As we approach the 50th anniversary of our esteemed organization, let’s reflect on the year that was and the accomplishments that were reached.
As always, OCWS was graced by a stellar slate of wineries from across California, featuring their finest offerings at dinners in Costa Mesa. Whether it was the Bushong Vintage Company or Wildeye Winery, members were treated to a bevy of beverages while gaining valuable insight into the winemaking process.
OCWS also was fortunate to have a series of new events. In January, a handful of members boarded trains bound for Los Angeles and were treated to the Uncorked LA Wine Festival at Union Station (and will again this January, see article inside). The year is being capped with a visit to Old Town Orange this month where members will make candles for the holiday season with wine provided by Seis Soles.
Not to be outshined, everything was coming up roses at the Vines in Bloom Spring Social in May and bellies were filled with chili in October at the Hoedown Fall Social.
The annual auction was another rousing success as more than 4,300 wines went to loving homes where barren racks and cellars needed to restocked. Gross revenues were nearly 10 percent more than was projected.
The Commercial and Homewine competitions once again took Herculean efforts by dozens of OCWS members and recognized the top winemakers across the state.
The OC Fair was another successful endeavor as more than 200 members volunteered for a slew of shifts. There were more than 7,500 tastings of award-winning wines, the Featured Winery Program took in just over $30,000 that will be directed toward the Scholarship Fund and 10 of the 16 wine seminars were sold out.
Sprinkled throughout the year were some unique events. There was an enjoyable road trip to Sycamore Ranch Vineyard & Winery near Lake Arrowhead. Members puckered up for a citrus winemaking course. Others refined their senses at the wine defect workshop. And the beloved Mini-Tastings that ranged from guests detecting which wines were from Coastal or Inland California to featuring women winemakers was enjoyed by all who attended.
All of which is to say – there’s a fair share of events and 2026 promises to showcase the very best of what OCWS has to offer. So raise a glass to OCWS and have a happy holidays.
The holidays … they are the best time of times and the busiest of times. Thanksgiving leftovers have been fashioned into turkey and cranberry sandwiches and heartily consumed. The holiday decorations are out of the box and in their December niches. The parking at the mall is actually worse than you remembered and each day your mail box has enough catalogues to sink a small battleship.
With all the hustle and bustle, it is all too easy to forget the holidays are about friends and family. For 49 years the Orange County Wine Society has been bringing friends together over a glass of wine, often with a fine meal. We should not forget that there is always a wine that pairs well with beef, lamb and difficult relatives.
This year, December presents three fun get-togethers; the Holiday Dinner Dance on Dec. 5; the Seis Soles Wine Tasting and Candle Making on Dec. 10; and the Winemakers holiday party on Dec. 20. Next year, we celebrate the organization’s golden jubilee starting with the 50th Anniversary Champagne Brunch on January 11.
All of these events keep with the OCWS holiday traditions and thus I would like to offer a toast.
May your year be full with good friends
May your glass be full with good wine
May your heart be filled with joy
May you always have a good time
Cheers and Happy Holidays!
P.S. There is one long-standing tradition in our home that has evolved. In days of old, chocolate chip cookies and cold milk were dutifully left out on Christmas Eve. In modern times, an open bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and a glass are placed near a charcuterie board.
Earlier this year at the annual business meeting, I had the honor of awarding the coveted President’s Award to two very deserving individuals. The President’s Award is given each year to an individual who has shown commitment to the organization over an extended period of time and always goes above and beyond when volunteering for OCWS events. I wanted to share more information on each of the recipients to recognize them for their long-time dedication to the organization.
Jim Burk
Jim Burk joined OCWS in 2001 quickly became the official OCWS Photographer, following in the footsteps of Kevin Lite and George Hammond. He served as our photographer for nearly 25 years, making him the longest-serving individual in this position. He has documented our organization over the years, taking photos of our membership BBQs and socials, the OC Fair competitions, winery programs and more. When Jim first started as photographer, OCWS printed duplicate sets of photos and brought a set to each event for members to go through and take home their favorite shots. Now in the digital age, photos are stored on hard drives, and the best photos of each event are posted on Facebook.
