Category: Members Corner

The 49^th Annual OC Fair Home Wine Competition will be held on Saturday, June 7, at the OC Fair and Event Center. The OCWS Winemakers Group sponsors this event, which is one of the largest amateur winemaking competitions in California.

We need volunteers in many areas to help make this event a success. No experience is necessary. New volunteers will be paired with competition veterans. In return, you’ll get a hot breakfast and lunch, courtesy of our OCWS Cook’s Caucus. You’ll also get the opportunity to taste many of the award-winning wines at the end of the event. LOTS of FUN will be had by all!

To sign up, please go to the OCWS website https://ocws.org/home-wine-competition/

Look for the volunteer signup page under the “Members” heading.

Years ago, a chance encounter at a home in Northern California led to a newfound hobby that has played an important role in the McCormick family.

It was there that Richard McCormick heard about the Orange County Wine Society and the opportunity to make wine. For those who knew Richard , they know that he turned winemaking into a passion which is ever so apparent at the family home in Laguna Beach.

It’s been 10 years since Richard passed away, but his winemaking legacy perseveres thanks to his son, Michael, and the OCWS Home Winemakers Group that has mentored him along the way.

“One of the best things about winemaking is the community part of it,” Michael said. “It’s a ton of work but these guys become mentors and have helped us continue the tradition. It’s a really nice feeling.”

It’s hard to imagine a better place to make or store wine than the tri-level McCormick home that sits across the street from the beach with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

Once inside, there’s a wall adorned with numerous ribbons and plaques from the California State, Los Angeles and Orange County fairs honoring McCormick Winery and Cellars for its wines in the respective home wine competitions.

In order to meet the demand of his winemaking, Richard built a 400-bottle cellar in 2002. The bottles, both commercial and homemade, are tagged to help for easy reference. Another room is used for bottling and storage.

“His first ribbon was a silver for a Pinot Noir,” Michael said of his dad. “It just grew from there.”

Added mom, Robin: “I learned more about wine than I wanted to.”

Richard also was very meticulous, probably in part due to his mechanical engineering background. “Every single thing he did, he wrote it down,” Robin said.

His binders can still be found in cabinets around the house that chronicle the winemaking process and the adjustments. Blending probably was Richard’s favorite because he enjoyed the aspects of chemistry that would result in a great tasting wine.

After Richard died, there was plenty of wine that needed to be bottled. That’s when the home winemakers group rallied and helped out.

“Wine requires a lot of attention,” Michael said. “It’s a big (OCWS home wine) community. They rallied around our family. They were godsends.”

Much like his dad, Michael has caught the winemaking bug. Production averages around 20 to 25 cases a year that are typically dominated by Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.

Despite the amount of energy to make wine, Michael is proud to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“It’s not only about the enjoyment of drinking something you made and hitting your tongue for the first time,” he said. “It’s about sharing it with other winemakers and getting their input. It’s definitely fun to make something and seeing how it turns out.”

By Carolyn Christian

It seems like just yesterday we were wrapping up The Courtyard at the OC Fair and hosting holiday events in December, but here we are in April, getting ready for another Wine Auction, OC Fair Wine Competitions (Commercial and Home) and the fair. 

These are the organization’s flagship events. They make us who we are and keep us running.

As we approach our busy season, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of volunteering for these four events. You will not find another organization that provides these opportunities to buy wine at a discounted price, meet winemakers who make the wines we enjoy, taste the latest vintages, learn more about wine and share your wine knowledge with the public.  What an incredible opportunity this organization presents to its members.

My challenge to you as an OCWS member is to get just a little more involved this year. Volunteer at the auction to break up the day of food and wine, sign-up to steward at one or both of our wine competitions or sign up for one of the hundreds of shifts at The Courtyard.  Sign-ups for the auction are already open, and we are still in need of dozens of volunteers to make the event run smoothly: ocws.ws/AuctionVolunteerForm.

Volunteer sign-ups for the competitions are already open as well. Go to OCWS.org and log in to your account, then choose competitions at the top to access the Commercial Wine Competition and/or the Home Wine Competition pages. Each competition has its own volunteer form for you to complete.

Remember, the earlier you sign up, the better choices you will have. 

And there are even more opportunities when it comes to wineries. Help us promote the OC Fair Wine Competition by dropping off a brochure at your favorite winery or emailing your wine clubs. Email this link to your favorite California wineries: ocws.ws/OCWineCompMessage

If you have already volunteered at some point this year, you have my heartfelt gratitude for keeping our organization humming along. Our volunteers are truly our greatest asset.

As we approach our 50^th anniversary next year, I also invite you to share your memories of the organization and share your ideas on events and souvenirs to help us commemorate this milestone. Use this link to share your ideas: ocws.ws/50th

For new members, I encourage you to sign-up for the OCWS Friends Program to pair you with one of our seasoned members who can introduce you to others and show you the ropes. And if you joined after January 1, 2024, and haven’t attended a New Member Mixer, don’t forget to sign-up for the upcoming mixer on April 27.

