January 2008
News
January Membership Meeting
The January 2008 membership meeting of the
Wisconsin Vintners Association will begin at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, January 9th
at
Clifford’s
Restaurant, 10418 Forest Home Ave, Hales Corners, WI.
The program this month will be presented by Jerry
Uthemann of the Purple Foot. Did you ever want to make a wine
that had bubbles in it on purpose, not by accident? Jerry will demonstrate some
techniques for making a sparkling wine in your own home. Expect an informative
discussion.
Every month we raffle off a bottle of wine to one of
our members who has dinner at Clifford’s prior to our meeting. The award wine
this month is a 1985 Erdener Prälat Riesling Spätlese from the Mosel·Saar·Ruwer
area of Germany. It is a full bodied, sweet Riesling wine. Congratulations
to Jim Remus who was last month’s winner.
Notes from the President
We continue to have great
attendance (50 to 60 members) at our meetings and the list of new members is
growing as well. Welcome to all who have joined us these past months.
The board is working on
updating the membership roster from last April and will make it available to all
members when completed along with the revised new member brochure. Under Dave
Brandt's guidance, the board has also been looking at revisions to our
constitution and by-laws and will present those changes at a membership meeting
in the near future.
Thank you to Howard
Hasselkus and his table captains for a very informative December
meeting on critical evaluation of commercial wines. There will be a similar
program in March using our own wines, which should be interesting prior to the
club judging.
Plans for the dinner dance are
in the final stages but your help is needed with set-up, games, donating items
for the auctions, and your presence at the event on February 2 most of all. Your
invitation should be arriving in the post-holiday mail.
Happy New Year!
Have a happy and healthy holiday season!
Joanne
Welcome to New Members
Please welcome new members: Christine & Omar Lira
of Mukwonago, Arthur Peary of West Allis, and Lenny Backey of
Milwaukee..
Beginning Winemaking Program
The club has developed a Beginning Winemaking
Program to help teach new members the basics of home winemaking. The next course
will be conducted on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at
Clifford’s.
It is scheduled to start at 9:00 AM and should last to around 3:00 PM.
The program starts with a general winemaking overview on how to make a white
grape wine, red grape wine, and fruit wines. Then more detail is provided on
specific topics such as the importance of proper sanitation and how to properly
sanitize equipment, the use of the hydrometer how to read it, the how and why of
adding sugar to must and finished wines along with the types of yeast, their
use, and re-hydration. How to rack wine at various stages is demonstrated and
the process of bottling, corking and different types of corkers is also covered.
You’ll also learn how to test for total acidity and how to make corrections, the
use and
sources of sulfur dioxide and the quantities to use, the different types of
fining agents used to clarify wine and even the art of malolactic fermentation.
Please see this
registration form (PDF) for more details. Note that the
deadline for registration is February 22. We are still in need of
experienced winemakers to make presentations. If anyone is interested in
presenting, please contact Tom Courtney at 262-241-6638 or tcandlac@wi.rr.com.
February Dinner Dance
The February 2nd WVA Dinner Dance is fast
approaching. Items are still needed for the Dinner Dance silent auction.
Auction items could be purchased and donated, or may be handcrafted where you
can show off your other talents! Please bring your items to the January 9th
membership meetings or to the Latvian Hall, the dinner dance location, starting
around 9:00 AM on Saturday morning of the event (we will need members to help
with the set up that morning as well). Attach the name of the donor and
the approximate dollar value to each donated item. This will help with record
keeping and will also give the set-up committee an idea for a starting bid.
Please do NOT bring any items to the dinner on Saturday night because the set up
will be completed by noon of that day. I f you have any questions contact
Joanne Ziarek or Jim Remus.
WVA Club Logo Apparel for Sales Soon
It has been a few years since we last offered
clothing with the WVA logo. Our clothing
committee is in the process of identifying the items that will be offered and
creating the ordering forms. The forms and a few actual items will be available
to view at the next membership meeting. We hope to provide this
information as well via next month’s newsletter and on our website.
Club Judging on Saturday, March 15
Saturday, March 15 is the date of the 2008 annual
club judging. Note that this will be held on a Saturday rather than on Sunday
which was customary for club judgings in past years. This event provides an
opportunity for you to obtain the WVA judges’ opinion on the quality of your
wine and hopefully their comments will be useful in improving next year’s wine.
As always we will be in need of volunteers to help judge, steward, etc.
Entry forms and the rules will be included in the February newsletter and in the
near future, on the website. The ribbons awarded to the winners are
created by the club and there is a traveling wall plaque for the Best of Show
winner, currently in Don Betlej’s possession.
Juice still available for Winemaking
The Tropic Banana Company, a fruit wholesaler
located at 300 North Van Buren Street in
Milwaukee, still has approximately 50, 6-gallon pails of grape juice for
winemaking left at a price of three pails for $100.00. If you are
interested, call Tony at 414-271-4318.
Calendar of Events
January 2, 2008 - Wednesday, WVA
Board Meeting, George & Mary Scovronski’s home, 7:00 PM.
January 9, 2008
- Wednesday, WVA Membership Meeting at
Clifford’s,
7:30 PM.
January 30, 2008 - Wednesday, WVA
Board Meeting, Howard & Sally Hasselkus’ home, 7:00 PM.
February 2, 2008
- Saturday, Annual WVA Dinner Dance and Fundraiser
March 1, 2008
- Saturday, WVA Beginners Winemaking Course at
Clifford’s, 9:00 AM.
March 5, 2008 - Wednesday, WVA
Board Meeting, Don Betlej's home, 7:00 PM.
March 12, 2008
- Wednesday, WVA Membership Meeting at
Clifford’s,
7:30 PM, Critical Wine Tasting of members' wines
March 15, 2008
- Saturday, WVA Club Judging at
Clifford’s,
9:00 AM.
Special Thanks To Clifford's
For The Use Of Their Hall!
10418 W. FOREST
HOME AVE
HALES CORNERS, WI
(414) 425-6226
www.cliffordsfinefood.com
Map
Please Support Our
Sponsor!
|
