Cheers to Our OCWS Winemakers!
Congratulations to all our OCWS winemakers who won awards in the recent Home Wine Competition! New and seasoned winemakers took home almost two dozen Double Gold medals for wines made from varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tempranillo, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Nero d’Avola and more.
OCWS winemakers also garnered Double Golds for port, dessert and fruit wines. Nebbiolo and red blend kit wines also won big. Many more of our winemakers won gold and other medals as well.
The competition results speak to the group’s improved winemaking skills. Some of that comes from the many winemaking classes recently offered to new winemakers. It’s also a product of the mentorship and resources offered to those new winemakers and a reflection of the communication within the group and the willingness to help one another when questions or problems arise.
Of course, great results are possible only with great grapes. The Winemakers Group has been fortunate to get high quality fruit from reliable sources for many years. Otherwise, it would be impossible to make high-quality wines.
It’s too early to tell if the 2025 harvest will bring above average quality grapes. But early indications are that there will be an unusually large amount of fruit available to home winemakers. It also appears we home winemakers will have access to varietals which are not normally available to us.
Due to economic conditions in the California wine industry, commercial wineries are reducing their purchases from vineyards or “taking a year off” completely. So the vineyards are turning to home winemakers. I am already getting correspondence and seeing ads from vineyards seeking buyers for grapes normally sold to commercial wineries.
While it hurts to see our industry suffering, we home winemakers will benefit. I’m predicting that this year we’ll have access to some super high-quality fruit which will have the potential to produce outstanding wines in the future.
Our 2025 grape purchase is in the planning stages. Varietals available, sources, and estimated prices will be announced at the Winemakers Group quarterly meeting in July. Look for email and newsletter announcements about the upcoming grape purchase throughout the summer.
Here’s to making great wines. Cheers!
—Ed Reyes, ed@ocws.org