Ed Reyes
Ed Reyes joined OCWS in 2006 after enjoying The Courtyard tastings and seminars for several years. Ed served as an OCWS board member from 2010 to 2013, wanting to help recruit and retain members. He organized several bus trips and helped start the New Member Mixers. Mentored by members of the Winemakers’ Group like Rich McCormick, Ed began making his own wine in 2010 and won his first medal in 2013 – a silver for Nero d’ Avola. For the past several years, he has served as the head of the Winemakers Group, helping elevate their visibility within the organization.
When you see either of these individuals at OCWS events, please join me in thanking them for their commitment and service to this organization. It takes a village of volunteers to keep this organization running smoothly and as we near our 50th anniversary, I am very proud to have had the opportunity to recognize these two deserving individuals with the President’s Award.
Who wants to hit the road in 2026? In recognition of our organization’s 50th anniversary, we are considering visiting one of the wine regions. In past years, trips have been taken to Napa, Paso Robles, Temecula and the Santa Barbara region.
To get a better idea if members are interested and what they would like from a trip, here is a survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BBBLTDG. Please fill it out if you are interested and the results will be posted in the January newsletter. The survey will close on Dec. 15, so please let us know.
Also, if there is enough interest, a committee will be created to help with various aspects of the trip. If you are interested in filling a role, please email editor@OCWS.org.
—Greg Risling, Co-Executive Editor, The Wine Press
Ingredients 3 lbs. ground lamb (can substitute with hamburger meat) 1 large yellow mild onion 2 jars of beef gravy 1 bag frozen peas and carrots Mashed potatoes Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Directions BROWN the ground lamb in frying pan. Add a little water to make juice. HALF way through browning, add chopped onion into pan with meat to simmer in meat juice. DRAIN excess juice/grease, place in oven-proof pan. BLEND in beef gravy then peas and carrots. PUT layer of mashed potatoes on top of meat COVER pan with aluminum foil and cook at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. REMOVE from oven and add grated cheese on top of potatoes. RETURN for 3-5 minutes for cheese to melt. —Recipe courtesy Kevin Donnelly
Spotlight on Enology Students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
By Damian J. Christian
OCWS funds scholarships for eight California colleges and universities, including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO), which has one of the largest enology and viticulture programs in the country and offers a Bachelor’s of Science in wine making and viticulture.
Earlier this summer, I had the good fortune to visit SLO for a reception and lunch with their enthusiastic scholarship recipients. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) awarded the OCWS scholarships to five students and this article highlights some of their career journeys.
Stella Dowd – a student in her fourth year was studying the business side of wine making and was excited to have participated in the previous fall harvest at a large winery.
Phoebe Dueltgen – from San Jose has both parents in the wine industry and was excited to continue in their footsteps.
Elizabeth Hastert – from Denver, came to SLO for culinary arts inspired by the Netflix show Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Chef Samin Nosrat. But in the dorms she was attracted to enology by the enthusiasm of her friends there and was very happy to have switched majors.
Stella Tarantino – a fourth-year student whose parents also attended SLO. She also participated in the previous year’s harvest at a large winery and was excited to present a vintage at the wine maker show case.
Evelyn Tostado – switched to the wine business side after pursuing the plant science side of viticulture.
All of the students were very enthusiastic about their studies and very appreciative of the OCWS scholarship support.
Next month we will be highlighting another one of the colleges/universities supported by the OCWS Scholarship Fund. Just a friendly reminder there is always time to donate for 2025. There are two ways to donate:
Bring a check to a holiday event (December 5th) – Make your check out to OCWS (please write Scholarship Donation on the memo line and add the name of a specific school, if you want it to go to only one of the schools supported). I will be in attendance at the holiday events and will be happy to accept your donation check. A donation letter will be sent to you.
Mail a check – Make your check out to OCWS and mail it to the OCWS office at OCWS P.O. Box 11059 Costa Mesa, CA 92627 Attn: Scholarship Fund A donation letter will be sent to you.
Donate Online – Logon to your account at ocws.org and go to the scholarship donation page: ocws.org/product/scholarship-donations/ You can make your donation online and print a receipt for tax purposes at the same time.
In a 1596, Elizabethan Age English “cookery book” titled “The Good Huswifes Jewell”, a recipe to improve wine by warming it and adding spices was included. While the verb “to mull”, meaning to heat, sweeten and flavor wine or cider with spices was not used until 1618 according to Merriam-Webster, the warming of wine with added spices goes back to ancient times. For as long as wine has been made there have always been efforts to improve its palatability and deliciousness.
