We managed our way through another competition, our first for 2022.  The Aged Wine competition featured a number of outstanding wines in nearly all of our listed categories.  Congratulations to Richard and Gail Chilman for winning Best in Show!  I'll find a picture or two and post them shortly.  

This was the first live competition that we have done since May, 2020 and it was pretty darned exciting to get the results in person, see everyone's smiling, shiny faces and enjoy some really excellent wines.  Full results are HERE

As always, thanks to Duane and Andrea Van Hoever and Maureen Janke for officiating and scorekeeping.  And remember to start looking at your Nouveau wines.  May is not far off and we're anxious to do some more judging!

The following was submitted by our Librarian, Gordon Rouse:

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I have added some books to our collection from both club member recommendations as well as  others that have been donated by members and nonmembers.  Take a look at these and the full list on the club website.  If you know of something that you would like to see and we don’t have it on our list, please let me know and we’ll add it to our wish list.  If you’re interested in taking something out, you can reach me at gfrouse@gmail.com  We’ll get it to you either at a meeting or perhaps by mail.  

Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells  

By Harold McGee.  

This former NY Times columnist writes about the science of food and cooking.  Here is a story of the world, of every smell under our collective nose. A work of astounding scholarship and originality, Nose Dive distills the science behind the smells and translates it, as only McGee can, into an accessible and entertaining guide. Incorporating the latest insights of biology and chemistry, and interweaving them with personal observations, he reveals how our sense of smell has the power to expose invisible, intangible details of our material world and trigger in us feelings that are the very essence of being alive.  Hardcover 2020

Wine & War: The French, The Nazis & The Battle For France's Greatest Treasure 

By Don and Petie Kladstrup

The remarkable untold story of France’s courageous, clever vintners who protected and rescued the country’s most treasured commodity from German plunder during World War II.

In 1940, France fell to the Nazis and almost immediately the German army began a campaign of pillaging one of the assets the French hold most dear: their wine. Like others in the French Resistance, winemakers mobilized to oppose their occupiers, but the tale of their extraordinary efforts has remained largely unknown–until now. This is the thrilling and harrowing story of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring measures to save their cherished crops and bottles as the Germans closed in on them. Wine and War illuminates a compelling, little-known chapter of history, and stands as a tribute to extraordinary individuals who waged a battle that, in a very real way, saved the spirit of France.  Paperback  2002

Tony Aspler's Cellar Book

By Tony Aspler  

How to Design, Build, Stock, and Manage Your Wine Cellar Wherever You Live

Tony Aspler returns with a book for anyone who has fallen under the spell of the glorious grape — and dreamed of having their very own wine cellar.

Tony Aspler’s Cellar Book provides guidelines for anyone, whether their regular tipple is a $15-Australian or a $100-Bordeaux, who wants to keep a supply of wines that will age with grace and flavour and be ready to consume for a mid-week dinner or a spontaneous celebration. Tony’s suggestions for general approaches to establishing a cellar, specific bottles and even themes will help you create the perfect collection — big or small. Basic techniques for evaluating the right cellar for your needs are accompanied by sidebars of cellaring experience and advice from well-known wine celebrities. Follow Tony as he builds his own cellar in his condo, while picking up tips on how to build your own.  Paperback 2009

The Homebuilt Winery

By Steve Hughes

43 projects for Building and Using Winemaking Equipment.  Useful tools that you can make yourself.  Build your own winery! Learn how to set up a home winery and construct all the basic equipment for just a fraction of what commercially manufactured products would cost. Leading you through the entire winemaking process, Steve Hughes includes building plans and step-by-step instructions for making more than 30 essential winemaking tools. From fashioning presses and pumps to the best way to fill and cork bottles, The Homebuilt Winery covers everything you need to know to affordably enjoy delicious, high-quality homemade wine.  Paperback 2012

The Wine Bible

By Karen MacNeil

910 pages on everything about wine appreciation, especially wine regions of the world. 10th printing.  Comprehensive, entertaining, authoritative, and endlessly interesting, The Wine Bible is a lively course from an expert teacher, grounding the reader deeply in the fundamentals—vine-yards and varietals, climate and terroir, the nine attributes of a wine’s greatness—while layering on tips, informative asides, anecdotes, definitions, photographs, maps, labels, and recommended bottles. Discover how to taste with focus and build a wine-tasting memory. The reason behind Champagne’s bubbles. Italy, the place the ancient Greeks called the land of wine. An oak barrel’s effect on flavor. Sherry, the world’s most misunderstood and underappreciated wine. How to match wine with food—and mood.

Plus everything else you need to know to buy, store, serve, and enjoy the world’s most captivating beverage.   Paperback 2001

The Beer Book 

By Tim Hampson

Listing more than 800 breweries and 1700 beers from all over the world.

Beer: the drink to taste, savor, talk about, and travel for. Explore its rapidly expanding horizons-- thirst-quenching lagers, "meal in a glass" stouts, peppery white bears, tangy fruit-based brews, and classic ales and bitters-- with this guide to every good beer in the world. Discover the beers to try and how best to enjoy them.  Paperback 2008

You can order your 50th Anniversary Riedel wine glasses now on the website.  The price per stem is $11, and they are expected to arrive around April 2022 (we think).  There are a limited number available, and these are really high-quality stems, so get your order in soon!

