Home Winemaker Happenings

If you are available to serve as a steward at the Homewine Competition but have not yet contacted Rob and Germaine Romano to sign up, we urge you to do that as soon as possible.  Please contact them at ocws@dementedfermenters.com to get your assignment and schedule.  Many thanks to those of you who have already signed up!

Homewine Judges Hone Their Skills

In an effort to continually improve the integrity of our Homewine Competition, we held a Judge's Seminar on May 15 with Lum Eisenman serving as our Seminar Leader. It was attended by some four dozen existing and new judges; some of whom are prospective OCWS members.  Lum’s focus was on the practical aspects of wine judging: having the judging panels calibrate their tasting and scoring with a test tasting prior to the actual judging, rules of thumb for allocating points for each category assessed in the 20-point modified Davis scoring system, and giving feedback by using the descriptors on the scoring form or writing in additional comments.  We believe the participants left with a better sense of preparedness for judging the competition.  Our thanks go to Rich McCormick for arranging the seminar, to Lum Eisenman for leading the seminar, and to Armen Shahbazian for hosting the event at his home.

 What Earthquakes and Wine Sometimes Have in Common

As part of the Wine Education Series, Jerry Guerin outlined the most common wine faults at a gathering of OCWS members prior to the Ken Brown tasting on May 14. Those tastes and smells which are more commonly feared by the winemakers were highlighted. Hopefully, none of those showed up in Ken’s wines after dinner! Our thanks to Kevin Donnelly for setting up the event and especially to Jerry Guerin for sharing his knowledge with us.

Russian River Campout / Winery Tours
Cassini Ranch Family Campground

Duncan Mills, CA
August 2 – 8, 2010

This is a reminder if you have an interest in this event. We plan on camping at the Cassini Ranch Family Campground located right next to the Russian River set among beautiful hills and just minutes from the Pacific Ocean. We expect to have some evening cookouts, barbecues, and wine tastings with visits to a number of wineries in the area.

If you plan on staying at the campground, we suggest you call immediately and make your reservation as many sites have already been booked. You may go to their website at www.cassiniranch.com or call at 800.451.8400. You can also find lodging in nearby Healdsburg or Santa Rosa. If you have any questions, please contact Jerry Guerin at jeromeguerin@earthlink.net or Jim Graver at winemaster72@earthlink.net. Remember, make your reservations immediately. You can always cancel later.

For the Homewine Group,
Jim Graver