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Wisconsin Vintners Association (Home Wine Makers Club) |
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March News
Critical Wine Evaluation Meeting At our next club meeting, 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, we will again be conducting another Critical Wine Evaluation program. The meeting place is at Clifford's Supper Club, 10418 West Forest Home Avenue, Hales Corners WI, a southwest suburb of Milwaukee. Please come and bring a couple of your favorite wine glasses with you. This month we will evaluate wine made by WVA members. Please bring a bottle or two of your most recent home wine creations. The evaluation will be blind (all labels covered up). This will be a great opportunity for you to get some initial feedback before the upcoming club and State Fair competitions. Attendees will be divided into tables of four to six people with one being an experienced judge who will lead the critical tasting using flights of three to five bottles of similar wine. The wines will be tasted, scored and then discussed. Each table captain will lead the group through a discussion of appearance, aroma & bouquet, taste & texture, aftertaste, overall impression and then the scoring. Everyone will have their own score sheets which will be collected and the results added to our database. We need to increase the number and caliber of wine judges in our club and throughout Wisconsin. A judge needs the ability to form objective, educated and critical opinions and needs to have knowledge of the basic components of wine (sugar, acid, tannin, etc.) as well as common flaws which can be identified by sight, smell and taste. These Critical Wine Evaluation programs are a start in that direction. Whether you have any prior judging experience or are just plain curious, we're hopeful that you'll find it both educational and fun at the same time.
President's Message:
Thank you to Tom Courtney and his committees and all who attended and
helped to make this year’s annual Dinner-dance a success! Watch for a
report in next month’s newsletter. It was a great party, so if you
missed it as I did, reserve the first Saturday in February 2007 on your
calendar now for next year’s gala event.
Take note of the special display of menus and recipes at this month’s membership meeting. These are from previous Dinner dances where everything was made by members and had top contain wine or beer (sometimes some of the wine was in the cook). Thanks to some of our long time members for sharing this part of our club’s history with the rest of us. Another committee that has been very active this past month is the
State Fair and Joanne
Annual Dinner Dance Update: The February 4th
Dinner-dance was a big success. Everyone enjoyed the Thanks also to
the following members who donated prizes: Donations for
Chinese Auction Congratulations to Merry Ziefle, the winner of the Door County weekend. Click this Link to see some Photo's, taken at the dinner dance.
Wine and Food Pairing: April 5 wine and food pairing: Plan to
set aside the evening of April 5 for our annual wine and food
pairing meeting with a different twist this year. We have arranged
to have Lou Bruno present 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, 4285 S. Sunny Slope Rd in New Berlin on the first
Wednesday of April starting at 7:00PM.
Please note the change of date, time, and location for this
event. Lou has been teaching classes for 25 years
on both wine and food. He worked as a wine salesman after college
and founded Bruno Wines and Spirits in 1977. In 1996 he opened two
restaurants: Bruno's Vintage Inn and Lou Bruno's
where he was chef and general manager for four years. He is
currently the manager of the Pewaukee Yacht Club and was the first
wine writer for the Milwaukee Journal. He also conducts a one week
cooking school at a villa in Tuscany each summer. We are very
fortunate to have such a qualified person at our disposal that
evening. His program will help to remove the guesswork of matching
food and wine by exemplifying two main themes: "Match the weight of
the food with the weight of the wine" and "consider the intensity of
the food and wine separately." Pre-registration is
required for this special event no later than March 31.
This will be a bargain at only $10 per person for this
event when the class normally costs $59 through UWM or Alverno. We
will be sampling four wines: two whites and two reds plus whatever
food items Lou prepares. He asks that each member bring
four wine glasses for the tasting. The club house is only
two years old, has all the facilities on one level, and is wheel
chair accessible. The driveway to the Preserve at Deer Creek is on
the west side of Sunny Slope (south of National or north of Beloit
Rd) and just north of Eisenhower high school . There is a sign for
the Preserve at the turn-in. Turn west and follow a very winding
road for about 1/4 mile through some wet land areas to the dead end
where the parking lot/club house are. Please send a check for $10 per person made out to WVA by March 31 to: Joanne Ziarek, 15413 W. Mayflower Ct., New Berlin, WI 53151, and indicate the names of all attendees. The price is the same for members and guests. There will be a brief business meeting @ 7:00 followed by the program. There will be a cash bar available plus we are able to bring our own wine as usual. It would be best to wait until after the main presentation/tasting to sample your own wines. Meet a Board Member
Meet a Board Member
Meet a New Member
Tom Polzin joined the WVA in 2005 and is a Financial Advisor and
managing partner for MPC Financial Services in Brookfield. His wife
is Linda and they have no children. WVA Amateur Winemaking Club Judging: The Wisconsin Vintners Association (WVA) Amateur Winemaking Club Judging is held annually and is open to all club members. The 2006 event will be held at Clifford’s Restaurant, 10418 Forest Home Ave on Sunday, March 26th. The purpose of this event is threefold: • An opportunity for club members to have their wines evaluated in a formal
manner, based
upon similar judging criteria used by major wine competitions around the
country. Click Here for more information including Rules and Forms
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 10th---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.
