By Hank Bruce – Member of the 50th Anniversary Committee
The OCWS was founded in 1976. Early OCWS wine programs included wine and food pairings by founding member Judi (Collins) Brady and near founding member Jane (Mc Grath) Goodnight. Even up to the late 1980s, the near monthly OCWS wine tastings at local hotels were not accompanied by food service, and the Board of Directors disapproved of members bringing food to these events. Sam Puzzo was elected to the BOD in fall 1989. He and a small group of OCWS members had long discussed food pairing with wine. Sam has been officially credited with being the driving force responsible for mini-tastings.
His idea of having 30 or 40 people meet at one home to sample a group of wines was approved by the Board. The OCWS bought tables and chairs and they were transported to different homes for each mini-tasting. Board member Carol Stiglbauer suggested group size be trimmed to 16 people and to have groups meet at several sites simultaneously to sample identical wines at each location with potluck foods. This eliminated the need for the OCWS to move tables and chairs. Sam Puzzo ran the mini-tastings for the first three years. Bob Prill and Ron Gottesman hosted the first two mini-tastings at their homes.
The Wine Press first reported on mini-tastings beginning in November 1991. In the 2000s mini-tasting hosts would meet as a work party to open the cases of delivered wine, bag the wines, label the bags and gather supplies into bins, including plates, napkins and 1 oz. pour spouts. Bins were brought to host sites and reusable supplies were returned to the office after the tastings. Chris Cunningham arranged for purchases of a lot of the wines in the 2000s and supplies would be picked up at his home.
A detailed log of mini-tasting venues and host names from March 2011 to December 2024 has been compiled and maintained. Mini-tasting themes besides Gold Medal Wines have included specific grape varietals, Pinot Noir and Cab Sauvignon being most popular, Rhone-style wines and specific wine-growing regions. Over the years members responsible for the mini-tastings have included distinguished OCWS alumni. George Cravens has done an outstanding job organizing mini-tastings from 2018 to 2024.
In the three years since our activity limitations due to COVID-19 precautions ended, on average seven sites have been available for each of the four mini-tastings held per year. The most popular tasting has always been the tasting of OCWS Gold Medal Winners from our own Commercial Wine Competition.
Our current mini-tasting chair, Don Mayer, provides hosts with supplies and bagged wines. Hosts welcome up to 16 guests. Individuals and couples bring potluck food, that is coordinated by the host, sufficient to provide small portions for 16 people. In addition to rating the wines, typically in 5 flights, participants vote for Chef of the Evening, who is awarded a gift bottle of wine. Guests are each requested to bring two wine glasses for sampling the wine. Participants vary from those seriously focused on tasting and analyzing the wine, to those primarily interested in socialization with others while enjoying a variety of foods, both solid and liquid.