We’re lucky to have Chik Brenneman speak to us as Chik is a busy guy. Retiring from UCD Teaching and Research Winery in 2019, he is now back with a small, start-up winery: the Baker Family Winery. At UCD, Chik was principle to getting the Research Winery designed, built and operating. The winery currently crushes about 100 tons. Imagine simultaneous fermentations with, say, different temperatures and/or yeasts, and/or extended maceration times.
This meeting’s program will concentrate on Lab Techniques, mainly how to use a pH meter to measure grape juice and wine pH; how to measure Total Acidity (TA), and some comments on general lab practices as relates to our interests. You will see chemistry in action as there will be actual demonstrations! Equipment! Chemicals! Glassware! All in the name of better wine! Our speaker will be John Lyon, whom is a chemist and runs the Wine Lab in the heart of Sierra Moonshine. And, best of all, John is one of us, a SWGGA member.
It’s time to start preparing your vineyard for the coming season. Pruning, cleaning the spray equipment, mower servicing and much more. Ready for fertilizing and watering?
The February Zoom program will be about the two things your grape vines need, fertilizer and water. It won’t be long before you’ll be thinking about both. Macronutrients, think N-K-P, and the alphabet soup of micronutrients. And let’s not forget H-2-O! Needed to make W-I-N-E.
Sierra Starr’s Jackson Starr has agreed to share the ABCs of watering and fertilizing to maximize our harvests. This general Zoom meeting will be at 7:00 PM on Thursday, February 18th. Your Zoom invitation will bye emailed to all on that date.
We hope to see everyone then.
As we’re sure you’re aware, due to our new way of life, there will be no SWGGA Holiday Party this year, so we’ve decided to have a special Holiday Zoom Meeting on Thursday, December 17 at 7:00 PM.
Get your favorite Holiday sweater, ugly or not, a glass (or 2) of wine and join us for our Holiday Zoom Social. We all miss the social hour at our regular meetings, so we’ll do it via Zoom! Have a glass of wine and chat. Maybe we can get to know each other better, let everyone know how your 2020 wine is coming along, or ask some questions.
We’ll send out the Zoom invitation on Thursday the 17th, and hoping you can all make it.
The November SWGGA meeting will feature a presentation by Dave Elliott entitled “Techniques for Producing Port-style Wines in the Home Winery”. Three examples of a Port-style wine will be discussed and an opportunity to taste each wine in real time, and note the differences for yourself.
Twenty-five packets containing one and a half oz samples of each of the three wines along with slides will be available for our members to pick up from the Grass Valley UPS Store from Monday the 16th through Thursday the 19th, prior to the meeting. The samples are available to our members on a first come basis.
Our presenter for October will be Russ Warren of ACIC Cork & Closures. He’s extremely experienced in the world of corks, and is entertaining as well. You may change your attitude about something we sometimes take for granted.
A panel consisting of one professional and three home wine makers will each tell how they use sulfite in the making of their wines. Starting at crush, through the aging process, and finally at bottling. When do you add, how much to add, do you measure? If you use a formula, when do you deviate? Red vs. white? High pH vs. low? Let’s talk parts per million!
August’s meeting will be a (Virtual) Trip to Sierra Starr Vineyard and Winery.
We’re excited that Jack Starr of Sierra Starr Winery will be leading us on a virtual tour of their vineyard and winery at our August 20 regular meeting. Our Zoom meeting will start at 7:00 pm with information and business and then move in to the Starr program. Jack will be showing us his vineyard, his techniques for evaluating grape readiness and how he chooses the grapes to sample as he prepares for harvest.
Jon Smedberg will be our videographer and we will put together a video that we’ll show during the Zoom. Jack will also be available to answer questions from the group after we show the video.
We’re excited about this trip to the vineyard and hope that you will join us on this adventure!
Time: 7:00 PM on Thursday, August 20, 2020 The Zoom invitation will be emailed to you.