Hippocras, a Greek-spiced wine named after Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was surplus wine from the harvest that had spices dumped in and then warmed to make it appetizing. There were also beliefs that wine so treated had medicinal properties.
During the time the Romans spread throughout their known world, the heating and spicing of left over wine became common practice. Their 1st Century recipe for Conditum Paradoxum was somewhat more complex than Greek recipes with the Roman’s objective to mask the taste of poorly stored wine and again add some medicinal benefits for the soldiers. The Conditum Paradoxum became so popular that it was a featured wine of the Saturnalia Festival at the winter solstice. By the 5th and 6th centuries Apicius’ Roman cookbook had the recipe – one part wine and one part honey, boiled and reduced. Then a mixture of pepper, bay leaf, saffron and dates was added. Believe it or not you can buy Conditum Paradoxum today, but made with a decent wine.
The Greek-Roman legacy of warmed, spiced wine became popular in the Middle Ages. Water was not always safe to drink and wine with spices was believed once again to be medicinally healthy and much more flavorsome. In the 13th century warmed wine was a regular beverage of the Kings of England and as mentioned above, by the 17th century it was called mulled wine. The acceptance of mulled wine became so widespread that at least 20 different European countries have their own names for their regional versions. The recipes basically start with a decent bottle of red wine and then add a myriad of spices, fruits, nuts, fortified wine and often honey. (All the recipes can be found online.)
The strong connection of mulled wine with Christmas, although based on the warm of the Roman’s long ago winter festival, began during the Victorian era and especially with a notable reference in Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel, “The Christmas Carol.” Eliza Acton’s recipe for this particular mulled wine in her 1845 modern cookery book included lemons, cloves, cinnamon, mace, allspice, ginger, sugar and a little nutmeg. Merchants of the period began selling it in Christmas-themed bottles with its very unusual name. Just one quiz question for this Wine Wisdom.
What was the mulled wine in Charles Dickens’ The Christmas Carol called?
a. Smoking Bishop (port)
b. Smoking Pope (burgundy)
c. Smoking Cardinal (champagne)
d. Smoking Archbishop (claret)
e. Church Warden (ginger wine)
These are all the actual names of different mulled wine recipes from Victorian England.
Answer: A – Smoking Bishop – Ebenezer Scrooge offers to share a bowl with Tom Cratchit at the end of the book.
So, join the Varietal Hour on Tuesday, December 9 at 7 p.m. on Zoom (Event sign ups on OCWS website) and share some old fashion holiday cheer.
For OCWS winemaker, Bruce Powers, his day begins at 4 a.m. when he leaves his Orange Park Acres home. There’s someone with him in the rental cargo van he picked up the evening before and it is loaded with storage tanks to hold nearly 275 gallons of Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay juice. He’s about to make a Monday morning drive through Los Angeles traffic to Lucas and Lewellen (L&L) Vineyards in Buellton to get juice for OCWS winemakers.
Bruce Powers
That’s what it’s like for Bruce and the Winemakers Group when grapes are ready. It doesn’t matter if you’re working or have another commitment. If you want to make wine, you drop what you’re doing and be there when the winery says so.
In this case, Lucas & Lewellen told Bruce on Friday they were picking and pressing both varietals that day. The juice was being refrigerated and cold-settled over the weekend (a standard practice for the winery) and he needed to be there Monday morning between 8 and 10 a.m. to get it. Then he’ll turn around and return home where about a dozen home winemakers will be waiting for the grape juice that will eventually become the 2025 vintage.
Lucas & Lewellen is one of two major grape suppliers for OCWS winemakers. Bruce began sourcing from them in 2012 when he started running the OCWS grape purchase program. He usually makes several trips there each harvest. This year, L&L supplied Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay. White varietals are supplied as juice, already pressed and ready to ferment while red varietals are supplied as grapes that have been crushed and destemmed. When picking up grapes, the cargo van or truck is loaded with storage bins, each holding a half-ton of grapes for the return trip to Orange County.
The other major grape source for the Winemakers Group is Solterra Winery in Encinitas. Though the winery is in San Diego County, the grapes are sourced from vineyards in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma.