            I am truly lucky to lead this organization of over 1,000 members (one of the largest wine enthusiast groups in the nation). I look forward to seeing you at one of our future events. Please stop by and say hello. Cheers to you all!

The Rhone Rangers, a hearty group of “unmasked” West Coast winemakers and wine growers focusing their efforts on Rhone varietals, was formed in the early 1980s. Their goal is to promote the Rhone varietals grown in the U.S. and educate the wine drinking public on the enjoyment of drinking these wines. The American-grown Rhone clones are from grape varietals that have been grown for centuries in France’s Rhone River Valley. Let’s test your knowledge of the Rhone Valley, their grapes and wine.

Last month’s Mini Tasting was designed to pit similar wines from France and Italy head to head to see if there was a clear preference of one country over the other. As the table below shows, the results were inconclusive from a total preference; however, when matched up 1A versus 1B, 2A versus 2B, etc., the Italian wine won four of the five matchups, with only the French Champagne outscoring the Italian Franciacorta by a wide margin. 

What the results did show was a clear preference for the red blends as the two outscored the combined total of the other eight wines. In fact, seven of the eight sites selected either 4A or 4B as their highest ranked wine with five of the eight sites selecting 4A or 4B as the 2nd highest ranked. The night’s winner, Tenuta San Jacopo, Orma del Diavolo, from Tuscany, is made up of 50% Sangiovese, 30% Merlot, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is in contrast to our second highest rated wine from Bordeaux, France, Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion, 2016, which is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 8% Cabernet Franc. 

For this event, a total of 120 members participated across eight host sites. Hopefully, everyone enjoyed an evening with wines from some of the most famous regions in the world. For our next Mini Tasting on June 28, our expert judges will be comparing wines from the California Coast against wines produced using Inland wineries.

One of the organizational values and goals of the Orange County Wine Society is to provide quality wine education and experiences to its members without marking up the pricing of events to make a “profit” off its members. As a nonprofit organization, we work very hard to fulfill our mission of supporting wine education for our members, the public, and the future generation of winemakers. In the spirit of being transparent, we wanted to share with you the recent challenges for our organization with regard to expenses.

OCWS was able to weather the recent pandemic through a variety of strategies including cutting back on costs and moving programming online. We survived what was a difficult period for many nonprofit organizations. Coming out of the pandemic, we have seen several factors that have led to substantial increases in the cost of doing business, especially those in the following areas:

• Increase in food pricing at all venues – All of our venues have increased the base cost of food and minimums required to secure the facility. Tax and gratuity have increased since they are a percentage of the food cost. One of our venues increased an incredible 72%, causing us to look for other venues to hold events.
• Increase in venue prices – Even if we are able to provide the food and/or wine for an event, the actual venue costs have increased substantially.
• Increase in insurance costs – As with all insurance, our alcohol liability insurance costs have skyrocketed. Our insurance carrier now charges for a per-event policy as opposed to our previous annual coverage. This has resulted in an increase of nearly 100%. We are continuing to search for annual coverage at a more reasonable rate.
• Increase in labor cost – With the aging of our membership, we have had to rely on paying young adults to help with the physically demanding task of moving wine and equipment.
• Increase in technology upgrade costs – Over the past few years, we have had to invest in the upgrading of our website and software to maintain a secure website and services for our members.

We are sharing this information with our membership so that there is a clear understanding of the cost increase in dues and events. Please know that the Board of Directors is doing everything in its power to control costs and minimize cost increases for our members. All events are setup to break even, except for The Courtyard and Wine Auction, our two biggest fundraising events during the year. We appreciate your support as we manage the organization through fiscally challenging times and remain committed to the organization’s mission.

—Carolyn Christian, OCWS President

By Carolyn Christian

It is hard to believe that we are in the third month of the year already. In my President’s Message this month, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize many of the unsung heroes of the Orange County Wine Society. Most of you are familiar with our nine board members who oversee our events and programming, but there are also many others who work on events and committees, deserving recognition.

In preparation for the Wine Auction coming up next month, a group of dedicated volunteers under the direction of former president and board member Bill Redding, are working each week to pull over 1,000 lots of wine for you to bid on. That’s over 4,000 bottles of wine! Assisting in these efforts is Kevin Coy, who serves as our cellarmaster.

If you are reading this article, then you are experiencing The Wine Press, our monthly newsletter put together expertly by Greg and Cathy Risling. They are continuing a great tradition that began in the 1980s. Hats off to them for wrangling content and articles from the many individuals who contribute to each issue.

A shout out to our photographer Jim Burk, who attends events with his camera in tow. In addition to taking photos of our events, he also chairs the photography committee, which decides the monthly winner for the photo contest. If you haven’t entered any of your wine-related photos yet, you should really consider doing so.

The OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition Committee started work on the 2025 edition a few months ago, and they too put in many hours to make our competition one of the largest in the nation. Fran Gitsham oversees the competition crew, and my heartfelt thanks goes out to her and everyone on her team for the work they do almost year-round to maintain our flagship event.

Another group of warriors who puts in thousands of hours each year are the cataloguing crew under the direction of Teri and John Lane. Without them, we would not have a Commercial Wine Competition.

A few years ago, I started developing a marketing team to help promote our organization and it has grown significantly over the years. Our organization has so many members with years of experience in their respective fields. I call the team the “Marketing Mavens” and this group works behind the scenes drafting e-blasts and social media posts, creating marketing materials like brochures and postcards and developing new ways to promote the OCWS and all that we do. I send a special personal thank you to all of them for helping us promote our brand.

From the membership committee comes the new OCWS Friends Program. Headed by Alice Polser, this program will pair seasoned OCWS members with new members to help them feel more comfortable at events. I am really excited about the possibilities with this program. Look for more information over the next few months.

When I first joined the OCWS in 1986, our office was constantly buzzing with activity. Over the last several years, we have moved online for many of our functions and meetings. But one constant is our office and paid staff who keep the organization running smoothly. A big thank you to our staff: Lynda Edwards and Rochelle Randel, who keep us organized and handle the day-to-day operations; Charles English, who helps keep our finances in order and Wendy Taylor, who manages our website and online presence.  A special thank you to Stacey Taylor, who has helped us with website upgrades and special projects over the past few years.

The Winemakers’ Group can be credited with starting the OCWS back in 1976. Thanks to Ed Reyes, who has been heading this group for the past few years. They carry on the great tradition of mentoring new winemakers and making some great wines. If you have any interest in making wine, check out their events and classes, or just reach out to them for information and assistance on making wine.

There are literally hundreds of volunteers and without them we would not exist. I have only mentioned a few here, but please know that I see and appreciate each one of you. I am always thrilled at each event to see the level of commitment and pride each one of you has in this organization. We’ve been going for 49 years, and you, our volunteers, are the reason why.

The number of volunteer opportunities with OCWS is endless. Consider volunteering at one of our events for set-up, check-in, pouring wine or clean-up. We have dozens of volunteer opportunities for our larger events as well. The Wine Auction, OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition, OC Fair Home Wine Competition and The Courtyard at the OC Fair have both active and sedentary volunteer positions. These events provide unique experiences to learn more about wine, meet OCWS members and winemakers and share in the organization’s success.

To volunteer for an event, please check the event articles posted online for instructions on how to volunteer or contact the event chair.

I look forward to seeing you at one of our future events. Cheers to you all!

OCWS is excited to announce the 2025 scholarship donations in the amount of $49,507. These funds were awarded to the eight programs listed in the table below. This year’s donations raised the total amount awarded since 1981 to over $940,000. 

The scholarship funds come from a variety of sources, including tips at The Courtyard, OCWS Wine Auction, the Featured Winery Program, judges’ stipend and member donations. We thank our members for their support and hard work that made the scholarships possible.

Just a friendly reminder that you can make a donation to the OCWS Scholarship Fund anytime.  There are two ways to donate:

1. Mail a check – Complete your check using the same instructions as above, 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.
2. 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.

—Damian Christian, OCWS Scholarship Chair

By Damian J. Christian and Kevin Coy

Last September, about a dozen OCWS members had the good fortune of visiting the Allan Hancock College Winery in Santa Maria to deliver their Best of Class Award from the 2024 OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition.

The community college is almost like no other as it is one of the few in California that has a winery right on campus. The school’s viticulture and enology program has a working commercial production facility and a four-acre vineyard. Professor Alfredo Koch and his staff and students provided insight into the program, which aims to teach the fundamentals of winemaking to those who may play an integral part in one of the most recognizable industries in California.

The OCWS group tasted more than two dozen grape varieties from Muscat to Cabernet Sauvignon to Syrah that came right off the vines. Koch explained some of the characteristics of each grape and what we could tell from the different sugar levels of each varietal. We learned a lot from this experience, and it was one of the highlights of the trip. 

We then returned to the winemaking facility where they prepared a delicious lunch accompanied by several of the college’s wines. After lunch, we presented a Best of Class Award to Dr. Koch and winery manager Kelsie Norris for their 2022 Pinot Noir Rosé. Some of the students who participated in making the wine also were present.

In the afternoon, we attended a class on viticulture where Dr. Koch reviewed different winemaking techniques and had the students identify particular steps to achieve their winemaking goals. Each OCWS member in attendance also talked to the class about the various aspects of OCWS from competitions to scholarships. Our presentations were well received with several students asking pertinent questions. After the class, the students returned to the winemaking facility to continue their work and we returned to the winery to purchase some of their wines. 

It was a very enjoyable and educational experience, and we look forward to having additional winery visits in the future.