October
News
October Membership Meeting
The October 2007 membership meeting of the Wisconsin Vintners Association
will begin at 7:30 PM on Wednesday the 10th at
Clifford’s Restaurant,
10418 Forest Home Ave.
There will be presentations made by two WVA members this month. Howard
Hasselkus will hold a Fermenters Forum with the Use of Sulfites in
Winemaking as the topic. Learn why sulfites are utilized, the types
available to the home winemaker, and how much to use. Come and join in the
discussion with your personal experiences and preferences in using this
important and somewhat misunderstood and unappreciated winemaking additive.
Tom Courtney will provide the club's third demonstration for the
Advanced Winemaking Program. He made two batches of cherry wine using
different amounts of fruit. Please bring two glasses for this tasting so that
you can compare these two wines side-by-side. If you’ve ever made cherry wine
yourself with great or not so great results, bring a bottle of your own to
compare your recipe and results to the two different batches made by Tom for
this experiment.
Every month we award a bottle of wine to one of our members who had dinner at
Clifford’s prior to our
meeting. This month’s wine is a 2002 California Bouchon Merlot. This wine
has classic black cherry aromas and is full flavored, soft and lasting on the
palate. Your quests will especially enjoy this with full flavored dishes like
lamb or beef. Congratulations to last month’s winner, Mary Uthemann. I
know that Jerry will greatly enjoy it.
Notes from the President
Wow! What a great turn out we had for our first meeting
of the fall season on September 12. Charles McGonegal of
AeppelTreow Winery was a very
interesting and entertaining speaker and nearly 60 of you were there to hear him
and taste some of his wines and champagnes. The evening was also special because
all of the guests that evening joined as members so that was exciting as well.
We will continue to feature some of our newer members in the coming months so we
can get to know each other. There are a lot of other hobbies and interests
among our members besides the common one of wine making.
Thanks to Tim Larsen, VP and program chair, for coordinating our programs
and to the members who have given their ideas and help. Thanks to Deb Stankus
who is coordinating the bread and cheese suppliers for our program meetings to
augment our tasting skills and to everyone who has signed up to help.
This is the month to bring your donation of fruit or juice for our club
potpourri wine that will be served at the 2009 dinner dance. Howard Hasselkus
will be using his considerable winemaking skills to turn our contributions into
a special wine for the evening.
Next month we will have our annual Harvest Dinner in place of a program
meeting. Thanks to Jerry & Doris Horzewski and Don Betlej
for agreeing to be co-chairs of this fun, fall, social event on November 11.
It's a great bargain since the club pays half of the cost for members and a fine
time to share some of your best with each other. See you at the meeting!
Joanne
Annual
Harvest Dinner
Sunday, November 11th is the date for our annual
WVA Harvest Dinner. It’s always an enjoyable evening with good food and good
wine (you’ll bring your best to show it off). Doors open at 5:00 PM with
appetizers and the grand buffet dinner is served at 6:00. There will be some
entertainment and door prizes. It’s a great deal, only $10.00 per person, as
half of the cost of the meal is paid by the club's general fund. 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. Please see
this Harvest Dinner Reservation Form.
Meet a Board Member
This month we’re featuring new Board Member-at-Large, Michael Bell.
Mike and his wife Marilyn have two grown children, Jen and Brian, a
granddaughter Elly, and two cats still living at home. Mike has been a WVA
member for five years and has participated in club sponsored wine tastings,
winemaking classes and most recently has been involved in wine judging. He
and Marilyn particularly enjoy the annual dinner-dance.
Mike’s home winemaking experience has been with grape and fruit concentrates,
and fresh fruit when available. He tries to keep some kind of wine fermenting
most of the time. Mike says that he has much more to learn about
winemaking and that from his observation he realizes that the bar is set very
high among our members.
Mike has worked for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield for many years with his current
position as a claims adjuster. In his spare time, Mike enjoys collecting and
recording old movies, doing crossword puzzles, and home gardening. Mike also
says that he is a talk radio junkie and likes reading about history and
politics. He’s also held positions in other organizations including President of
a grade school athletic club, dance club coordinator at the Cudworth American
Legion Post and editor of a union newsletter.
Mike said that he is proud to be elected as an at-large committee member and “is
impressed with the WVA as a thriving organization, and the multitude of talents
and backgrounds of the members. As a board member, I will work to continue the
activities we now enjoy, increasing membership, and setting new goals in the
future.”
Meet a Member
Jerry and Beverly Wanty are WVA members who enjoy making wine together
and said that they “enjoy the wine club because we have made a lot of new
friends and have learned so much and got a lot of new ideas from other club
members.”
Jerry, a retired carpenter, and Bev, a retired bus driver, have just
celebrated their 53rd year of marriage with five children, 10 grandchildren and
five great grandchildren. Jerry, who served in the US Army Engineers in
Korea, plays bass guitar and Bev plays the accordion. Besides our club, they
belong to the Family Motor Coach club. Jerry is also Vice President of the
Antique Snowmobile Club of America. Jerry takes care of collecting dues
from over 2,000 members and sends out renewal packs to all of them.
They make mostly country wines and can now maybe be “qualified” to teach other
club members. Jerry and Beverly won Best Dry/Semi-sweet Country Wine at
the 2007 WI State Fair Amateur Winemakers Competition for their Chocolate
Cherry wine. Congratulations to Jerry and Beverly and thanks for sharing
some great facts about the Wanty family with us.
It's Annual Dues Time
Membership dues for this year were to be paid in
September. If you have not yet paid, please send a check for $15.00, payable to
the Wisconsin Vintners Association, to Thomas Courtney, Treasurer, 10709
N. De La Warr Circle, Mequon, WI 53092. Use this
payment form.
Calendar of Events
October 3, 2007
- Wednesday, WVA Board Meeting at the home of Bill & Karen Schneider, 7:00 PM
October 10, 2007
- Wednesday, WVA Membership Meeting at
Clifford’s,
7:30 PM.
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
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
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