Tom Dutcher, a longtime OCWS winemaker says that in the early 2000s Solterra’s owner, Chris Van Alyea, attended a Winemakers Group meeting and made a pitch to sell grapes to the group. The Van Alyea family owned the vineyards so the fruit would be from a reliably consistent source. The appeal of getting Sonoma fruit and having to drive only to Encinitas to get it was too good to pass up. Solterra has been a reliable OCWS grape source ever since.
This year, Solterra provided Merlot and Grenache. When Bruce gets the pickup call from Solterra, the grapes have already been brought down from Sonoma in a refrigerated truck and are waiting for him. It’s an easier pickup than from L&L but it’s still a long day.
This year, some two dozen OCWS winemakers participated in the group grape purchase, a typical number. All told OCWS winemakers will get over five tons of red grapes and about 275 gallons of white juice.
Planning for the group purchase starts in the spring when Bruce contacts Solterra and L&L about their offerings for the year. OCWS has good relationships with both sources so there are no upfront costs or deposits required to reserve grapes. But the allotment of some of the more popular varietals like Sangiovese and Petite Sirah is always limited.
Once the growing season starts, each supplier provides Bruce with a list of available varietals. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are usually on the list each year. Then Bruce surveys the winemakers and gets their requests. Armed with the group’s “wish list,” Bruce finds out exactly the allotment (in tons of grapes for red, gallons of juice for white) of each varietal available to the group and the cost of each.
Grape orders are taken from mid-August through early September. Prices for grapes are given in dollars per pound and prices for juice in dollars per gallon. The minimum order for grapes is 100 pounds for each varietal, six gallons for white varietal juice. Prices include transportation costs and dry ice that is used to keep grapes cool for the drive home from Buellton or Encinitas. There’s also extra dry ice available to individual winemakers to keep their grapes cool on the drive home from the pickup point.
Another extra included in the cost of grapes is a packet of chemical additives for each order. Every winemaker picking up grapes or juice receives a packet consisting of the yeast, yeast nutrients, color enzymes and antioxidants needed to process their grapes.
Bill Forsch, then Chairman of the Winemakers Group, started supplying these packets about seven years ago. This year, OCWS winemaker Don Phillips was charged with assembling these packets and getting them ready to distribute. There’s a lot of detail that goes into putting these packets together. The amount of each additive is specific for each order. It’s a valuable service as winemakers don’t have to buy all these products separately. Usually, these additives are sold in large quantities, more than a single home winemaker would need and the excess would go to waste.
With orders taken and the additive packets ready, all that’s left is harvest. At the beginning of the season, the suppliers generally give Bruce a harvest “window” for each varietal. Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay are among the first to arrive in mid-September. Sangiovese, which arrives around Halloween, is one of the last. But the exact harvest dates aren’t known until just a few days before grapes are picked.
Despite the uncertainty of harvest timing and all the work involved, the Winemakers Group grape purchase has been successful over the years for many reasons. The program gives home winemakers the opportunity to get high quality grapes in small quantities. With red grapes already crushed and destemmed and white varietals supplied as juice, there’s much less work involved. The fact that the cost includes harvesting, transportation, careful handling and delivery to a local pickup point is super convenient. The additive packets make it easy to get great results. Plus, there’s always help from other winemakers who live nearby and are working with the exact same grapes.
After Bruce has returned from the trip to L&L, the Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay juice gets distributed. The excitement among the winemakers is palpable. They’re already asking each other questions about how they’ll be processing this year’s wine. What will they do differently or the same as last year? After getting their juice they stay just a little longer to help Bruce clean up before going home to start working on, what they hope, will be making their medal-winning wines.
By Fred HeineckeThis is my first President’s Message and I want to begin by telling you how honored I am to be your president for the 2025/26 board year and to thank some hardworking members.Thanks to Carolyn Christian for the past two years of nonstop effort and leadership as President. Thanks to Rich Skoczylas for […]
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We had multiple amazing entries for our recent logo contest several members. Thank you all for your submissions; it was difficult to pick a winner with so many great logo ideas. We are pleased to announce the winner of the 50th Anniversary Logo Contest is John Goodnight. As a thank you for submitting the winning logo, John will receive admission to one of the upcoming Winery Programs in 2026.
