Activities for Our Winemakers
Leave your information below if you would be interested in learning more about our Winemakers group.
Orange County Wine Society, Inc., is a non-profit educational corporation whose purpose is to promote the knowledge and understanding of wine. In support of this, the Winemakers’ Group provides a variety of educational and training programs for its members every year, including:
- Training for new and experienced winemakers every year before grape harvest season, to show what you need to know to get started making wine.
- Periodic subject matter workshops or seminars of interest to the members, such as:
- Alternative Uses of Oak
- Wine Faults/Sensory Analysis in Wines
- Making Wines from Kits
- Making Wine from Grapes
One of the most important services the Winemakers’ Group provides our members is the periodic testing of SO2 levels in our wines to ensure adequate protection against bacterial growth. Since we began this practice several years ago, there has been a marked increase in the quality of our wines, resulting in a much larger number of Double Gold, Gold and Silver awards at the OC Fair Homewine Competition from our members.
The group also pools its resources to do larger scale purchases of grapes, bottles and corks from quality grape growers and suppliers.
And we also have FUN!
- The members gather for our Quarterly Potluck events at one of the members’ home where we taste our wines and share great food and friendship, followed by a short business meeting.
- We pour our wines for at various OCWS events throughout the year.
- We augment our learning by doing periodic visits to wineries for tours and tastings with experienced winemakers, many of whom have become commercial winemakers from home winemaker beginnings.
If you are interested in participating in any of these events, signup by selecting the event. To learn more about the Winemakers’ Group, please contact Ed Reyes at ed@ocws.org.
– Ed Reyes, Winemakers’ Group Chair