Had it not been for a small band of like-minded, wine-loving people, the Orange County Wine Society would not be hosting the 49th annual OC Fair competitions today. In 1976, 16 people, out of their love of wine and interest in winemaking, began meeting the first Friday of each month in the back room of Brant’s Wine Rack, a wine and beer supply shop in Orange, where the store’s owner advised the group on winemaking. Soon, with friends wanting to sample the wines, the wine drinkers began to outnumber the winemakers. From there, the Orange County Wine Society was born and the dream of wine competitions became a reality.
Jerry Mead, who went on to become a renowned wine writer and Brant Horton helped establish the first commercial wine competition. The OC Fair wholeheartedly embraced the idea and provided the OCWS with a 10’ table during the then-one week run of the fair.
The Commercial Wine Competition had a whopping 83 individual wines entered comprised of three varietals which, to the best of our knowledge, were mostly Chenin Blanc and Gamay Beaujolais, with the third varietal still a now long-forgotten mystery to this day.
No one could have imagined that the creation of a small wine competition would evolve into the largest California-only wine competition in the world today, with over 90 winery principals and professional winemakers blind judging over 2,600 wines a year.
The competition has been comprised of more than 176 varietals, the number of which continues to increase year after year, with 14 new ones added already just this year alone.
One can only imagine what the founding members of the OCWS would think of the evolution of the organization and competitions to this day and think of what their amazement and pride in the reality of their visions almost 50 years ago would now be, all for the love of wine!
–Fran Gitsham, OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition Chair