OCWS
Imagine walking into a room of over 100 people and not knowing a single person. It sounds a little daunting! That is currently what happens when a new member attends his or her first Wine Society event. What if that new member knew at least one or two other people in the room? Does that […]
John Goodnight was a 2002 OCWS President’s Award recipient, an exceptional volunteer, a dedicated member, and a remarkable financial expert. This July 2026, the Orange County Wine Society lost one of its most passionate and valued gentlemen.
John was undoubtedly one of OCWS’s pioneers and visionaries. In 1986 John first ran for the Board of Directors and was elected as Treasurer, his first mandate was to obtain a computerized financial program. At this time, the OCWS financials were prepared by an outside accounting service. John stated, “All we used was the check register and a cigar box!” After researching, John found a shareware program that did the trick. John also influenced the Board of Director decision that there was a need for a full-time Office Administrator. Prior to this time, the Office Administrator was in a part-time position being considered as an independent contractor. John had the unenviable position of setting up and complying with all the state and federal requirements for full-time employees. John continued to function as the OCWS Treasurer for nine of his twelve years on the Board, two of those years he served as the OCWS President.
John worked the OC Fair night shifts and locked up daily. He instituted Cashier Procedures by creating forms, accounting sheets, and cash controls. He also assisted in organizing shift controls. John was the OCWS President when Norb Bartosik, the General Manager of the OC Fair, approached the OCWS with the idea of providing the OCWS with a new venue during the Fair. Originally, the Wine Garden and later called Wine Pavillion and now called Wine Courtyard, was relocated. Despite this relocation, the then-called Wine Pavilion enjoyed a 35% increase in gross revenue during its first year and has been our primary source of revenue since then.
Prior to John managing The Wine Press, the newsletter was not printed consistently. John wanted to make sure The Wine Press was printed once a month.
Preparing The Wine Press was a monumental task. Articles would be prepared using a Word file then cut and pasted on to “paste-up boards.” They kept the Newsletter to about 8 to 12 pages. Later, John started utilizing Microsoft Publisher, a desktop publishing software. He did this monthly for 17 years. Jane Goodnight would edit the final version. They would then take The Wine Press to the printer to print and collate about 600 to 700 copies since that was the amount of the membership at that time. They would then have to print labels and postage then take the newsletter to the post office for mailing. A herculean task, to say the least!
John jokes that he included a joke page in the newsletter which was comprised of cartoons and light humor sourced from the web. One person complained to the Board, so they printed that a vote was taken resulting in a landslide for keeping the joke page.
Under John’s leadership, graphics from the Wine Press won numerous OC Fair ribbons including the Blue Ribbon First Place for the Wine Press and a Best of Show award for the Extraordinaire program.
Around 1979, is when Jane McGrath met John Goodnight. They met at a piano bar at the Rose and Crown in South Coast Village in Cost Mesa. Jane was, and still is, a member of the OCWS Commercial Wine Competition Steering Committee, and she invited John to OCWS events. Jane remembers their first Valentine where John stated, “I like RC, you like wine, won’t you be my Valentine?” Jane started inviting John to OCWS wine events and he quickly got heavily involved in volunteering and leadership at OCWS all happily leading to a 1983 wedding.
Jane has fond memories of her and John participating in one of the most popular OCWS events, The Chili Cook-off! She remembers one year they won for the mildest chili, but they were a little disappointed in that award label so the following year they made a really hot chili, and they won for the hottest chili and felt a lot better about that award!
In 1987 and 1988, while serving as OCWS Treasurer and Membership Chairperson, John estimated there were about 350 members. Membership information was stored on an Excel spreadsheet. The OCWS would do a mass mailing for dues collection in November and December using mail merge. However, John remembers the Board of Directors discussed their promise to the membership to always look after the membership and operate on a break-even basis, not on a “for profit” basis. As a result, the Board felt this process was not fair to the members who joined late in the calendar year, so they started an annual membership renewal. Membership renewal would commence on the anniversary of when the member joined.
John remembers that the Orange County Fair (OC Fair) was always the best recruitment time for new members. The number of new members joining would be about 40 to 50. There used to be a dual $10 family membership offering.
Times have changed, but one thing remains certain: OCWS is fortunate to have dedicated, enthusiastic and passionate members, yet few have matched the leadership, vision, and valuable contributions John brought to the organization.
–Linda Flemins
August is the season for the OC Fair, backyard gatherings, beach days, and warm evenings spent with friends and family. Whether you’re enjoying a glass of wine while taking in the sights and sounds of the fair, relaxing after a day at the beach, hosting a barbecue or watching the sunset from your backyard, there are so many wonderful ways to enjoy the final days of summer.
