AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY
A non-profit corporation

John Marshall Chapter


The best use of bad wine is to drive away poor relations.

– French Proverb


SEPTEMBER MEETING

Mike Schlosser gave a zinful presentation (yuck, yuck) as part of the National AWS program. Mike initiated the meeting with a quiz (thanks, Walt) covering many miscellanies items about the AWS founding and its growth over the years. A new twist was included in this year's tasting: we were asked to evaluate whether we agreed with descriptions provided by the wine maker and a reviewer. When the numbers were tallied, we found that 50% of us believed that the wine maker's and reviewer's opinions did not match the flavor and quality we found in the wine. Many commented that the descriptions seemed to be deliberately biased to sell the wine. After the tasting, Mike asked us to vote for our favorite wine of the evening.  However, the openness of the question led to an almost unanimous vote for the 1970 Mouton Rothschild (Bruce voted for Trader Joes mare – lott). The Zins that Mike presented were as follows.
 
Year
Producer
Region
Price
 1998 
 Vigil Vineyard 'Mohr-Fry old Vine'  Napa
   $18.99
1999 
 Seghesio Sonoma
$16.69
1998 
 Montevina Amador Country
$9.99
1998 
 Rodney Strong 'Knotty Vines' Northern Sonoma 
$16.99
1998 
 Chateau Souverain Dry Creek Valley
$13.99
1997 
 Burgess Napa
$19.99

 

OCTOBER MEETING

George Wilson will host his much-anticipated annual presentation of Gold-Medal-winning Virginia wines on October 7th at Heritage Hunt's Marsh Mansion in Gainesville. Several wineries will be in attendance. George will delight us with the following wines:
Gold medal in London Wine Festival ‘99
’97 Piedmont Reserve Chardonnay
Gold Medals in Virginia Governors Cup '99
’97 Whitehall Reserve Chardonnay
’98 Whitehall Gewürztraminer
’99 Whitehall Reserve Chardonnay
Gold Medals in Virginia Governors Cup '00
’99 Tarara Pinot Gris
’98 Rockbridge Tuscarora Red
’98 Whitehall Merlot
’98 Whitehall Cabernet Sauvignon
’97 Linden Fiery Run

The cost is $17 per person. The social gathering will commence at 6:30 pm with the formal meeting getting underway at 7:00 pm. If you need directions to Heritage Hunt ,please phone Georgeat 703-753-9023 or Mike Schlosser at 703-369-6416.
 

FUTURE MEETINGS

On November 4th, Rick Stafford will present sweet South Africa wines.  In December, we'll have Christmas with the Goshorns. Also, mark your 2002 calendars as follows:
 
Date
Host
Topic
January 6 Carl Brandhorst Maderia
February 3 Walt Rachele Ports
March 3 George Wilson 2001 Golds
April 7 Jerry Motter A Secret
May 7 Glenda Leister Cabernet Franc
June 9 Bruce Schaefer Consumer Reports Best Buys
July 7 Open  
August No Meeting  
September 8  Mike Schlosser  AWS National
October 6 Mike and Mary Anne Wassenberg Washington State
November 3 Ted and Catherine Goshorn  
December Open  


THIS YEAR'S HARVEST

There’s another saying that you can make bad wine from good grapes, but you can’t make good wine from bad grapes. The harvest of the 2001 vintage Virginia grapes is in progress as I write. This year is shaping-up to be a stellar vintage for Virginia wines. After the 2001 vintage wines are released and judged, George will have a conundrum on his hands: choosing which of the prize winners to present.
 

See ya on the 7th!

Smile . . .

Fletcher