We had another terrific meeting on Saturday July 15th at member Dan Mathson’s Monarch Hill Vineyards – he and his wife were very generous to let us meet at their property, BIG THANKS to them! Just under 40 people attended the meeting, it was sunny and hot but there was plenty of shade and seating for everyone. The meeting opened with acknowledgment of the many members that recently won awards at various home winemaking competitions.

Dan gave a very comprehensive, knowledgeable presentation on “Growing Grapes.” Following the presentation there was a short tour of his winery, lab and vineyard, then a Wine Swap raffle and social time with members sharing their homemade wines, including many recent award winners. Good times were had by all.

The next meeting will be in August as we plan to skip September and October for harvest. The meeting will be SUNDAY August 20th at 10 am at Ramona Ranch Winery, the topic will be “Fermentation.” If you would like to be on our mailing list please go to the Contact page and send us your email, more details for the next meeting will be sent out to the mailing list soon!

Congratulations to all San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society (SDAWS) members and all entrants that won awards at the San Diego County Fair Home Wine Competition – including Michelle Walker, who won Best of Class AND the Russ St. Jean Most Unique Wine award for her Marselan wine (from a kit!)!

We are planning to have a future meeting focused on preparing and selecting wines to enter in competitions and have a mock judging – join us to learn more about wine appreciation, winemaking and grape growing!

Please share this post and let your wine-loving friends know about San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society (SDAWS), you don’t have to be a wine maker to join.

We had a terrific meeting on Saturday May 13th at Bastian’s Vineyards in Escondido. About 40 people attended, it was sunny and warm, and the vines looked great. Attendees introduced themselves and their winemaking backgrounds as well as their favorite wine or wine experience, then there was a summary of how the club is moving forward as a chapter of the American Wine Society. Future meeting topics and group wine trips were discussed. Ron Bas, owner of Bastian’s Vineyards and alumnus SDAWS Treasurer, then introduced himself and gave the history of his vineyard and winery. At the conclusion there was a tour of the winery equipment and a social hour with tastings of Bastian’s Vineyard wines and snacks brought by members.

The next SDAWS meeting will be Saturday July 15th at 1 pm at a member’s home with a presentation on grape growing – if you would like to be on our mailing list please go to the Contact page and send us your email.

The next San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society (SDAWS) meeting will be Saturday May 13th at 1 pm at Bastian’s Vineyards. The proprietor Ron Bas, an alumnus member and officer of SDAWS, will introduce himself and his vineyard and talk a little about winery equipment.

Please RSVP at https://www.localwineevents.com/view/event/san-diego-amateur-winemaking-society-sdaws-meeting/825893 if you plan to attend, a reminder email will be sent the week of the meeting with more details. It is important that we get a count of people expected to attend.

If you have not already joined American Wine Society (AWS) and chosen SDAWS as your chapter, please do so soon – we could be the largest chapter in Southern California! Please go to https://americanwinesociety.org/join-now/ to sign up.

If you are already a member and have a household account, 2nd members should also update their AWS chapter to “CA-San Diego Amateur Winemakers Society” so we have a full roster of paid members. You will have to do this separately from the primary account. After you log in go to the top drop-down menu and select “Account+Settings”. Then on the left side click on “Information & Settings” – in that menu there are tabs at the top, choose “Sub-accounts” Then you can click on the pencil icon to edit the information for the sub-account to choose “CA-San Diego Amateur Winemakers Society” as the chapter.

We are officially a chapter under the American Wine Society! As we discussed at the kickoff meeting, this gives us many benefits and access to a much larger group of wine aficionados to network with as well as chapter insurance for meetings. Joining is easy, just go to: https://americanwinesociety.org/join-now/ and pick what type of membership you would like to do (Individual, household and length of time). Once you click join now, the page will have you enter all of your information in and please select “San Diego Amateur Winemakers Society” in the primary chapter dropdown. You can also choose a secondary chapter to affilliate with locally, then you can attend their meetings as members.

If you are an existing American Wine Society member you can add or change your home chapter to San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society by logging in and clicking on your account at the top. Choose “Account + Settings” to go to the page to edit your home chapter and/or add a 2nd chapter.

Once you have done that, you can fill out your profile and start connecting with other members. Thank you again to everyone who has shown interest in getting involved and restarting this great group and looking forward to learning with all of you as we move forward!

The Homemade Wine Competition is back at the San Diego County Fair!

KEY DATES:
Entries must be registered by FRIDAY APRIL 21st
Entry Drop off – Sunday, April 30, 11am – 4:00pm
CLOSED Judging – Saturday, May 13
Award Ceremony – Sunday, May 14 from 3:00pm – 5:00pm, at the Fairgrounds. The location will be sent via email after the online registration deadline.

Entry fee is now only $10 per entry (currently the entry home page has the incorrect fee), and only one bottle per entry is required. Enter online at: https://sdhome.fairwire.com/

There is no limit to the number of entries, but wines cannot be entered in more than one class. You get TWO tickets to the awards ceremony per person entering (previously it was four), and you can only go to the awards ceremony if you have a ticket.

If you need a copy of the entry materials please contact us at http://sdaws.org/contact/

Good luck everyone! We hope to see lots of new SDAWS members winning awards!

Get an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look into the winemaking process at 12 Ramona Wineries held April 22 & 23! Details & tickets at https://ramonavalleyvineyards.com/2023-meet-the-winemaker-weekend/

When: April 22 & 23
Where: 12 Participating Wineries
What: Winemaking seminars & tastings followed by a Winemaker Q&A Panel
Tickets:

$25 for 1 day
$40 for 2 days
$30 add-on for dinner and Q&A panel

Details and tickets at: https://ramonavalleyvineyards.com/2023-meet-the-winemaker-weekend/

Ramona Valley Vineyard Association’s annual wine competition is up and ready to accept your wine entries! 

From the RVVA home page, click on upcoming events and select “2023 RVVA Wine Competition – or go there directly by clicking the link below. 

2023 RVVA Wine Competition

This competition is focused solely on wines made from grapes grown in San Diego County. All winemakers (professional and amateur) are invited to enter this annual competition, featuring the Lum Eisenman best in show trophy. Entry fee will be $45.00 per wine entered. Each entry will require the submission of two bottles with a maximum of four entries per winery/winemaker. 

The Key Dates:

May 13/14 & May 20/21, 2023: Delivery of Entry Wines – Rancho San Martin and Ramona Ranch Winery are the drop-off locations for your wines. (Contact drop-off location to arrange for other delivery dates.)

 -If neither location and/or dates will work for you, please contact us and we can work out alternative options for you.

May 22, 2023: Deadline for entries and delivery of entered wines

June 1, 2023:  Wine Judging 

June 4, 2023: Deadline for Banquet Reservations
June 11, 2023: Awards Banquet 12:00-3:00 pm

 The awards banquet will be held at the beautiful Lavender and Olive in Ramona. The competition wines will be available for sampling alongside a catered lunch. The awards banquet will run from 12:00-3:00 pm with awards being presented around 1:00 pm. 

Tickets are available for purchase today through the RVVA website, making it easy to enter your wines and purchase your tickets at the same time.  

47th Annual OC Fair Home Wine Competition hosted by the Orange County Wine Society (OCWS) is open for entries through May 26, 2023. Judging will take place June 10, 2023 and Home Winemakers will be notified June 19, 2023. More information is online at https://www.homewinecompetition.com/

California State Fair Home Wine Competition is now open for entries! Entries can be submitted through April 25, 2023. Judging is on May 20, 2023 with Awards Ceremony at the California State Fair on June 10th. More information online at https://calexpostatefair.com/participate/competitions/california-home-wine/