For this month’s photo contest, we want to see your favorite August wine moments! Share the fun and snap a photo and send it our way—we can’t wait to see how you’re celebrating the season!
Each month, the OCWS Photography Committee selects a Photo of the Month to be featured in the OCWS newsletter and showcased on our website. The winner will also receive a special bottle from the OCWS cellar!
THEME: Savor the Flavors of Summer
SUBMIT TO: Photo@OCWS.org
RULES: OCWS.org, News, Photos
Here’s to the good times we share!
Feel free to capture and share some fun, candid moments from an event—we’d love to experience it through your eyes! These photos are separate from the Photo of the Month Contest (no prizes involved), but they may be featured in our marketing materials or on social media. It’s a wonderful way to share your perspective and highlight the spirit of the OCWS community.
REMINDERS:
• By submitting, you grant OCWS rights to use your photos for marketing.
• Only submit photos that are your own.
• Send your shots to photo@OCWS.org
Let’s raise a glass to the good times we share.
A special thank you!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Leslie Hodowanec, Hank Bruce, Arnie Gamboa, and Don Phillips, the Photo Committee, and photographers for their dedication, support and incredible photos. Your contributions are truly appreciated. Thank you so much –
Sue England, Photo Committee Chair
After reading the results of the 2026 OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition and checking out the Best of Class and the Double Gold award winners at winecompetition.com, I started to wonder what makes a wine worthy of these rewards? I could ask the competition’s judges but they had all gone home.
So, I thought, via the internet, I would reach out to some well-known sources in the wine industry and ask; What makes a wine great? The following answers came from two well-known wine publications; Wine Spectator and Decanter; three wine critics: Jancis Robinson, Robert Parker and Jeb Dunnuck: and finally, three wine authors: Madeline Puckette (Wine Folly) and Jamie Goode (The Science of Wine; From Vine to Glass) and Karen MacNeil (The Wine Bible).
First, let’s define the components of wine that will be the basis for determining a great wine. There are five important structural components of wine that are all sensed on the palate: sweetness or residual sugar, mouthwatering feeling from acidity, mouth drying feeling from tannin, alcohol level and body or weight but these structural components need to complement each other perfectly so no single component overpowers another and likewise so no single component fails to make a contribution. To judge if a wine has the basis of greatness and has accomplished the necessary coordination of components it must have a balance of the five structural components, plus a lingering finish of pleasing flavors and an intensity and complexity of aromas and multi-layered flavors. But all this is the foundation of a good or even basic wine. Is it enough for a great wine? What do my internet sources feel is necessary for that final acclamation of greatness?
Wine Spectator says greatness is achieved by the faultless combination of balance, finesse, complexity, elegance and restraint and sense of place. They define elegance and restraint as clarity of taste with tannins that are not overpowering. Sense of place or terroir refers to a wine’s reflection of its origin, where it came from.
Decanter magazine lists balance, complexity, intensity, length and typicity as the features that define a great wine. They add the term typicity, which is how well the wine characterizes the grape variety and the grape’s particular region to accompany sense of place and terroir.
Jancis Robinson says a great wine must have longevity, balance, complexity, length and terroir (sense of place). She has added the need for longevity for a wine’s greatness. A great wine must not only have the required greatness qualities when young but also as it matures and ages in the bottle.
Robert Parker saying “a great wine transcends mere drinkability” sets out the following conditions: pleasing the palate and intellect; holding a taster’s interest, intensity without heaviness, reflection of terroir and aging potential. Although he lists the concepts with his own terminology and definitions, he generally agrees with others’ criteria. But he also brings in the taster’s experience, what he calls “an emotional experience” as a determining factor.
Jeb Dunnuck, although saying he limits his criteria, he uses the following rather broad descriptors for his evaluation: a wine has to provide both hedonistic and intellectual pleasure (complexity and experience); great wines deliver a depth and intensity of aromas and flavors without being heavy (balance and intensity); the ability of a wine to improve with age (finish and longevity); a singular personality (terroir, sense of place).
Author of Wine Folly, Madeline Puckette simply lists balance, acidity and tannin, complexity and typicity (terroir) as the core for greatness.
Author Jamie Goode states that a great wine should have transparency and precision (terroir); acidity and focus; complexity and harmony (balance); the ability to evoke emotion (experience). However, he suggests a wine’s greatness is attained without a winemaker’s manipulation.
