November
News
Harvest Dinner
There will be no November membership meeting as this
is the month of our annual Harvest Dinner which will be held on Sunday,
November 11th at
Clifford’s Restaurant,
10418 Forest Home Ave. The appetizers start at 5:00 PM with the grand
buffet dinner being served around 6:00 PM.
There is still time to send in your reservation and your money, only $10.00 per
person, as half of the cost of the meal is paid by the club's general fund.
Please see the Harvest Dinner Reservation Form
(PDF-164KB). As a thank you to Jack for
allowing us to hold our monthly membership meetings at Clifford’s please
consider bringing an extra bottle of your home wine as a gift to him.
Vintner's Press
The WVA Vintner's Press is back this month.
Please check your email.
Notes from the President
Congratulations to Paul and
Dolores Opichka who were awarded Life Membership status for all of their
past and on-going service with many contributions to the club over 25 years.
Thanks to our October program presenters: Howard Hasselkus on sulfite use, and
Tom Courtney reporting on his advanced winemaking project comparing two batches
of cherry wine. We appreciate the large enthusiastic attendance at our meetings
but ask that you hold off on wine drinking and talking until after the program.
Please show your respect for the speakers by giving them your full attention and
socialize afterwards.
As Tim Larsen mentioned at the last meeting, a beginning winemaking
course is being planned for a Saturday this winter. More details will be
published as things are finalized.
Jim Remus, Chairman of the February 2nd Dinner Dance, has been meeting
with his committees. See the separate article with more information about
the dinner dance fundraiser and consider helping with the planning as well as
donating something for the silent auction.
See you at the Harvest Dinner on November 11th.
Joanne
Meet a Board Member
This month we’re featuring our new Sergeant-at-Arms,
Mary Scovronski. She and her husband George have been members for seven
years. They have three children, Joe, Bill and Karin and two grandsons. The
families have become wine aficionados since Dad started making wine.
Mary has spent many years in retail performing various jobs selling wallpaper
and paint to sporting goods. She also helped start up the automatic inventory
control for Kohls. Her last job before retiring was a sales rep for Leggs.
She now volunteers for the Red Cross one day a week driving people to their
doctor appointments.
During the warm months Mary enjoys gardening, biking, hiking and golf. Bowling
is the sport of choice in the winter. T raveling is something that Mary and
George would like to do more of. The winemaking is mostly George’s forte
but Mary assists in the corking. The best job is the tasting and blending trials
that are done before bottling. They make various wines from grapes but
have dabbled in some fruit wines.
“The wine club has been a great source of information. Everyone has been very
helpful and willing to share their knowledge. We have made some great friends in
the club.”
Meet a Member
Mark Witeck, M.D. has been a member of the
Wisconsin Vintners Association for about a year. Mark is a Forensic
Pathologist and has a private practice in Wisconsin and Illinois. Yes, he
does see dead people!
Mark has one grown son that is his, one grown man who calls Mark, Dad, and who’s
teaching his kids to call Mark, Grandpa! Mark every year hosts two high school
foreign exchange students with now a total of fifteen of them that call him,
American Dad. This year one student is from Germany and the other from Finland
and will stay with Mark for the whole school year.
Mark has about six acres of land and grows grapes, plums, four kinds of
cherries, elderberries, peaches and more unusual fruits like Guomi (an Asian
cherry) and Asian pears. He has made both sweet and dry wine from red and white
grapes and also has made wine from his other fruits. He’s even made
pumpkin wine. Many of Mark’s wines are combinations of grapes and other fruits,
i.e. Asian Pear Chardonnay and Elderberry Foch.
Mark also likes to hunt and fish. With his work and needed attention to
his visiting students, Mark so far hasn’t been able to attend any meetings
although he had fun last fall picking grapes at a “real vineyard” with some
other club members. Mark said that he joined the club to get further
insight on wine making. It appears that with his knowledge of fruit growing,
gardening his winemaking and foreign teenagers, Mark could provide some valuable
insight to all of us as well.
February Dinner Dance
Every year in February our club has a dinner dance
which includes a dinner, of course, dancing, of course, along with some raffles
and games used to raise money for our club. This is our club’s only fundraising
event and the proceeds are used to either totally fund or else subsidize the
cost of our club activities throughout the rest of the year.
Jim Remus, this year’s Dinner Dance Chairman, has already started the
planning with his first meeting on October 22. Even if you are a new member this
year and know little about this event, please consider becoming involved. Look
for more planning meeting announcements in the future. Your fresh thoughts and
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Please consider donating any prizes and especially any crafts that you
personally have made for the Chinese and Silent Auctions. Have any new
suggestions for a different type of game that may have been popular and a money
maker at another event you have attended or worked? Please let Jim know.
All new ideas are welcome!
WVA member Dean Grulke has a 4 foot tall Peach Tree to give away to anyone
who wants it. If interested, please contact Dean directly at 262-719-5074.
Calendar of Events
November 11, 2007
- Sunday, Harvest Dinner at
Clifford’s,
5:00 PM
November 14, 2007
- Wednesday, WVA Board Meeting at the home of Erv & Bobbi
Herman, 7:00 PM
December 5th, 2007 - Wednesday, WVA
Board Meeting Tim Larsen’s home, 7:00 PM
December 12, 2007
- Wednesday, WVA Membership Meeting at
Clifford’s,
7:30 PM.
February 2, 2007
- Saturday, Annual WVA Dinner Dance and Fundraiser
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!
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