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.