Official
Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Lafayette, CA
November 17, 2011 | VOL 66 | ISSUE 20
November 17, 2011 | VOL 66 | ISSUE 20
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President Troy Feddersen opened the meeting today at 12:33 pm. Bob Aguilar gave the thought for the day. |
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Guests: Joining us for today’s meeting was visiting Rotarian Ron Light and guests Rod Santos (our guest speaker), Mike Clancy, and Gloria Sandoval (from STAND!). |
Troy thanked all fellow Rotarians who came out to work on the Stage this week. Gloria Sandoval accepted a check from our club for $500 as a donation to STAND! For families free of violence and spoke for a few moments to give the club an update on STAD’s current mission. .John Sherry announced Rotary Day at the Races this upcoming Saturday. By a show of hands there will be approximately a half dozen club members planning to attend. Troy announced that we will celebrate Ed Stokes’ birthday on 12/1. Geoff passed around the signup sheet for the Holiday Lunch on 12/15. Troy announced that we have a special speaker coming on December 22nd – an inventor name Jim McGrath. Our holiday breakfast will be held on Monday December 19th at Oakwood at 8am. Our club will be dark on Thursday December 29th and the Gin Fizz party will take place on Friday December 30th at the Lafayette Chamber offices at 8am. Jay announced that Ron Brown from the Sunrise club called and they are in the process of cutting the check toward the Stage –the amount is expected to be around $4,500. Troy asked Ron Wake to give us an update on the Rotary Foundation and requested that our club continue to donate to the foundation and reminded us of the request that every Rotarian give at least $100 each year.
Fines and recognition:
Steve Falk was recognized for his 50th birthday and for his anniversary. Troy was recognized for his son Matt appearing in a Popular Science article. Bob was recognized for his recent vaction to Mexico. Greg Vaisnor was recognized for his birthday (though Greg made a contribution last week). Jay was recognized for being late in bringing back the raffle tickets and the spinning machine. Chuck gave $5 for the heck of it. Terry Ring gave happy dollars for everyone who came out to help with the Stage.
Today’s Speaker:
Our guest speaker today was Rod Santos from Wine Thieves to talk about wine, some history of the Wine Thieves, and to walk the club through a few wine samples that might be appropriate for Thanksgiving.
Rod poured a 2009 Waipara Valley Dry Riesling from New Zealand, commenting that it was bone dry with no sugar on the finish. This Riesling is a versatile food wine. We them moved to a 2010 California Xander Pinot Noir, followed by a 2009 Vina Robles Rhone blend, a red blend consisting of part Syrah and part Grenache.
Rod commented the he’s been with Wine Thieves for 12 years. The goal of Wine Thieves is to present wine and cheese in an unpretentious environment, to help encourage us as consumers to invite wine into our homes as a household item, rather than as a “luxury”.
Californians and New Yorkers, in general, tend to be among the higher wine consuming states in the US along with Connecticut and the city of Chicago. However, relative to the rest of the world, the United States is a light consumer of wine.
In 2011 the slow start to summer and the late summer rains contributed to a smaller grape harvest than in past years. Overall, the loss of crops this year was around 20% of the total – some grapes never fully ripened and some were lost to rot. Of the grapes that were harvested, the sugars were not balanced, making it more challenging for winemakers to deliver a quality product. While the low yields may contribute to upward pricing preswures, the slow economy will act as a damper on wine prices.
In response to a question about the unseasonably cool weather this year, Rod noted that the poor weather impacted red and white varietals: Red wines such as Pinot Noir come from grapes that grow in tight clusters, which are more susceptible to rot due to the cool moist weather. Whites were taken off the vine sooner, so while less affected by the late rains, the cool weather may not have allowed the grapes to reach full ripeness.
In response to other questions about storage of wine, Rod noted that in general, white wines can be stored and aged for 1-5 years, while reds can age well up to 10 years. Wines should be stored in cool, moist and dark environments and kept below 65 degrees. Once opened, wine should be consumed within 3-4 dyas, and, once opened, it is best to stopper the wines, and to remove the air from the bottle (either through a vacuum pump or by using a nitrogen infuser) to help the wine last longer.
A aerator (or “Vinturi”) is encouraged and is a very effective means of getting a “tight” wine to open up, thorough the introduction of air as the wine is poured. The funnel design of the Vinturi helps to “swirl” the wine through the mechanism, and the flow of the wine creates a carburetor effect, pulling in air through the small air openings
The name Wine Thieves is a play on words – one part is tongue in cheek, due tio their relentless search in seeking out and negotiating for good values in wines. The second is that a wine “thief” is an implement used to draw wine samples from the wine barrels.
Raffle:
Today’s raffle was for $75. Alica won $2 , and Peggy Harbarth won the jackpot. Congratulations Peggy!
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Rotary race day at Golden Gate Fields
Notes
by Geoff Zimmerman | Photo John Sherry