Happy New Year!!!
As we move into the dawn of 2022, we have a lot to be thankful for already! December’s rainfall totals have given us a great start in the ground moisture, which will give us a great start for the upcoming growing season. Let’s hope that we’ll see more rain in the coming months.
In my last message to you, I had given you the crop harvest information within our group. I have since looked back to see how we did in the last couple of years. So, in 2021 the gross total was 66,363 #; in 2020 the gross total was 58,763 #; in 2019 the gross total was 51,774# and in 2018 the gross total was 48,242 # Quite an impressive improvement over the years! All thanks to your hard work and good practices.
For those of you who also make wine; we will be encouraging you to submit your wines for wine tasting competitions. We think the tasting events will resume once more and we feel that our wines should be represented. We’re making great wines these days and we should be out there showing how good they are. There’s also a bit of pride when you get those ribbons to show off in your cellar! We will be issuing information on the dates and places to do so. Don’t be shy!
This year’s calendar of general meeting and events will be as follows:
*** January 30, 2022: Viticulture/Farming Educational Meeting; Zoom
Board Elections
What to do in the Spring in the Vineyard
Prebud spraying, covercrop mowing or not, nutrition, soil enhancements, etc
*** POTENTIAL FIELD DAY – DATE TBD – EARLY FEBRUARY ***
FIELD DAY: Pruning, members and/or an outside expert share techniques
and best practices for pruning
*** March 27, 2022 Overview of Best Practices for Canopy Management, Heat Mitigation, Quality Fruit
*** POTENTIAL FIELD DAY – DATE TBD – LATE APRIL OR EARLY MAY ***
Overview of Best Practices for Canopy Management, Heat Mitigation, Quality Fruit
*** June 5, 2022; 5th Annual Lamorinda American Viticultural Area Celebration. Plans are being made right now for our LWGA AVA Celebration in June! We will be serving local wines for our members and the public, and will have a lot of information about our past, present and future plans. This will be an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon together! Stand by for more information as they become available.
*** July 31, 2022 Food & Wine Pairing. A food and wine expert will guide us on food and wine pairing and wine sensory evaluation
*** POTENTIAL FIELD DAY – DATE TBD – AUGUST ***
A food and wine expert will guide us on food and wine pairing and wine sensory evaluation
*** September 25, 2022; White, Rose and Red Wine Winners
Commercial and Non-Commercial Gold medal winners from major competitions (Sacramento State Fair, Orange County and SF Chronicle) pour their wines and discuss how they were made.
*** December 1, 2022: LWGA Holiday Party: Members and guests will gather to enjoy good food, good wines, holiday sharing. This celebration is for members (and guests) to celebrate a successful harvest and the holiday season together. A short presentation on the harvest and accomplishments of the year will be provided.
In Closing, you will be receiving a notice to vote for the candidates for the LWGA Board. It is important that every member participate in these election. Please try to return them by the end of January.
As noted above, our next General meeting will be on January 30, @ 3 PM. We had hoped to have an in person meeting then, but because of the Omicron Covid surge, we felt it wise to hold this meeting on Zoom.
Please join us at;
https://warriortrading.zoom.us/j/9252007676
Our emphasis this year will be to have primarily social meetings, with a light touch of relevant discussion points as outlined above. If you have an interest in the topics raised, or wish to contribute to the presentation of the topic, we will have a field break-out session available to attend where you can get a deeper dive into the subject matter. We hope this format will be useful to you. Please contact me if you would like to help us in these presentations.
| Viticulture/Farming Educational Meeting: – ZOOM |
| · Board Elections |
| · What to do in the Spring in the Vineyard |
| prebud spraying, cover crop mowing or not, nutrition, soil enhancements, etc |
I wish you all a great 2022 and a happy and healthy year ahead! See you on January 30 for our first General Meeting of the year. We hope to be able to have in person meetings as soon as possible again.
Sincerely;
Daniel Howsepian
LWGA President
