Thank you to all of our Orange County Wine Society members who sent in their electronic votes for the Board of Directors this past month. The new electronic election was flawless, and I want to congratulate both Carolyn Christian and Fred Heinecke as they join me in our 2020-2021 Board term. I am honored to say that I have been elected as the President of the Board of Directors for the upcoming year.
We have all been disappointed these past months, as our entire lives have been disrupted by the ongoing lockdown, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The OCWS has been impacted, along with all other organizations, and our in-person activities have been severely impacted. We have not had a social event since March, and our two wine competitions, along with the entire OC Fair and our Wine Courtyard, were cancelled this year.
Many thanks to our creative staff, who have formatted several “virtual” wine events using Zoom in lieu of in-person events. Appreciation and recognition also goes out to our creative staff and presenters for pulling off both educational and entertaining seminars.
Every organization is a collection of assets, minus liabilities, which gives us our net worth. With the Orange County Wine Society, we don’t look at our net worth in just financial terms.
From our Board of Directors, our greatest asset is you, our members! Without you, we would devolve to a small core of people conducting boring activities, and we would quickly fall apart. The Board is working on minimizing our outflow of funds, but our biggest objective is to keep you all involved, and to keep you all signed up as active members. We hope you will all continue to work with us as we navigate our way through these challenging times.
In the near future, you can look forward to more entertaining virtual events, and I hope you all will sign-up and participate with a glass of wine in your hand and a smile on your face!
Needless to say, we all look forward to a time when we can resume our lives, and we can all meet again in person at our events.
– Kevin Donnelly, President
I had the honor and distinct pleasure to interview the brave and dynamic team of Roger and Janice Mattar and Doris and John Severs, winemakers and owners of Big Nose Family Winery who, this month, will be presenting their wines to the OCWS membership via our Virtual Winery Program.
I call them brave, as they took the leap from being OCWS Winemakers’ Group amateur winemakers to commercial winemakers, and I call them dynamic in that their commercial debut entries in 2019 to the OC Fair Commercial Wine Competition garnered the highest awards, that of Double Gold, for both wines entered, not a small feat by any standards.
Upon the start of the interview, it was clear to me that the heartfelt emotion emanating from Big Nose’s four principals in tandem and their personal relationships with each other are why they were a major hit right out of the gate. “You should do whatever you’re passionate about and wherever your heart takes you, as long as you do it with love” and “You need good grapes to make good quality wine,” they said. Clearly a winning combination for them and for those who have had the pleasure of tasting their wines.
When asked how they got involved in making wine, they relayed a story about a trip to Napa in 2011, meeting a home winemaker and, as they said “after quite a bit of drinking great wines,” thought, “why not try it?” Roger, Big Nose’s primary winemaker, upon return home to Orange County and some research, discovered the Orange County Wine Society and a passion was born. They had never made wine before joining the OCWS and being mentored by long-time home winemakers.
Now only two years in commercial business, and as with many other winemakers, this quartet is still working paying jobs (often more than one at a time), to sustain Big Nose, with hopes Big Nose will sustain them in the future, while fulfilling their dreams. Sadly, they, like so many others, have been impacted by COVID-19. They said that, with hopes of moving “toward a tasting room and the whole nine yards, COVID-19 back peddled us. We had to stop knocking on doors, doing small events, and gathering our wine club members together for fun times, which we love. We’ve had to adapt and work in the atmosphere and society we’re in right now.”
With a number of wine varietals currently in their repertoire, they are moving forward with love, laughter and the strong conviction to continue making quality wines and the necessity for their wines to be “free from defects, well balanced, and enjoyable to drink and share with others.”
To learn more about Big Nose Family Winery and their amazing ownership team, check out their video interview with Sara Yeoman, OCWS Vice President, on the OCWS Facebook and Twitter pages. Don’t forget to reserve a space for the OCWS Virtual Winery Program on November 20 featuring Big Nose Family Winery.
– Fran Gitsham, Contributing Writer
Thanks to all of our members who joined the virtual Annual Business Meeting on Friday, September 11. Highlights of the year’s past events and the financial health of the organization were reviewed. A recording of this meeting will be available on the OCWS website to those of you who missed the live meeting. Special thanks to all of our presenters for helping to pull off this event. The highlight of the evening was the recognition of our volunteers who this past year contributed over 1,034 hours of volunteer time in support of the OCWS up through March when COVID-19 restrictions were implemented. Please see George Craven’s article in this edition for the details of those recognized.
This year, it was my honor and privilege to present the President’s Award to Kevin Coy for his many years of outstanding dedication and service to the OCWS as a Director, President, Cellar Master, and Director of Judges for the Commercial Wine Competition. Pictured is Kevin holding his award. Congratulations, Kevin!
At the September BOD meeting, Jim Beard, was recognized with the President Emeritus Award. This award is presented by the President with Board recommendation, as a special designation to acknowledge the dedication, time, and effort given to the OCWS by those who served as OCWS President, and who have continued to volunteer after their term of office has concluded. Congratulations, Jim!
