Friday, June 28, 2013

June 19, 2013 FBV Monthly Meeting

June 19, 2013  FBV Monthly Meeting
Minutes

Location: Falderal Winery in Hendersonville, NC.
Time: 6:30 PM.
Thank you, Paul Kovacich & Julia Newbold, for being our hosts once again!
Directions to Falderal Winery: 
The address for the Winery is 131 3rd. Avenue West Hendersonville, N.C.
From Asheville take 26E to the Hendersonville exit 49B Hiway 64W. Stay on 64W (Four Seasons Blvd.) until you come to Main Street. Then take a left on Main. The shop is on 3rd. Avenue West to the right off Main Street. There is some parking across from the winery at the bank parking lot and along 3rd. Avenue and also on Main. Make sure not not to park in any tow away zones. 
If you get lost call Paul at 828-693-7676.

Members-Wineries-Vineyards and Guests present with Hometown Region:
1- Alan Staton of Dalton's Corner Winery and Vineyard- Zirconia, N.C.
2- Chuck Blethen of Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard- Marshall, N.C.
3- Jeannie Blethen of Jewel of the Blue Ridge Vineyard-Marshall, N.C.
Jewel of the Blue Ridge link
4- Pete Fland of Bailey's Vineyard- Marshall, N.C.
5- Judy Fland of Bailey's Vineyard- Marshall, N.C.
6- Paul Kovavich of Falderal Winery- Hendersonville, N.C.
7- Julia Newbold of Falderal Winery- Hendersonville, N.C.
8- Bill Fish of Flat Rock, N.C.
9- John Kinnaird of Red Dog Winery and Vineyard- Swananoa, N.C.
10- Cynthia Yancey of Mars Hill, N.C.
11- Tom Mincarelli of Eagles' Nest Sustainable Micro-Home Winery and Vineyard- Black Mountain, N.C.

1- Meeting Minutes report by Tom Mincarelli from May 22, 2013 meeting at Bob Bowles:
*NOTE* FBV Monthly Meetings will now be on the Third Wednesday of each month unless rescheduled.  July 17, 2013 is the next monthly meeting and the location will be announced.
May Minutes were approved by all in attendance.

Our meetings are usually simple:
a- Business starts at ~ 6:45 PM.
b- Educational sessions are presented by a variety of experts usually in the wine and grape industry.
c- If you want a wine that you make or like to be evaluated or judged... bring some along with your favorite red or white wine glasses.
d- Pot-luck dinner is always optional if you want to stay and get to know us.

If you are not a FBV member you can still attend as a guest for two free meetings....hopefully you will want to join and become a FBV member!
Annual membership dues are only $25!

If you would like to host a meeting with the FBV at your location we would like to hear from you!

For more information or to make reservations/arrangements: 
Contact Chuck Blethen-VP of Public Relations @:  Chuck's email link

2- Treasurer report by Judy Fland:
FBV Account Funds are stable.
The survey request for members to voluntarily submit GPS, elevation and vineyard information has only had 4-5 reports turned in to date.

FBV Member & Guest Policies in Effect:
a- Fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
b- FBV member dues are $25 per year for a single person or couple membership.
c- Members joining the second half of the year only owe one-half  (50%) of dues or $12.50.
d- Members in "good standing" may have their winery/vineyard web/blog site link posted in the FBV monthly meeting report for each meeting attended.
e- Potluck dinners are always optional and are after the business part of the meeting schedule.
f- Guests may attend two complimentary meetings before they owe dues and become a full member.
g- Members may submit GPS and elevation information about their wineries and vineyards as well as information of their activities to the Treasurer for the database project.
 
h- Members must attend meetings to vote on FBV business or policy matters.

3- Presidents report by Alan Staton:

Alan had no news to report.

OFFICERS REPORTS:

4- Vice President of "Public Relations" report by Chuck Blethen:

Chuck reported that a organization out of Raleigh had contacted him to set a business venture with Chinese investors that are interested in:
a- Aronia Berries
b- Muscadines for wine, juice and extractions.
The group is interested in a working relationship with FBV and will pay dues to become and seek to purchase grapes and wine.  

Madison County extension office is finally listening to Chucks input on grape products.
Ross Young and Jim Beck will be meeting with Chuck to discuss how they can assist the grape growing venture in Madison County.
Local resistance has slowed the progress but may change soon.

Amanda Winery in the Boone area is selling all of it's winemaking equipment.
Equipment costs are around $50,000.
If FBV purchased the equipment where would it be stored?
How would the equipment be used by FBV and members?

5- Vice President of "Educational Activites" report by Paul Kovavich:
Paul is going to schedule an educational trip to a winery-vineyard with a wine lab that we may tour at Over Mountain Winery & Vineyard.
overmountainvineyards link
* NOTE* This optional event will NOT be held on a usual FBV scheduled monthly meeting date.


6- Old Business:                                                                                                       Tom asked if the FBV By-Laws were going to be completed soon. The members present decided to not amend the By-Laws at present.

7- New Business:
Annual Officer Elections were held and the new officers are:
President- Pete Fland
Vice President of Public Relations- Chuck Blethen
Vice President of Education- Alan Staton
Treasurer- Judy Fland
Secretary- Tom Mincarelli
The slate of candidates were approved unanimously by all members in attendance.
Thank you to all of the officers that served in the past year or more!

8- Good of the Order:

FBV will have onsite as well as offsite wine evaluation judges at the Asheville Wine and Food Festival on August 24th, 2013.
A FBV display banner will be made to display at the event with funds from the account.
An advertisement sign will also be made for the AB Tec. Winemaker Forum on November 9th that FBV will present to the public. 

A brief discussion about the "Best of the West" wine rating possibility.  The rating system will only disclose approved wines.
The actual areas to evaluate wines of North Carolina have not been decided on yet.

Wine Evaluation "flight" methods are still in discussion and some members would like a single varietal sampling done per evaluation session.

The upcoming next "wine evaluation" class on November, 26, 2013 will have both the Flavor-Aroma Chart and Davis Aroma-Flavor Wheel available for use.

9- Adjournment:  The meeting was adjourned with no objections.

10- EDUCATIONAL SESSION:


Tom Mincarelli demonstrated how the Vinmetrica SC-300 can test wine for Total SO2.

The previous May meeting  Educational Session demonstrated how the SC-300 can test for pH, TA and Free SO2.

The Sulfite Calculator is a simple yet very useful tool to quickly calculate the amount of sulfite needed to adequately protect wine.
The three recommended methods of determining how much and what type of sulfite should be added to wine for preservation using the Free Online Sulfite Calculator Application from WineMaker magazine was demonstrated.

The three commonly used forms of sulfite for wine protection are:
1- Campden tablet...limited to set small volumes of wine and less flexible.
2- Potassium Metabisulfite Powder...Must be weighed with an accurate scale.
3- A 10% solution of Potassium Metabisulfite and Distilled water... Is the most flexible application for adding sulfite to varying wine volumes.  A prepared volume of 1 quart of 10% K2SO5 and distilled water is easy to make. The amounts added to varying wine volumes are easy to calculate and measure by volume such as mL or ounces.

Potassium metabisulfite  (K2S205) is preferred over Sodium metabisulfite (NaS205) for health reasons.

WineMaker Magazine free on-line Sulfite Calculator link




Cheers soon! Tom Mincarelli