association
e: bscanlin@gmail.com   c: 925.200.7676

Dear Members,

We were not able to have a holiday party this year but are looking at an AVA anniversary celebration that may include a wine competition in the first quarter of next year.  We’ll have more discussion on that at our General Membership Meeting on January 28th.

Wishing you a joyous holiday season with peace and cheer in the New Year!

Bill Scanlin, President, Lamorinda Wine Growers Association