This year’s BOD election has brought forth a great turnout of candidates. In addition to our first “virtual” Annual Business Meeting, we are conducting the election electronically this year. Thanks to Greg Hagadorn and the Election Committee for pulling this off. Please stay tuned to ocws.org for information on the election results. Unfortunately, the Annual Installation Dinner is cancelled. I would like to thank outgoing Directors Brian McDonald for his dedicated service over the past six years, and Ken Scott for his expertise over the past three years. This will also conclude my six years of service on the Board.
As the outgoing President, I wish to thank all of my past fellow Board members for their service. A special thanks goes to my wife, Carolyn, whose encouragement and delightful sense of humor has supported me over the years and who introduced us to the OCWS over 19 years ago—it has been quite a journey! Cheers,
– Bill Redding, President
In looking to find some fun alternatives to The Courtyard at the OC Fair that, sadly, were not able to be held this year, Summer Sunday Seminars were created. Ten weeks of entertaining seminars were developed by a talented team of people who combined their passion for the OC Fair seminars and their love of our organization and its members.
Carolyn Christian, Dawn Iglesias, Ed Reyes, Ken Knapp, Kevin Donnelly, and Sara Yeoman combined their collective talents to bring enjoyable and unique topics to life. Ten seminars were presented via Zoom, with an average of 75 attendees each week. All seminars were recorded and are available to members for playback when logged into the OCWS website; the main menu item Webinars will appear.
The seminar group was also very honored to be invited to participate in the OC Fair & Event Center’s Virtual OC Fair and recorded fun wine-related clips that were featured on the OC Fair’s website and social media.
After receiving overwhelmingly positive responses to the Summer Seminar Series, this group is excited to announce that they will be retuning with a Winter Series beginning Sunday, December 6 and running through Sunday, February 28, 2021. Watch your inbox in November for more details and the full seminar schedule.
If you have any questions, feedback, or suggestions, you can reach out to us at Seminars@ocws.org. We look forward to having more fun with you this winter in today’s virtual world.
– Sara Yeoman, Director
While our most volunteer-intensive events weren’t held this year, there were still a number of members who put in significant time helping plan and run the events that we did have. As the organization has only part-time employees, it relies on our volunteers for everything from guiding and managing our organization to planning and running our events. Most volunteer work is done “behind the scenes” and unnoticed by many.
In recognition of the hours of service, the Wine Society rewards its volunteers with gift certificates redeemable for admission to OCWS events.
Thank you to the following volunteers for their efforts during the 2019-2020 Board year. Our volunteers make this the successful organization that it is. We encourage you to get involved. It is a great way to see how the OCWS works and meet new friends. NOTE: The volunteer coupons will be posted to each member’s account by the end of September, and can be used for events through the end of September 2021. The Board has also agreed to extend the expiration of unused volunteer coupons from 2018-2019 so they will be useable for events through the end of September 2021.
– George Cravens, Volunteer Recognition Chair
| Award Coupon Recipients |
| $50 Discount Coupon |
$25 Discount Coupon | $10 Discount Coupon |
| Leslie Brown Chris & Hank Bruce Carolyn Christian Liz & Lloyd Corbett Kevin Coy Kevin Donnelly Bill Forsch Fran Gitsham Terry McLean Betty Jo & Jay Newell Karyl Newton Bruce & Jeannine Powers Rochelle Randel Ed Reyes Germaine & Rob Romano Peter Schlundt Bodien Stacey Taylor Barb & Dave White |
Lynda Edwards Carol Esslinger Jane Goodnight Larry Graham Greg Hagadorn Dawn Iglesias Virginia Kawai Jim Kerins Linda McLean Irene Scott Dave & Tami Stancil Richard Ward Dave Wiegand |
Damian Christian Michael Del Medico Jerry Guerin Shelly Jayne Karl Kawai Ken Knapp John Lane Kevin Lite Sam Puzzo Dana Rutledge Bob Topham |
| $50 Discount Coupon | ||
| Leslie Brown Chris & Hank Bruce Carolyn Christian Liz & Lloyd Corbett Kevin Coy Kevin Donnelly Bill Forsch Fran Gitsham Terry McLean Betty Jo & Jay Newell Karyl Newton Bruce & Jeannine Powers Rochelle Randel Ed Reyes Germaine & Rob Romano Peter Schlundt Bodien Stacey Taylor Barb & Dave White |
||
Scholarships are important to the core of the OCWS, especially to the dedicated students we support. Due to COVID-19 and the cancellation of scholarship fundraising sources, the scholarship account has only 10% of what we funded last year at this time. We have lost the top three and more of five sources that account for Undesignated (shared) and Designated (specific) Scholarship funds. We need the help of our generous OCWS members to Wine-Up Scholarships this fall.
