April News

Congratulations to Best of Show Winner!

KEN SKOTZKE

for his Raspberry/Strawberry wine at this year's

WVA club judging held on Sunday, March 26

Complete listing of all of the winners

Wine and Food Pairing:

The evening of April 5 was our annual wine and food pairing meeting. Lou Bruno presented a condensed version of his two week UWM class entitled Wine and Food, Combinations and Conflicts at his cooking school location at the Preserve at Deer Creek golf course club house. We sampled four wines: two whites and two reds plus various food items that Lou prepared prior to the program. Some of the food worked well with the wines and some did not. We also learned that how a food is prepared may affect its compatibility with a particular wine. This wine and food pairing event is usually the most popular meeting topic of the year and this year's program had more people attending than ever before.

President's Message:

Thanks to Don Betlej and Howard Hasselkus for all the work they have done in coordinating our club judging on March 26 and to all the members who participated by entering their wines, judging and in helping in so many ways. It’s exciting to see this event grow and benefit so many of our members and our winemaking skills. Watch for a report in next month’s newsletter.

Our April 5 Wine and Food Pairing has just a few openings as of this writing so if you want to take advantage of this special evening complete the form in the flyer right away. At that meeting the nominating committee will present the slate of candidates for our May election of officers. If anyone is interested in any of the positions, contact a member of the committee: Jerry Horzewski, Dave Brandt or Mary Scovronski.

We had 19 members dining at Clifford’s before the March meeting and Jennifer Lein was the lucky winner of the bottle of wine that evening. Join us before the May 10th meeting @ 6:00 for dinner and a chance to visit with Phillipe Coquard from the Wollersheim Winery who will be our speaker of the evening as well as a chance to win a nice bottle of wine.

Joanne

Club Elections

Nominations and elections are coming! Yes, now is the time for members to step forward and offer their time and talents in serving as leaders of the Wisconsin Vintners’ Association. Election will be at the May membership meeting---this year on Wednesday, May 10^th---but now the Nominating Committee, chaired by Past President Jerry Horzewski, is looking for candidates. According to the Bylaws, elections take place annually for President, Vice President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary (also Editor of the Newsletter), Treasurer, and Sergeant at Arms. Also, one of two Trustee positions and two of four positions at large on the Board of Directors are also open for election. The Committee invites and welcomes suggestions, nominations and volunteers for any of the positions. Terms of office are for one year except in the case of Trustees and Board members at large, which are for two years. There is no restriction against re-election. The duties of each office are spelled out in the bylaws and are available upon request or get in touch with Jerry Horzewski or Dave Brandt and find out first hand. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Meet a New Member

David and Virginia Hermann
Dave and Ginny joined WVA in 2005 to take some of the guesswork out of making wine and to improve their wines. Dave is a retired machinist who worked 34 years for Harley-
Davidson. Ginny retired from a career in retailing. They have
5 married children and 7 grand children. Dave’s hobbies include fishing and hunting turkeys and deer. Ginny keeps herself busy with scrapbooking, gardening and
wine making. She has made sweet wines, blackberry, cherry, blueberry and raspberry. They enjoy the numerous events sponsored by WVA, both the social and educational gatherings.

Kathy Thicke
Kathy joined WVA in October 2005 because she grows her own Concord grapes and became interested in making wine from them. Her father had made many kinds of wine but she did not get any of his recipes. She intends to learn from the winemakers in WVA. Kathy is widowed and has 3 married children ( 2 daughters and 1 son), 7 grand sons and 1 grand daughter. She retired from nursing after having spent 44 years in the profession, in many types of nursing. Her last assignment was in a hospice. Various hobbies include wine making, gardening, flowers, vegetables, candle making and other crafts. She enjoys sports, especially watching grand kids as they play. She’s a big Brewer fan and loves to travel. She’s been to Europe, including a Danube River cruise through the wine country last fall. She attends many theater and musical presentations and she enjoys dining out. She does volunteer work in her spare time. Kathy says she enjoys the socializing along with the wine tasting , judging and all the information given out by the club.