And finally, Karen MacNeil, The Wine Bible author, has the most extensive list for a wine to achieve greatness. Her nine qualifiers are (with her extra explanations added): distinction ( true expression of the grape(s) used), precision (precise and well defined flavors), balance (all components in equilibrium), aliveness & choreography (vibrant and dynamic in the mouth), beyond fruitiness (flavors and aromas beyond fruit), complexity (multifaceted flavors and aromas), connectedness (the embodiment of a particular place), length (persistence of the wine on your palate even after swallowing), capacity to age, and ability to evoke an emotional response (the rare power to make us feel). When examining her list in depth she is in agreement with the others on what makes a wine great although much more nuanced in assigning the reward.
My sources have generally agreed on the attributes of a great wine are balance, complexity, finish, intensity, terroir, age ability, typicity and experiential longevity. What they haven’t agreed on is how to measure all of these characteristics. Each source, although with some common understandings, have their own unique method of determining a great wine. As they also have their own unique palate. And though they may be able to agree on a particular wine’s greatness that can’t always be guaranteed. My own definition of a great wine is one with balance, complexity, intensity, length, typicity, all of which so many good wines have, but then I need the WOW factor, that “emotional” response that I’ve just tasted something great that I won’t forget.
Now it’s your turn. Make a list of your own criteria and go find your own great wines. I will be doing the same. And while we are looking, just get a bottle, open it and enjoy the experience. Cheers!
—CL Keedy, Co-Chair Wine Education Committee
Every summer, the Orange County Wine Society does what it has always done best: invites fairgoers to try a wide selection of wine at The Courtyard.
This year’s edition resonates a little more as OCWS celebrates its 50th anniversary. Over those past five decades, the organization has welcomed wine enthusiasts who believe that great wine is not merely a luxury but a language. No setting has given that language a louder, more joyful stage than The Courtyard at the Orange County Fair — a beloved annual tradition that the OCWS has proudly hosted, curated, and championed.
There’s a little something for everyone interested in a wine experience at The Courtyard. Whether it’s sampling an award-winning vintage from the most recent OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition, trying different varietals from a visiting winery via the Featured Winery Program or attending a volunteer-run seminar about how wine interacts with different dishes, the monthlong fair run is a good time for anyone to enjoy an array of wines from across California all in one place.
That goes the same for the dozens of OCWS volunteers who graciously give their time and effort to make The Courtyard hum morning, noon and night. For those who are volunteering for the first time, there are plenty of grizzled veterans who will make the shift much easier and enjoyable. And for everyone’s hard work, those highly prized drink tickets which gets members a full pour, split or tasting of award-winning wines is well worth the work.
The numbers, by now, are staggering. Thousands of bottles poured. Tens of thousands of fairgoers introduced, perhaps for the very first time, to the idea that wine is not intimidating but inviting.
Ask any of the volunteers who work the fair and they will tell you the same thing – OCWS isn’t just an organization, it’s a community. Sure, there’s good wine to be shared, but it’s also about educating the public and enjoying one another’s company that makes volunteering at the fair such a rewarding experience.
Your adventure awaits, so come on down to the fair, have a glass and make some memories.
The cellar has been stocked to the top. Signups began weeks ago and all the volunteers have marked their calendars, checked their RBS status and planned for a summer of wine and fun. This year, “Your Adventure Awaits,” begins Friday July 17 and runs through Sunday, August 16, with Mondays and Tuesdays dark.
Schedulers Rich Skoczylas and Sue England have been hard at work to get all the volunteers their five required shifts. During the second week of July, Leslie Hodowanec and the set-up crew will transform the currently plain walls into The Courtyard, that familiar wine bar the fairgoers love to see.
The Courtyard continues to be the largest fundraiser of the year for the Orange County Wine Society. The Featured Winery Program (put together by Liz and Lloyd Corbett) is the single largest fundraiser for the OCWS Scholarship Fund. This year’s lineup is again fantastic with many medal-winning wines. Be sure to stop by and have a taste.
The very popular Saturday and Sunday Wine Seminars (coordinated by Sara Yeoman and Ed Reyes) are set to begin on July 25 and run through August 16. Tickets will be available when the fair opens at The Courtyard office, but be fast, they often sell out.
Training for servers, cashiers, stewards and managers will be in early July. The dates and times will be sent to volunteers via email. As always, there will be opportunities to add shifts throughout the run of the fair. If you are interested in training for a new position, contact Rich Skoczylas and plan on attending the appropriate training session.
We have exciting new happenings this year with new point-of-sale touch screen registers, wine by the bottle at the Chris Cunningham Express Bar and some new-look decorations honoring our 50th anniversary. Volunteers will once again receive two drink tickets a shift that can each be exchanged for a glass of varietal wine or two tastes of some fantastic award-winning wines. The fair credentials allow volunteers access to the fair every day, including sold out dates.