Every new OCWS membership and renewal provides $12.50 into our Scholarship Fund. This past year, the BOD twice suspended expiring memberships, for a total of 8 months of no incoming undesignated funds.
Judges’ donations from our Commercial Wine Competition are combined and rotated in an annual order to one of our seven colleges and universities. There was no designated 2020 Judges’ donation. The Courtyard at the OC Fair generates funds in two areas. Donations awarded from the onsite Featured Winery Program and winemakers serving at the Express Bar are divided between colleges that officially enter our competition. There was no 2020 designation.
The largest incoming annual source of almost half of the total OCWS scholarship funds every year are the tips/gratuity donations our fabulous volunteers generate over The Courtyard counter during the OC Fair. There are no undesignated sources this year from The Courtyard either.
Ways to Wine-Up. For this 2020 tax year, the CARES Act allows tax benefits in the form of a universal deduction up to $300 toward 501(c)(3) organizations for those that do not itemize their deductions. As an alternative, you can make contributions directly from your IRA or 401(K) and avoid additional income on your individual return. Always check with your tax professional as how it applies to you.
On our OCWS website, click on Scholarship Program and Donations. You may designate your contribution toward a specific college. An undesignated option is to divide your contribution to be equally distributed between seven colleges. After you make your donation, you will be able to print your receipt for your tax records. The Cunningham Endowment is specifically designated to Sonoma State University and you must contribute separately to that account. With unprecedented disappointments this year, let’s show that the OCWS can Wine-Up as a scholarship organization with benefits toward grateful recipients for 2021.
– Leslie Hodowanec, Director & Scholarship Chair
These past months have been challenging for all of us in the Orange County Wine Society. This has caused the OCWS to rely more heavily on our older methods and get creative with new ways to keep in touch with our members. Our last in-person Quarterly Meeting was held in February, and we all miss them dearly.
The Winemakers’ Group has leaned in to use all tools available to communicate with both our new winemakers as well as our more experienced (notice I’m not saying “OLD”) members. We collaborated with Sara Yeoman and her team to provide additional content to be included in the virtual Summer Sunday Seminar series under topics titled “Winemaking for Mere Mortals” and twice-featured “Filtering, Fining and Bottling.”
Adapting to this “2020 norm” (hoping it’s not the NEW norm), we have conducted our Group Bottle and Group Cork Purchases, and now that we are in grape picking season, we are conducting our Group Grape Purchase over email and Constant Contact.
The Winemakers’ Group continues to conduct its programs, and for that, we have also turned to video conferencing over the Zoom platform. Thus far, under our group training program, we presented a 5-session class on “Kit Wine Making” where viewers followed along with their kit wines while instructor, Karyl Newton, made a kit wine on camera. We just conducted a lecture to support the Group Grape Purchase, discussing “How to Order Grapes,” and “How to Pick Up the Grapes” in which Bill Forsch discussed procedures, and Bruce Powers did some crushing and destemming of his estate Sangiovese grapes over the Zoom virtual platform.
We conducted our “Pre-Fermentation” seminar for both red and white wines, and will be hosting a “Post Crush” seminar in a virtual setting. In spring, we will repeat the “Filtering, Fining and Bottling” seminar as we get ready to finish up our 2020 vintage wines and start all over with 2021. We are also brainstorming with the idea of having a Winemakers’ Group meeting in a virtual platform where everyone has their video turned on so that we may see dozens of “newer and older” faces.
While utilizing a virtual platform is not an ideal substitute for in-person meetings, it offers us a new way to snub our noses at the quarantine, while staying safe and keeping a safe distance. Continuing to build close, strong relationships can be challenging when communicating and connecting in a virtual setting with our remote members in order to engage, educate, and entertain – meeting that challenge is top of mind.
We all hope and look forward to when we can return to our “pre-2020 norm,” but in the meantime, keep a bottle of (maybe homemade?) wine close, and I look forward to seeing you all, for the time being, in a virtual setting soon!
– Kevin Donnelly
August 21, 2020
Dear Leslie Hodowanec,
I want to express my sincere gratitude for selecting me to receive the Orange County Wine Society, Inc scholarship. I was excited to be chosen and I am deeply grateful for your support, especially because I took a great class Fall 2019, Bar Management with Professor Yates, and I learned quite a bit about wine, there is still so much more to learn but I’ve got a great start.
I have been continuing my culinary degree even with all the madness going on today, I am happy to report that I passed Spring 2020 with another 4.0 semester. I could not have done it without all of the resources that Orange Coast College has given me. Your donation will allow me to have less financial stress this coming quarter and I cannot express to you how much it means to me. My current career plan is to open my own small meal prep/meals to go business once i complete my schooling this coming year.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your gracious generosity and support me in my education. You have inspired me to help others and give back to the community one day. I promise to work hard and hope I will be able to help other students achieve their goals just as you have helped me.
Sincerely,
Genevieve Clay-Poor
Huntington Beach, Ca