Meet a Board Member

George Scovronski
George’s present position on the Board is as a Trustee. He joined WVA in September 2000 because he felt this was a group of knowledgeable winemakers from whom he could learn to make and enjoy better wines. He is VP of Sales at Circle Inc. in Burlington, WI, a converter of chipboards, mostly covers for hardbound books. In a previous life, he was a science and math teacher in Neenah. His wife is Mary, who is also an active member of WVA. They have two children in Minneapolis and one in Appleton and a grandson in each of those two cities. He is an active fisherman and hunter but has slacked off a bit on those activities as winemaking has gotten more time intensive. Part time golfer and full time walker/hiker. Most of George’s wines are dry, some are from kits but also from fresh grapes. He’d like to try making sparkling, ice and fortified wines. Like many of us, the social aspects of WVA is the most gratifying. He has enjoyed the learning to make , taste or judge wine in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Jim Remus
Jim joined WVA in September 1999. His current position on the Board is as Member-at-Large. He is Assistant Airport Maintenance Supervisor at Mitchell International Airport. This includes many buildings, terminals, hangers and grounds which includes drives, runways, taxiways and grass areas. Martha Haerle is his wife and partner in winemaking, as well as Official Wine Taster for Bottling. Jim likes gardening (flowers, vegetables and fruit) hiking,
biking and butchering wood. He grows his own fruitgooseberries, currants, joostaberries, raspberries, 2 varieties of pears, sour cherries, mulberries, elderberries, Whitney crabapples and 3 kinds of grapes. Their garden gives them enough vegetables to serve most of their needs for the year. They freeze and can a lot. He makes country wines from the fruits listed above and
blends thereof. Strawberries he get from picking berries at a berry farm. Jim is the fellow who shepherds the award of the wine to be awarded to members who join us for dinner at Clifford’s before the membership meeting. Please let me quote Jim on the highlight of his membership. “Bring new people into the club. Promoting the club and winemaking. With the openness of the members to share their wine and hints on how they make their wines. Everyone has little different nuances for what works for them. It is just amazing the differences and the similarities that we all deal with.”

Calendar of Events:

May 1 - Deadline for paperwork for the Wisconsin State Fair Amateur Winemakers Competition; judging on Saturday, May 20th.

May 3 - Judges meeting for the Wisconsin State Fair Amateur Winemakers Competition at Clifford's. Buffet at 6:00 pm; Meeting starts at 6:30 pm.
Click for Meeting Agenda

May 6 - Board of Directors meeting at the Lakefront Brewery, 1872 N Commerce St, Milwaukee, WI, www.lakefrontbrewery.com, 9:30 am.

May 10 - Monthly membership meeting: Election of officers and a Tribute to Bob Wollersheim by Phillipe Coquard of the Wollersheim Winery, www.wollersheim.com.

May 18 - Drop off of bottles for judging at the Wisconsin State Fair Amateur Winemakers Competition, 4:30 to 7:00 pm, Tommy G Thompson Youth Center, 640 S 84th Street, West Allis, WI.

May 20/21 - Wisconsin State Fair Amateur Winemakers Competition, Judging begins at 9:00 am.

Special Thanks To Clifford's For The Use Of Their Hall!

CLIFFORDS

10418 W. FOREST HOME AVE

HALES CORNERS, WI

(414) 425-6226

Map

Please Support Our Sponsor!

ABOUT THE WISCONSIN VINTNERS

ASSOCIATION

The Wisconsin Vintners Association of Milwaukee was organized in 1970. Membership is open to anyone over 21 years old who has an interest in wine making. Our mission is educating our members in the many styles of wine and techniques while promoting the responsible use of alcohol. Regular monthly meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month at Cliffords Supper Club, 10418 West Forest Home Ave. Hales Corners, WI. at 7:30PM. Usually we feature a speaker and offer tasting and evaluation of different varieties of wines.

To join our organization you can stop by at any monthly meeting or send an email to:

support@wihomewinemakers.com