See you at the fair!
It is almost unfathomable that the OCWS created and has been hosting the OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition for 50 years. The just recently held 2026 competition was executed, as has come to be the norm, with exceptional professionalism. The attention to details was evident in every aspect of the competition, which created top-notch experience for judges and volunteers alike.
With over 2,500 wines entered, equating to the handling of upwards of 13,000 bottles or more, the magnitude of the tasks required to coordinate a successful competition is no small feat. The logistics and efficient coordination of every detail is overseen by a committee of 20 dedicated volunteers who, no sooner does one competition end, are already working on the next year’s competition and, although working on the next to come, planning is at least four years out with contracts already executed for the venue where the competition is held.
Although led by a committee of 20, it is the dedication of the hundreds of volunteers throughout the year that results in a competition that is highly respected within the wine industry. The integrity of the cataloging and bagging processes, coupled with the integrity of the judging process and everything in between, are what continue to make the competition a benchmark for excellence.
Kudos to all whose hands had a part in yet another extraordinarily successful OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition. The success of the competition is a true testament to the vision, leadership and tireless efforts of all.
—Fran Gitsham, OC Fair CWC Chair
Many achievements are being celebrated as part of our organization’s 50th anniversary and the OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition. The Label Competition is no exception. Since the end of the era of requiring actual wine labels with bottle entries, the Label Competition has had to rely almost exclusively on digital labels, or absent them, photos of labels.
Through the efforts of the label committee and cataloging group, this year’s candidates for the semi-final reached a new high with over 500 reviewable labels. The Label Committee narrows the entries and puts them in the appropriate category. If the candidate does not have an actual or digital label a phone call requesting either one is made. The final selections are completed and display boards are prepared and voted on at the Commercial Wine Competition by both the judges and the stewards. One-hundred and eighty-one ballots were cast, another record.
Best of Show came from the Gold medal labels and this year it went to the Best Use of Color Category and to Wiens Family for their 2023 Crowded Red Wine Label. The gold medalists featured several new wineries such as Chateau Caroline, Bienvenue Vineyard, Inman Family and Tiny Vineyards. The standard bearers for Golds also returned such as J. Lohr, Herringer Vyds and Big Nose Winery.
Thanks to the Cataloguing Committee for their help and thanks to the Label Committee for all their time and effort.
Be sure to visit the Label Competition Display for all the winners at The Courtyard during the fair.
—Sam Puzzo and Carol Frank, OCWS Label Competition Co-Chairs
By 50th Anniversary Committee
Ready to show your OCWS 50th anniversary spirit at the OC Fair or future OCWS events? We have 50th anniversary SWAG available for purchase. Wear a 50th anniversary lapel pin or embroidered patch with your OCWS hat, shirt and/or apron. Items can be preordered and will be available for pickup at the upcoming OC Fair meetings and Courtyard shifts.
Available SWAG:
| SWAG ITEM | PRICE |
| 50th Anniversary Waterproof Sticker | $2 |
| 50th Anniversary Magnets | $4 |
| 50th Anniversary Lapel Pins | $5 |
| 50th Anniversary Iron-on Embroidered Patch | $8 |
| 50th Anniversary Wine Opener | $8 |
| 50th Anniversary Glass Toppers | $6/each or $10/pair |
| 50th Anniversary Tea Towels | $8/each or $15/pair |
| 50th Anniversary Wine Opener Set | $12 |
| 50th Anniversary Champagne Flutes | $17/each or $30/pair |
Payments can be made with Cash, Check or Zelle (payment@OCWS.org). To preorder your items, go to OCWS.ws/50thSWAG.
If you’ve ever attended an OCWS Spring or Fall event, or volunteered at the annual Home Wine Competition, you’ve experienced amazing culinary artistry and a group at its best. The organization’s own Cook’s Caucus is an amazing blend of talent, creativity and friendship. The passion and dedication of this group shines through in every dish. Over the many years the group has been in existence, they’ve created not only delicious meals, but also lasting memories.
The Cook’s Caucus proves that the best ingredient is teamwork and, although the hands have changed throughout the years, the group always reflects creativity, care and a love of bringing people together through food. Each member of the group brings their own uniqueness, expertise and passion for food to the table.
Kudos to the Cook’s Caucus who continue to elevate any OCWS event at which they, like fine artists, perform. Thanks go out to our current roster who just provided both breakfast and lunch for 180 people at the 2026 Home Wine Competition and will next be providing their offerings at the Fall Membership Event in October.
—Fran Gitsham, Vice President