Would it rain with cool temperatures and wind? Would it be sunny and warm? The weather was questionable and no one was quite sure for the weather that day. So, we moved the Fall Membership Social inside the Huntington Beach Building for the party on Sept. 30. The Cooks Caucus set up in The Courtyard and brought pop-ups to cover themselves for the many hours they were there to prepare the food for the 200+ attendees. People started showing up at 10 a.m. to cook, set up the tables, decorate, and be ready to welcome everyone for “The Game is On” event.

The band, the Three 2 Sevens, were on fire and the dance floor was crowded with dancers enjoying the music!

There were contests to enter and drawings for prizes. Eleven lucky people won the prize of their choice. We also had wine prizes for the ‘get to know everyone’ game and one wine given for a drawing that included all the volunteers who helped with the event, including members of the Cooks Caucus. Games were set out on the other side of the band for corn hole and ring toss.

We had excellent wine from the cellar at the wine carts, along with fabulous wine by the Home Winemakers group. Many members of that group brought their wine to share with all! Part of the game was to find a person who makes their own wine, which succeeded in many new members meeting home winemakers.

Everyone wore something to represent their favorite sport or team. Football, baseball, soccer, golf, marathon runners, NASCAR and much more were represented! What a great time!

Once again, Rochelle Randel set up and ran the Wine Wall. Many of our members brought wine to donate to the Wine Wall. There were so many donations, most of the wine from the Cellar was sent back for future events. Thank you to everyone who donated. The Wine Wall made about $1,000, which will be all for the scholarship fund!

A huge thank you goes out to all the people who volunteered to move tables, decorate, serve wine, cook delicious food, serve the delicious food, work the sign-in table and clean up! The Orange County Wine Society is made up of dedicated, helpful people who give their time so all can enjoy the events. Thank you so much for helping to make ‘The Game is On’ so successful!

—Alice Polser, Event Chair

As 2023 comes to an end and we start a new board year, the scholarship program reins will be handed from Leslie Hodowanec to Damian Christian.

Under Leslie’s leadership over the past few years, the program has continued a successful tradition of supporting eight California colleges and universities that have wine-related degree programs including enology, viticulture, wine marketing and culinary arts. This year, the program surpassed the three-quarters of a million-dollar mark, garnering $781,423 since 1996.

Starting with just a few institutions at its inception including University of California, Davis, and California State University, Fresno, the program now provides funding for eight institutions.

Program funds come from a variety of sources in addition to the organization’s general funds. These general funds include monies earned through membership dues, The Courtyard and the Wine Auction. Also, each year, at the OC Fair Commercial Competition, judges are offered the opportunity to donate back their stipend to the scholarship fund. The recipient institution for these funds rotates each year, giving each the opportunity to benefit from the funds over the years. In addition, the tips that the public gives to The Courtyard volunteers during the OC Fair are also slated for scholarships. In recent years, the Featured Winery Program at the OC Fair has been added to the list of funds that are directly applied to the scholarship program. Funds from the famous Wine Wall that Rochelle Randel runs during the Spring and Fall social events are also added directly to the fund.

As the year draws to a close, we want to remind everyone about another source of income for our Scholarship Fund and that is your generous donations. Don’t forget that donating to a nonprofit 501 (C)(3) like OCWS for the Scholarship Fund may be used as a tax deduction (please check with your tax specialist to confirm eligibility).

Year-end donations to our scholarship fund can be made online at ocws.org or by sending a check to the OCWS office at PO Box 11059, Costa Mesa, CA 92627 and can be made online at ocws.org/scholarship and you can print your own tax receipt. Checks also will be accepted at the Holiday Dinner Dance and Winemakers’ Holiday Potluck Party. Your donation can be made to the Scholarship Fund in general, or you may designate a specific institution to receive your donation. Please indicate “scholarship fund” on the memo line of your check and indicate specific institutions (if you wish to designate where your funds go). Thank you in advance for your generous donation and your support of the OCWS Scholarship Fund throughout the year. Whether you volunteer your time to these activities or provide donations, you are contributing to a worthwhile cause that furthers our educational mission.

— Damian Christian, Scholarship Chairs

Grit & Grace

Much like a wine can evolve over time, so has wine consultant Tymari LoRe’s appreciation for the industry and the imprint she is leaving on the Santa Ynez Valley.

LoRe grew up in Orange County – shout out to Cypress – and her first interaction with wine was working for her uncle at a winery. There she learned how wine serves as a conduit to uniting us.

“My favorite part of the industry is that it brings people together from all walks of life,” she said. “Wine is meant to be shared and enjoyed by people and fosters camaraderie.”

LoRe attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where she double majored in enology and wine business. She received a scholarship from the Orange County Wine Society that allowed her to buy the necessary books to continue her studies.

Along the way, she landed three internships that provided her the tools for winemaking. LoRe traveled to Europe where she studied winemaking for seven to eight months before finding herself in Santa Barbara County.

