Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Wine Society

		AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY A non-profit corporation Northern Virginia Chapter
	“Wine is wonderfully wholesome for man in sickness and in health, provided that it is taken at the right time and in the right quantity to suit the individual needs.” -- Hippocrates, “Father of Medicine”

JANUARY MEETING:

In January, Rick Stafford took us to a United States wine region with which most of us were unfamiliar. After starting off with some pleasant social wines from South Africa, we quickly moved to Arizona, where we found quite a few pleasant surprises. Rick also provided good hand-outs and a great deal of commentary on the wines and region. Wines tasted (including the four social wines) were as shown in the table below.

As you can see, there was quite a selection, and each of the different blends proved to be quite unique. We concentrated on one winery and only the red wines. All the more reason to plan a trip to Arizona! Thanks again, Rick, for opening our eyes (and palates) to this new wine region of the U.S.A.

Year	Producer	Varietal	Appelation
2001	Flamingo Bay	Chenin Blanc/Sauvignon Blanc	South Africa
2001	Lammershoek Barrique	Chenin Blanc	South Africa
2001	Flamingo Bay	Cinsault/Cabernet Sauvignon	South Africa
2001	Lammershoek Barrique	Shiraz/Carignan	South Africa
1998	Dos Cabezas	Viognier Reserve	Arizona, Cochise County
2001	Callaghan Sonoita - Caitlin’s Selection	50% Cabernet Franc; 25% Merlot; 25% Cabernet Sauvignon	Arizona, Santa Cruz County
2000	Callaghan Sonoita - Buena Suerte	46% Merlot; 23% Cabernet Sauvignon; 23% Zinfandel; 8% Cabernet Franc	Arizona, Santa Cruz County
2001	Callaghan Padres	70% Tempranillo; 30% Petite Sirah	Arizona, Santa Cruz County
2001	Callaghan Back Lot Cuvee	50% Mourvedre; 36% Syrah; 14% Zinfandel	Arizona, Santa Cruz County
1999	Callaghan Claire’s Spirited Selection	Fortified Zinfandel/Cabernet Dessert Wine	Arizona, Santa Cruz County

FEBRUARY MEETING:

This meeting will be a bit different than our normal meeting formats. Dave plans to present different styles of wines with different types of food samples. Do all types of food go with all types of wine and vice versa? Which are the best combinations? Well, come on out and taste for yourselves. The meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 20, 2004 at St. Mary’s Church. The gathering will begin at 7:30 p.m. while the formal meeting should get underway at 8:00 p.m. Please RSVP if you are planning to attend. Since this type of meeting will be a bit more difficult to simply add on a few more participants at the last minute, please try to let me know if you will be attending prior to that Friday morning when I will begin the preparations! Call 703-941-2384 or complete the following RSVP form.

OTHER NEWS:

Don’t forget that our annual dues are collected. The cost is $8.00 per mailing address with no increase from recent years! If you haven’t already paid, please pay your dues at our next meeting, or mail your check, payable to "Northern Virginia Chapter – AWS," to Dave Barber, 4069 Championship Court, Annandale, VA 22003-2426.that our annual ‘mailing list’ dues are due. They are still only $8.00 per mailing address. Also, if you have not already paid them, National AWS dues are also required for 2004. Remember, the national by-laws require membership in National AWS if you are a member of a local chapter, and we are a local chapter of the American Wine Society, so, therefore, you should also be a National member. We always have applications at our meetings if you need one.

The 2004 Virginia Festival and Tour Guides are finally available. Be sure to pick up your copy the next time you visit a Virginia winery. We now have over 80 wineries in the Commonwealth! Once again, the Passport program gives you an added incentive to visit the wineries throughout the year. The program has been modified this year to require 25 or 40 stamps for your wine prize, but with all the new wineries, it shouldn’t be that much more difficult. This truly shows that we are a wine-friendly state.

See you on Friday, February 20th, or, looking into the future, at the March meeting on the 19th.

Cheers,
Dave Barber

P.S. Please feel free to forward this link to friends who share your interest in matters of the vine. Or, send northern-virginia-membership@aws-va.com their names to add to our mailing list.

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