History of the OCWS   1996 – 2000

During the late 90’s, the OCWS continued to offer the usual events such as the Auction, BBQ, Champagne Brunch, Chili Cook-off, Holiday Dinner and Dance, Installation Dinner, and Mini-Tastings. New events were added and an additional college was added to our Scholarship Program during these years and we started co-sponsoring events with Zinfandel Associates and Producers (ZAP). Further, the Wine Society continued to sponsor the Wine Extraordinaire and Wine Classic, plus both the Commercial and Homewine Competitions. A web site was designed and developed to publicize the OCWS. The Wine Society membership stabilized at about 1,000 members and a new full time Office Administrator was hired for our office. John Goodnight continued to volunteer as our Editor of the monthly newsletter, The Wine Press.

During this period, Lora Howard (October 95 to September 96) was elected President with Charley Owen as her Vice President, John Goodnight as Treasurer and Terry Majerski as Secretary. During Lora’s administration, the Orange County Fair Wine Pavilion name was changed to The Courtyard, dues were raised, a Wine Cruise was held to Mexico, OCWS identification cards were printed for the membership, and the Bylaws were changed to limit the terms of the Board of Directors to two consecutive terms. Bob Trout was elected President the next year (October 96 to September 97) with Charley Owen again serving as Vice President, and John Goodnight and Terry Majerski again serving as Treasurer and Secretary, respectively. During Bob’s Presidency, another Wine Cruise was held to the Yucatan and the Western Caribbean. During this period, Judy Fox launched our first OCWS “home page” on the Web in April. Judy volunteered to design the web site and has maintained and expanded its services each year since its conception. Janet Hammond was hired to serve as our Office Administrator and still serves the Board of Directors and the membership today.

The next year, Julie Burnett was elected President. However, due to a career relocation, she reluctantly resigned from the office. Charley Owen, who had been serving as Vice President, was elected to serve the remainder of the term and has been credited as President for the entire term  (October 97 to September 98). Mark DeWitt was elected as his Vice President, John Goodnight again as Treasurer, and Carolyn Schoff as Secretary. Jim Hume was selected by the Board to serve the remainder of Julie’s term. Highlights of this year included a bus trip to Orfila and Witch Creek wineries arranged by Judy Fox, and the start of a new OCWS event at sponsoring restaurants by Judy Fox that was subsequently called “Grub and Groggers.”  These events continued in subsequent years under the supervision of Judy Fox with members selecting the restaurant and hosting the event. Judy was also busy expanding the services of the OCWS web site that was experiencing hundreds of “hits” monthly. Mark DeWitt was elected President the following year (October 98 to September 99) with Dennis Esslinger as Vice President, John Goodnight continuing as Treasurer, and Carolyn Schoff again as Secretary. During this year, Tim Morgan started selling merchandize to the membership and Bob Trout organized wine donations for the Orange County Fair’s Centennial Farm Foundation fundraisers. Judy Fox organized another bus trip—this time to Paso Robles that included a cave dinner at Eberle Winery. Judy also started another annual tradition with a trip to Catalina Island to attend the Women’s Forum Annual Wine Festival. This annual trip still continues and has become a personal favorite of many members.

John Goodnight was elected President (October 99 to September 00) with Dennis Esslinger as Vice President, Tim Morgan as Treasurer, and myself as Secretary. It was during this year that a new college, John Hancock, was added to the Scholarship Program and our OCWS Office was remodeled. Judy Fox and Sam Puzzo organized an eventful spring wine trip to Napa and the sixth Wine Cruise hit the high seas with a trip to the Mexican Riviera. Judy expanded the web site again this year to give us the ability to handle secure, on-line credit card processing services for members. George Hammond, a member of the Board, was seriously hurt in an auto accident in March and due to his injuries and long-term recovery, he reluctantly resigned and was replaced by Larry Fox. Just prior to his accident, George started another new OCWS event, Wine Educational Seminars featuring either white or red wines. These White Wine 101 and Red Wine 101 seminars continue today and are a key part of our educational program for the membership.