She became associate winemaker at Kita Wines, which was run by Tara Gomez, the first Native American winemaker recognized by the California Legislature.

“It was really a cool combination of spirituality and the winemaking portion that flowed very well together,” LoRe said.

She also cut her teeth at Folded Hill Winery, owned by Kim and Andrew Busch – yes, those Buschs of Budweiser fame. LoRe was part of the winery’s management and spent about five years before she found her true calling of helping smaller wineries find their niche in the market.

“I had this love of seeing these brands launch and I felt there was a lack of that space in the industry,” LoRe said.

She started LoRe Consulting Group in 2021 and provides a host of services from designing and laying out an actual winery to creating business models that optimizes sales and forecasts income.

“What I’ve found by mistake is that wineries don’t have a plan. If you don’t know how to stand out, you will ultimately get lost in the fray,” LoRe said. “I want to make sure they don’t fall into a hole.”

She strives to get as much knowledge about what a winemaker wants and she believes each of her clients should have a unique story and niche. One of her main challenges is connecting the dots – or grapes – to help a winery push their brand forward and upward for maximum exposure.

LoRe has found a home in Santa Barbara County, which she says has the highest number of women in the wine industry across California. She says the region is finally getting the recognition it deserves and is not just a pit stop for those traveling to Paso Robles.

She hopes that her experience and knowledge will boost the profile and the margins of smaller wineries that will benefit not only her and the winemaker but the public as well.

“Being able to work with people who I felt didn’t get the right opportunity to showcase their strengths is very rewarding,” she said. “I want to see them grow and evolve and I’m there to help them get to that point.”

Greg Risling

The OCWS has started a photography contest and you are invited to participate! As you might have guessed, the subject is “Wine,” but this can mean many things to many people. Do you have a great shot of the sun filtering through the vines just before picking? Or an action shot of wine being poured with some great swirls in the glass? Or a romantic shot of a couple toasting each other with some wine? These are just a couple ideas, and I am sure you have many more ideas of that great shot involving wine in some way.

Each month the Photography Committee will select a “Photo of the Month” for publication in an upcoming Wine Press as well as on the OCWS website. The ultimate goal is to publish an OCWS Calendar, consisting of the 12 best photos of the year. These may or may not be the 12 monthly winners.

The rules are simple:

1. Entrants must be OCWS members in good standing and the submitted photo must have been photographed by the OCWS member when he/she was an active member.
2. The photo must be somehow wine oriented. It may be of a winery, a vineyard, the winemaking process, the finished product or simply the consumption. But don’t limit yourself to these ideas!
3. The photo may be submitted to the photography committee anytime but will be considered only for the month it was submitted. There is a limit of five (5) submissions per month.
4. Upon submission, rights of the photo are given to the OCWS for marketing purposes, so before you submit it make sure it is your property. Please get permission from any people in the photo to use for OCWS marketing purposes .
5. The photo may be submitted in any either JPEG, RAW, TIFF, or Photoshop format. Any size is acceptable, but is preferred to be at least 3000×2400 pixels, which is an 8×10 shot at 300 dpi for printing.

To submit a picture attach it in an email to Jim@JBurk.net. Be sure to include your name, phone number, picture location and picture title.

If you have any questions contact Jim Burk at Jim@JBurk.net, OCWS photographer and head of the OCWS photography committee.

– Jim Burk, OCWS Photographer

Here are a few “fun” facts that The Courtyard Committee thought you might enjoy knowing:

• Largest Day—Friday, July 29: $23,461 and 2,098 Transactions 
• Most Register Transactions—Saturday, July 23 for Awards: 1,000
• Featured Winery Program— Scholarship Fund Contributions: $16,760
• Largest Scholarship Day—Friday, July 15: $1,182 (First day of the Fair!)
• #1 Best Selling Item—Korbel Sparkling Splits
• #2 Best Selling Item—Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay: 2,070 Bottles = 8,280 Glasses
• Govino Glasses Sold: 3,869
• Total OCWS Volunteers: 212
• Total Shifts Worked: 1343 (Managers – 21; Cashiers – 43; Stewards – 30; Servers – 126)
• New Memberships: 180 Dual Memberships= 362 and 34 Single Memberships = Total New Members 396

Lloyd and I would like to invite you to visit us, along with Betty Jo and Jay Newell, at the Featured Winery Bar during the OC Fair. We will be presenting wines from a different winery each Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You will get to meet the winemaker or a winery principal who will introduce you to their wines, answer your questions about their wines, their history with the winery, and any other inquiries you may have. We will be pouring tastes for you to enjoy.

Our participants scheduled to present to date are listed below.

All proceeds from the Featured Winery Bar go to the OCWS Scholarship Fund.

Please come make new friends, learn more about wines, and enjoy yourself.

– Liz & Lloyd Corbett,
Featured Winery Program Co-chairs