President's Corner

Welcome to the 2008 Vintage and a new year for the Central Coast Home Vintners Association.  At the first board meeting of the year, your board elected new officers; it is an honor to have been elected by the board as your President for 2008 along with Hank Rickett, Vice President; Linda Thunen, Secretary; and Mary Michael, Treasurer.  The four of us along with the rest of board look forward to a great year and great wines from the 2008 vintage.  

The year started out great with our annual meeting in January at Avila Beach Yacht Club.  We had a great turn out and the food and wine was exceptional.  
A special thanks to Hank Rickett for planning and preparing the outstanding meal we all enjoyed.  

Your board of directors are planning year full of events and learning opportunities. I encourage each of you to take advantage of these opportunities, to have fun and improve your winemaking skills.  This newsletter features several events including Pioneer Park BBQ on May 17. On June 14, the club will host the Santa Barbara County Fair Home Winemaker’s Competition.  Details are in this newsletter.  I encourage you to enter your wines and get an evaluation of your winemaking skill.  The competition is also an excellent opportunity to volunteer. We always need judges, stewards and general help to make this a first class event, please consider helping.  

There is also an upcoming wine blending seminar and we are planning a tour of several home vineyards to look at the art of farming and growing great grapes, more details later. CCHVA is only as good as our members and the board solicits your comments on activities or events you would like to host or participate in.  

I would like to thank May Michael, past president, Jim Henry, treasurer and Joan Draile, board member for the outstanding job during the last two years.  They provided the leadership along with rest of the board to move the club forward, providing great opportunities to learn, buy quality grape and make outstanding wine.  Thanks for a job well done. 

One last thing, in the future all newsletters will be sent out by E-Mail.  If we do not have an E-Mail address we will continue to mail you a copy of the newsletter.  In order to keep our records current, I encourage you keep us informed of your current address, E-Mail address, phone number, use the sign-up form in the newsletter or get a copy from our web site at www.cchva.org. 

Looking at the local vineyards, the vines have leafed out and are flowering and I am already starting to plan my 2008 vintage and a great year of winemaking.  

"May you never want for good wine or good friends help drink it.”

Jim Ford

President 

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