You can find the order page under "Club Matters"

As we have some very good wine making books in our collection, we haven’t added new books on the topic for a while as there haven’t been many good ones that have much new to offer. However, in the process of doing research for the eLibrary, I came across some new titles and have added some of these winemaking books to the Club print library. These items are available for check-out via pickup, or by U.S. mail as the club as agreed to pay the postage to get the items to you to further your wine enjoyment and wine making education. I will have more items for you the next few months. You can reach me at gfrouse@gmail.com

The Complete Guide to Making Your Own Wine at Home, by John Peragine is a good starter book and nicely eases the reader into more and more complex topics. This is readily apparent in the first few chapters as the author discusses water sources, sugars, yeasts, and the minimum of equipment you need to get started. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 cover making wine from kits, juices, and grapes, respectively. Chapter 6 covers 24 different winemaking mistakes and how to fix them. Chapter 7 covers “country wines” or wines made from fruits, vegetable, and herb ingredients. Chapter 8 covers mead, cyser, pyment, and malomels. Chapter 9 is on labeling and organizing your cellar, while Chapter 10 briefly covers starting a home vineyard. The final chapter discusses the pros and cons of Opening Your Own Winery. The book includes some good, but slightly dated appendices. Other books in our collection cover some of these topics in more depth, but this is a good book for the beginning winemaker. 2010 paperback.

Wild Wine Making, by Richard W. Bender. The subtitle of this book, “Easy and Adventurous Recipes Going Beyond Grapes” sums it up well, as you won’t find a more thorough, creative book of recipes. Chapter 1 covers what you need to make these wines, and the author encourages small-batch, one gallon batches with a minimal amount of equipment. Chapter 2 covers the author’s approach to winemaking, calling it “… fairly straightforward and quick process, although it can be messy.” He goes through 10 easy to follow steps; perfect for the inexperienced fruit wine maker. The real fun begins with Chapter 3 as it contains 76 different fruit and vegetable wine recipes. Examples include Apple Champagne, Burgundy Kale, Ozark Pumpkin Sake, and Strawberry Chocolate. Chapter 4 is Flower & Herb Wines and the author describes it as “… you essentially are brewing a strong sweet tea and then adding yeast.” Recipe examples are Cinnamon Basil, Ginger-Green Tea Sake, and Rosemary. Chapter 5 is on Hot Pepper Wines and the author blends in fruits so the wines are drinkable on their own, although they work well for cooking wines. He suggests these are more pre-meal wines served as small one-ounce servings. Recipes include Key Lime-Cayenne and Tomato-Jalapeno. For the really adventurous, Chapter 6 covers Cannabis Wines that include recipes such as Appleweed, Christmas Cannabis and Plum Pot. Chapter 7 covers pairing these wines with foods/cheeses, cooking with these wines, and hosting a tasting or winemaking party. If you’re already a fruit wine maker and want to get some inspiration, I highly recommend reviewing the 145 recipes in this beautifully photographed 2018 paperback.

The Big Book of Cidermaking, by Christopher and Kirsten K. Shockey Ben Watson makes a good point right in the forward “… that cider at its highest and best expression doesn’t use a recipe, but a process.” This sets the tone for this comprehensive book on cider making as the authors later explain why they made this book. They believe we’re in a cider renaissance with many of the old rules are fine, but there’s no reason to limit your creativity and encourage the reader to pursue the style and flavor you like. They encourage the maker to start our simple and small batch and then move up to larger, more complex batches as you gain experience. The book covers various methods of processing apples, blending juices, and has many step-by-step processes with good photographs to show you how to do key steps. There are recipes, but the emphasis is more on the process than the ingredients. They cover wild and cultivated ciders, wild-yeast ciders, infused ciders, as well as iced, wined and spirited ciders. The last chapter does a nice job of suggesting how to taste and judge ciders, and there is a good appendix for troubleshooting your cider problems. If you’re a cider maker, or want to become one, this is a book for you. 2020 paperback.

While flipping through YouTube a couple of weeks ago, I came across a video that explains the basics of vine pruning in a way that I think most people will find easy to understand.

The Board of Directors recently took up the subject of making two changes to the Club Bylaws. The first change would allow for standing committees that persist from year to year. It was felt this was needed due to the fact that committees are normally dissolved at the end of the club year in May, even though they may have business that carries over into the following Year.

The proposed amendment for standing committees would be numbered Article VIII and would be inserted above the current Article VIII. All subsequent Articles would be renumbered to follow the proposed Article. The wording of the proposed amendment for standing committees would be as follows:

ARTICLE VIII Committees

Section 1 – Committees

Ad hoc committees may be created by the Board or by the President, as necessary. Such committees terminate when the subject matter addressed by the committee has been resolved, or the event has occurred. The Board may also create standing committees (including, but not limited to, the Mentoring Committee), which shall persist from year to year. In each case, the Chair of the Committee shall be appointed by the President. The Chair will recruit other Club members as needed to help carry out the work of the Committee. The Committee Chair is responsible for reporting to the Board at least annually. Terms, and term limits (if any), for committee members may be specified by the Board, or determined as needed by the committee members.

The second change would allow for meetings to be held using online platforms, such as Zoom. The Bylaws currently require that Club Business may only be performed by members being "present" in a single location. With the challenges presented by COVID-19 restrictions, group meetings have become all but impossible. 

The amendment for online participation would add three new sections to the end of Article VII (Meetings):

Section 3 - For the purpose of clarity, we define ‘present’ at meetings to mean ‘in person or remote participation’.

Section 4 - Acceptable means of remote participation are video conferencing platforms, including but not limited to Zoom, that enables the remote participant and all people present at the meeting location to be clearly audible and visible to one another. The meeting location will be determined by at least one board member or the video conferencing host.

Section 5 - Text messaging, instant messaging, email, and web chat without audio are not acceptable means of remote participation.

These Bylaw changes are subject to a vote by the Club membership at the April 14th meeting.