BARBARA AND REX POUR WINE IN NAPA VALLEY RETIREMENT HOBBY What better way to celebrate retirement than to develop a wine making hobby.  Rex makes wine in the garage and is known to have taken over the kitchen on more than one occasion.  Barbara is the official taster (quality control) and label maker.  We make wine of professional quality but cannot sell it because we don't have a license.  Rex has been asked to be the winemaker at several commercial wineries in the United States, New Zealand and Australia but he's not interested.  He says it would take the fun out of retirement.  When Rex makes white wine with George Rammell and they enter competitions, they call themselves The Old Duffers. We do not grow any grapes, unless you want to count the one wild vine on the hill that one year Rex used the fruit to make a rose'.  But we do grow the fruit for our award winning elephant heart plum wine on the two trees in the backyard.  We get our grapes in a variety of ways ---  we pick the fruit, we pay to have the fruit picked,  we get crushed fruit in our garbage can fermenters, or fruit juice in 5 gallon carboys (already crushed & destemmed), frozen berries from the farmer's market, or fresh peaches from friends and family.  Fruit for our prize-winning peach wine came from Mom's peach tree.  Sadly, she passed in 2006 and the house and tree are no longer in the family.  Rex loves to experiment making many types of wine and the standing joke is "don't stand too close to him or he'll make wine out of you!"  Perhaps his desire to dabble is rooted in his former professional life -- he's a chemist. We get a kick out of people who say they don't like dessert wine.  Then they taste one of Rex's prize-winning dessert wine.  Many times the first comment we hear is "Oh my God." The next comment is "where can I buy this?"  They are disappointed when we cite the law:  homewinemakers can legally only make up to 200 gallons a year and they cannot sell it. To make good home wine, one must be prepared to spend some money for good fruit and processing equipment.  Then there's the cost of bottles, corks, foils, and labels.  Rex first made fruit and vegetable wines in the 1960's before he moved to California.  He let that lag then made wine back in the 1970's with two partners.  They failed to spend the money to do it right, and the results showed.  They ended up with bad wine and shortly abandoned their collaboration.  Rex didn't get back into wine making until 1999 and it's now his passion.	GOLDEN BEAR AWARDS - CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR                                   SAGA OF THE GOLDEN BEAR To be eligible for a Best of Show, a homemade wine must first get a Double Gold (all three judges rate it gold).  Prior to 2005, there was only one Golden Bear Award for Best of Show in the Home Wine Category.    Due to extenuating circumstances, no competition was held in 2005.    When it resumed in 2006, the rules changed and three Golden Bears were awarded: one for Best of Show Red, one for Best of Show White, and one for Best of Show Other.    In 2006, we won BOS White with our 2004 Yakima Valley Viognier and BOS Other with our Muscat Canelli Ice Wine.      In 2007, we won Best of Show White with our 2006 Old Duffers* Viognier and BOS Other with our 2005 Peach.    In 2008, the rules abruptly changed at the time of judging and the head of the competition decided he would no longer award a Golden Bear for Best of Show Other.   We protested because the rules as listed on the state fair website said that one would be awarded.  Reluctantly, the head gave in and awarded the third bear.     We won BOS White with our 2006 Old Duffers* Sauvignon Blanc and BOS Other with our 2006 Old Duffers* Sparkling.    In 2009, the head of the competition made sure the rules stated that there would be no Golden Bear for Best of Show Other.   His reason?  He said it cost too much and there weren't enough entries in the Other category to justify it.  With his decision, he basically eliminated a winemaker's chance at winning a Golden Bear if all he/she had to enter was a dessert or sparkling wine.   We went on to win BOS Other with our 2008 Red Raspberry and we got a plaque!  In 2010, the rules of the competition stayed the same - no Golden Bear for BOS Other.    We were very fortunate to once again win BOS White with our Bentley Cellars 2009 Gewurztraminer (Golden Bear) and BOS Other with our 2005 Golden Raspberry (Plaque).   We also got a Best of Class for our 2004 Petite Verdot and we were in the running for BOS red, but we didn't win it.      * Old Duffers winemakers are Rex Johnston and George Rammell