The two grand tastings, the Wine Extraordinaire and the Wine Classic continued. However, they moved from the Anaheim Marriott and Disneyland Hotel to the Anaheim Hilton where they remain today. Serving as chairs for the Wine Extraordinaire were Terry Majerski, Julie Burnett, Carolyn Schoff, and Tim Morgan. The 1999 Wine Extraordinaire, thanks to successful radio advertising, broke attendance records and the committee ran out of glasses to give to the attendees. Terry Majerski, Mark DeWitt, George Hammond, Carolyn Schoff, and Judy Fox chaired the Wine Classics. The 1997 Wine Classic also broke records with over 850 attendees. These events continued to attract large crowds averaging over 100 wineries and 20 food purveyors. During this period, Charley Owen, Mark DeWitt, or Dennis Esslinger arranged the monthly programs. The programs included our 20th Anniversary Tasting with Kent Roseblum in May 1996, and a record crowd at our January 1998 tasting featuring three wine makers from Paso Robles. Another sold out program was held in March 1999, with the two “First Ladies of Napa”, Rosa Lee DeLeuze from ZD Winery and Margaret Duckhorn of Duckhorn Winery

During this period, the Orange County Fair remained open for seventeen days. The Wine Pavilion name was changed in 1996 to “The Courtyard”, and has remained that same name since. The Courtyard Chairs included Bob Trout, Charley Owen, Al Barber, Bob Prill, John Goodnight, Jim Hume, and myself. Two managers were added to each shift and separate positions were added for cashier and wine steward. Also seminars were added on weekends featuring either wine varietals or wine regions.

The Commercial Wine Competition ranged from 2,200 to 2,500 entries and over 1,000 awards given for 80 to over 100 different varietals and styles of wine. The host hotel for the Competition remained at the Red Lion, Costa Mesa, including a name change to the  DoubleTree Hotel and remains at the same facility today under its new owner, the Costa Mesa Hilton. During the period, Dennis Esslinger was Chair of the Competition for all five years while John Hardman and Sam Puzzo served as Director of Judges. In 2000, the shape of the Award Book was changed and we started using a color picture on the cover. The number of judges averaged over 80 and included such notables as Stephen Bedford (Bedford-Thompson), John Culbertson, Ken Deis (Flora Springs), Daryl Groom, Mick Schroeter, and Ondine Chattan (Geyser Peak), Scott Harvey (Folie á Deux), Dave Wodehouse (Witch Creek), Paul Ahenainen (Korbel), Signe Zoller (Meridian), Kirby Anderson (Gainey), Earl Ault (Cedar Mountain), Chuck Carlson (Curtis), Mike Dashe, Richard Matranga (Sonora Winery & Port Works), Marcello Monticelli (Gallo Sonoma), Carol Shelton, Time Spencer (St. Amant), Dave Muret (Mirassou, and Joel Peterson (Ravenswood). Many of these judges still continue to judge for us during the Commercial Wine Competition.

The Wine Steering Committee continued during this period with either John Hardman or Sam Puzzo as Chairs. Chuck Hansen and Jerry Wilson continued their long-term support of the committee. During this period, both the OCWS President and Competition Chairs started sitting as committee members each year.

The Homewine Group continued during this period under the leadership of Jim Graver and the annual Homewine Competitions continued on the Fair Grounds. The group also sponsored several events for home winemakers to allow them to test and assess the progress of their wines. These events included Wine Labs, Judging Seminars, Home Winemakers Day, Pre-Crush, and Winemaking Seminars.

Through this period, the typically OCWS annual events continued. Charley Owen again chaired the Wine Auctions with the help of the Cellar Masters. Chairs for the Champagne Brunch included Terry Majerski, Julie Burnett, Carolyn Schoff, Tim Morgan, and Larry Fox and each year several members competed in the dessert competitions. John Johnson, George Hammond, or myself chaired Mini-Tastings. Terry Majerski, George Hammond, Jim Hume, and Larry Fox chaired the Annual Barbecues. John Johnson, George Hammond, Judy Fox, and Larry Fox chaired the Chili Cook-offs. In addition to the above, we joined ZAP in presenting two tastings at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. Both events were coordinated by Charley Owen and presented 40 wineries and food catered by OCWS members.

During this period, the Wine Society unfortunately lost more of its long-term active members. They are remembered for their contributions and will remain in our memories.

Subsequent articles will continue to provide a history of the OCWS. I would like to thank past Historians, especially Vivien Owen, for her photo albums, and John Goodnight for providing me copies of the newsletters for the past five years. These materials and the many pictures have been invaluable in preparing this article and keeping a record of the Wine Society.

Larry Graham - Past President