Orange County Wine Society Newsletter Through the Years

  

The first Orange County Wine Society newsletter started with an April 1981 publication entitled Free Run. The inaugural issue (Volume 1, Number 1) stated the newsletter’s intention: ‘It is our intention that the Free Run will keep you aware of meetings, activities, goals and accomplishments of the Society.’

In this first publication there was also an article addressing how the name Free Run was chosen. The organization offered an opportunity for their membership to name their newsletter by conducting a contest. The explanation of the name selection was stated as, “We feel it represents one of our Society goals, the free flow of information about wine appreciation, winemaking and California wines.” 

Although it was only one page, the first Free Run newsletter presented a brief history of the OCWS; an advertisement of an upcoming Home Winemakers Competition; the mention of a Heitz Cellars wine tasting lead by Joe and Alice Heitz; and coverage of a “Marriage of Food and Wine” gathering at Stox II restaurant presented by Mike Grgich, of Grgich Hills Winery. Finally, there was an offer to members to buy a vehicle license plate frame with the message, “Everything’s Fine With WINE” for just $7.50 plus $1.00 for shipping.

After the initial 1981 publication, Free Run reappeared five years later in April 1986.  Jane Goodnight was the publisher and Ronnie Johnson and Nicole Smith were the editors. This second publication covered OCWS’s 10-year anniversary; impressive membership growth from 19 members in July 1976 to over 500 members in April 1986; and a confirmation of the organization’s basic philosophy: to promote the understanding and appreciation of wine, winemaking and viticulture. In addition, the second publication included an “Orange County Fair Exhibit” article that covered the “Jump on Over” theme and OCWS’s co-sponsorship of the Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition.

In the mid-1980s once again the membership was asked to name the OCWS newsletter. A contest was held to name the newsletter and the contest winner, Diane Block, was recognized in January 1989 for her prize-winning name, The Wine Press, which still exists today. It was about this time that John Goodnight, a 12-year OCWS  board member (Past President and Treasurer for eight years) took over the newsletter publishing from Sharon Spaulding, Secretary on the Board. Prior to John taking over the newsletter, it was not printed consistently. John wanted to make sure that The Wine Press was printed once a month and that came to fruition. In addition, under John’s watch, graphics from The Wine Press won numerous OC Fair ribbons including the Blue Ribbon First Place and a Best of Show award for the Extraordinaire Program.

John reflected that preparing the newsletter was a monumental task. Articles would be prepared using a Word file then cut and pasted on to “paste-up boards.” The newsletter had four pages of double-sided content and they kept the newsletter to about 8 to 12 pages. John led the preparation of The Wine Press for 17 years – quite impressive.

John consistently included a joke page in the newsletter that was comprised of cartoons and light humor sourced from the web. One person complained to the board, so an article appeared on how a vote was taken resulting in a landslide for keeping the joke page.

A not-so-fun fact was how several times, since the cost of postage kept going up, membership dues had to increase to cover the cost of newsletter printing and postage.

The importance of the newsletter cannot be underestimated. Over the years, not only did The Wine Press keep members aware of meetings, activities, goals and accomplishments but it also assisted in encouraging membership renewal.

Finally, The Wine Press has served as an educational vehicle for sharing the wine knowledge of many members. Today, you can read The Wine Press online and in living color on the website, so take some time to enjoy.