REX ON THE "HOT SEAT" REX ON PANEL AT WINE MAKER MAGAZINE  CONFERENCE The 3rd Annual Wine Maker Magazine Conference was held at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA, in May 2010.  Rex was asked to participate on the "Making Award Winning Wine" panel.  We got to wear "speaker's badges" and attend a private reception the evening before the conference started.  The others are the panel were two winemakers from the Silicon Valley area and a winemaker from Colorado.  Check out www.winemakermag.com for great articles on wine making.  You can also order CD's of the many workshops for all three conferences (2008, 2009, 2010), including the one in which Rex participated.  We enjoy meeting fellow winemakers and sharing experiences.  You never know when someone gives a tip that helps to make better wine!	2010 Wine Awards 2009 Wine Awards 2008 Wine Awards 2007 Wine Awards 2006 Wine Awards 2005 Wine Awards 2004 Wine Awards 2003 Wine Awards
PRESSING WHITE GRAPES IN AUGUST 2009 This photograph won an Honorable Mention in the 2010 Gunlach-Bundshu Poetry Contest. The theme was PASSION. GEWURZTRAMINER GRAPES FRESH FROM THE VINE	CLARIFYING THE CHARDONNAY IN AUGUST 2009 We belong to the Contra Costa Wine Group and the annual club competition and dinner is held in January.  All first place winners are asked to bring their award-winning wine and production notes to the February meeting.    We've ended up with so many categories we've now extended the program to include our March meeting! These notes are in Excel and it may take a wee bit of time to open the link. 2010 Wine Notes 2009 Wine Notes 2008 Wine Notes 2007 Wine Notes 2006 Wine Notes
Wine is bottled poetry. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson Joy is the best of wine. ~ George Eliot, Silas Marner From wine what sudden friendship springs.   ~ John Gay, Fables Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages. ~ Louis Pasteur If God forbade drinking, would He have made wine so good? ~ Cardinal Richeleu The best kind of wine is that which is most pleasant to him who drinks it.           ~ Pliny the Elder, Natural History It's impossible to separate a great wine from a great experience. ~ Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine	COLUMBIA GORGE - MAY 2010 In May 2010, we attended our third Winemaker Magazine Conference for Home Winemakers.  It was held at Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, WA.  This was the view of the Columbia River Gorge taken from our room. The clouds tell the story.  It rained and rained and rained.  The next day we headed east with a small tour group to taste Columbia Gorge AVA wines at four Washington wineries.  Thankfully we foundsome sunshine.  The following photos are from that trip.
SYNCLINE CELLARS, LYLE, WASHINGTON	THE BUILDING HOUSES THE TASTING ROOM AND THE PRODUCTION AND STORAGE AREAS
CHICKEN COOP IN THE SYNCLINE VINEYARD	A BABY BUNCH OF GRAPES FOR THE 2010 SYNCLINE HARVEST STARTS TO FORM OPPOSITE THE BLOSSOM
SYNCLINE BOTTLING LINE - LOOKS LIKE WHAT WE DO FOR OUR HOMEMADE WINE - A 2 PERSON OPERATION!	SYNCLINE WINES AVAILABLE FOR TASTING - ALL QUITE GOOD
COR CELLARS - LYLE, WASHINGTON	GOOD WINE DOESN'T HAVE TO BE SERVED IN A PRETENTIOUS SETTING!
COR VINEYARD	LUKE BRADFORD, OWNER, WINEMAKER, TASTING ROOM DIRECTOR!
VISITORS ARE GREETED BY THE COR WINERY DOG - SHE LIKES YOU TO THROW A TENNIS BALL FOR HER	WINDOW IN THE COR BATHROOM LOOKS LIKE A FRAMED PAINTING!
OUR SMALL TOUR GROUP WAS ORGANIZED BY CHRISTINA OF CELLAR CRAFT WINE KITS	MEMALOOSE WINERY, LYLE, WASHINGTON
MEMALOOSE TASTING ROOM - LIKE THE OTHER WE VISITED - IS ALSO THE PRODUCTION AREA	JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT YOUR READING GLASSES & CAN'T SEE THE SELECTION OR PRICES!
MT. HOOD IN OREGON PEEKS AT US FROM ACROSS THE RIVER	THE VIEW OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE IS SPECTACULAR FROM MEMALOOSE!
DELICIOUS PICNIC AT MEMALOOSE.	DOMAINE POUILLON, LYLE, WASHINGTON
JULIET POUILLON MANS THE TASTING ROOM	ALEXIS POUILLON CAN TELL YOU THAT RUNNING YOUR OWN WINERY IS A LOT OF WORK!
EVERY WINERY MUST HAVE A DOGGIE !	POTTY STOP BEFORE HEADING BACK TO SKAMANIA LODGE!