Our annual celebration of the Lamorinda Appellation is just around the corner on April 28, so save the date! A link to purchase tickets for members and guests will be shared shortly.
LWGA MEMBERS: March 31st is Easter Sunday and therefore not a viable day to have our membership meeting. It is moved forward one week to the following Sunday April 7th. We will be notifying you of the topical content and location of the meeting no later than March 20th. Please pass this info along?
Thanks, David Hicks President
RESULTS OF ELECTION FOR LWGA BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
We have 3 re-elected board members and 2 newly elected members.
New members: Marcy Ryan Nichol, Bill Saupe.
Re-elected members: Amy Schofield, Bill Scanlan, Dave Rey.
Congratulations to both our old and new board members and to all of you members who voted, thank you. Our next board meeting will be March 4th after which we will post the agenda for the March membership meeting. The last Sunday in March is Easter Sunday. We just changed a membership meeting because of 49er football and now again possibly because of Easter. We will advise you ASAP if there will be a reschedule of the March general membership meeting scheduled for March 31st shortly. Stay tuned.
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 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 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
I’m Amy Schofield and have served on the LWGA Board for the past four years. In that time I have focused on the LWGA’s communications and interactions with the wider community including the AVA celebrations and social media, and with the membership through the newsletter and surveys. I look forward to the opportunity to continue serving the LWGA.
Outside of my involvement in LWGA, I am opening Germinate Kitchen alongside Local Vines. I still prefer red over white, full bodied over light, and milk over dark.
My name is Bill Saupe, and I’d like your vote to be on the Board of the Association. I qualify myself like a bottle of wine—the more I get older, the more it tastes sweet (internet quote).
I’ve been a wine lover all my life, but I’m new to wine growing. I planted 132 Cabernet Sauvignon wines in 2021 during the pandemic, and have faithfully nurtured, communed with, and battled gophers and birds for the grapes ever since. I’m not sure its savour-ready yet, but it sure has been fun and a great learning experience.
I recently joined the LWGA Education Committee, and will be helping plan speakers for all levels of learning and interests. On the Board, I want to promote the quality, presence, reputation, and camaraderie of the group.
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 2024—may we always have old wine, old friends, and young cares.
Hi! I am Marcy Ryan Nichol and am a long-time Orinda resident. My interest in wine started when I was a student at CAL working at the Vintage House, a restaurant in Orinda with a wine theme (some of you long time Lamorinda residents may recall the restaurant).
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 recently joined the Education committee, and I am excited about the direction LWGA is headed.
In my other life, I have extensive experience in Human Resources/Employee Relations in the airline, retail and banking industries. I am currently with SVB/FCB, a financial institution.
I appreciate your consideration for this position!
This notice is a follow up to remind all members and guests that the 3 PM 49er game Sunday preempted Sundays meeting and we have rescheduled the same program for Feb 4 at 3 PM at Bill Scanlan’s wine room. Kindly pass on this info if required? See you all on the 4th. David Hicks President
Dear members, sorry for short notice but due to the 49ers championship game this Sunday conflicting with the exact hours of our meeting at Bill Scanlan’s we have rescheduled the meeting for 3 PM the following Sunday February 4th. Please make note of this short notice change and tell your friends about the new date? After attending CCWG’s annual dinner last weekend their attendance was down 30% and half the attendees had the game on their phones.
We will re-send this notice several more times and hope all of your read it and can make the February 4 change.
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.
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
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