Calendar of Events: March 1 - Board of Directors meeting at 7:00 pm at the home of Howard & Sally Hasselkus March 8 - meeting at 7:30 pm @ Clifford's - Critical Wine Evaluation of homemade wines. March 26 - Club Wine Judging at Clifford's from 9:00 am - 6:00 pm April 5 - Wine and Food Combinations and Conflicts presented by Lou Bruno - 7:00 pm @ The Preserve at Deer Creek golf course club house, 4285 S. Sunny Slope Rd, New Berlin. April 12 - Board of Directors meeting at 7:00 pm at the home of Paul & Bertie Brauch
Special Thanks To Clifford's For The Use Of Their Hall! CLIFFORDS 10418 W. FOREST HOME AVE HALES CORNERS, WI (414) 425-6226
Please Support Our Sponsor!
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support@wihomewinemakers.com Wisconsin Vinters AssociationCopyright © 2005 All rights reserved.
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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:
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They have 4 children, 7 grandsons (soon to be 8) and 1
GRANDDAUGHTER. Chuck enjoys winemaking, of course, and also fishing,
turkey hunting, deer hunting and camping. The Howells have a trailer
on a permanent site near Rio, WI and spend most of the summer there.
Wine is made from fruit, kits and grape juice. Chuck says he enjoys
the critical wine tastings, judging competitions, socializing and
learning how to make better wine. He’s impressed with experienced
winemakers being willing to share information and he is learning a
lot. He calls us a GREAT GROUP. Chuck and Mary were part of a group
of 8 WVA members who helped Phillipe from the Wollersheim Winery to
pick partially frozen grapes from which to make ice wine. In order
to qualify as ice wine, the grapes must be slushy inside with ice
but not marbles. In the four or five years we have picked, this is
only the second time that the product could be called ice wine. It
was a cold day and the crop was large and heavy but the day was
enjoyed by all.
Howard
Hasselkus is a Trustee and has been a member of WVA for 20 years.
When he was a working stiff, he worked for Kurth Malting Co and
Archer-Daniels Midland Co as Plant Manager and Safety and Sanitation
Director. He and his wife, Sally, have a daughter, Karen, who is a
5th grade teacher in Zion, IL and a son, David, a Manager at Kodak
in Rochester, NY. Of hobbies, Howard has a lot. Winemaking,
gardening, swimming, fishing and travel. He has a large collection
of corkscrews that he’s picked up here and there in his travels.
He’s shown them off at WVA meetings and it’s an impressive
collection. He and Sally spend time at their cottage in Presque
Isle, WI Howard makes wine from, he says, everything but he prefers
to make (and drink) French hybrid grape wines. His winemaking hobby
has introduced them to many very good friends and was an excuse for
them to travel to many of the wine areas in this country and Europe.
He has an impressive collection of Best-of-Show awards. Five from
the WVA, the Wisconsin State Fair, HWBTA, Iowa State Fair, Central
Wisconsin State Fair, North East, PA and the Vilas county Fair. He’s
also done well at the American Wine Society competitions. He’s in
AWS’ list of the Top 100 Amateur Winemakers of America. Howard says
he gets a lot of satisfaction out of helping newer winemakers get
the confidence and experience to make wines that they and their
friends can enjoy.
and leadership at Brookfield Lutheran Church where he can
participate in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He and Linda
travel a lot. In the past 6 years, they have been to the Holy Land,
Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. They try to visit
wine growing regions if they can. They also visit Napa and Sonoma
Counties with some frequency. Wine making has been mostly from high
end kits but he’s tried many fruits and several grape varieties. Tom
wanted to join the WVA so that he could ask questions about
technique, issues of winemaking that he does not understand fully
and benefit from the experience (and mistakes of others). And their
successes. Even though time constraints keep him from attending most
membership meetings, he appreciates the regular e and paper mails.
He is also grateful for the access to quality sources grapes and
juices last fall. All the members he’s met have been very pleasant
and willing to share their expertise to help him become a better
winemaker.