Wine Finders 1
One of several wine tasting groups for couples or single SIR. Host picks a wine varietal to be tasted, and each participant purchases a bottle of his choice of the same varietal. We do a blind tasting of all wines and vote on the winner. All in fun. Not real serious.
Members/spouses volunteer to hold the tasting at their home and they select the month they would like to host and the varietal to be tasted. So the venue moves around and we taste different wines from all over CA and the world. If you live in a small condo or apt. you can participate but are not expected to host.
Always interesting, educational and fun.
Members volunteer to host and a schedule for the year is produced and distributed to the members.
Wine Finders 1 meets on the 2nd Thursday of the even numbered months at the home of one of the group members. Members volunteer to host and a schedule for the year is produced and distributed to the members. We start at 6:00 PM and usually end by 8:00 PM. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Ron Smith or Tony de Losada.
Chairman: Ron Smith
925-314-3066
Asst. Chairman: Tony de Losada
510-566-2661
Scroll down to see upcoming event schedules, recent event reports and photos:
October 2024
Usually, we finish our tastings for the year in the month of October. But this is going to be one of those special years when we also schedule a HOLIDAY CHAMPAGNE TASTING.
ROB AND GAY LAABACK have offered to host the Holiday Champagne tasting on Thursday, December 12 at 7PM at their home in Walnut Creek. In the past, this has always been a great event to end the year. Everyone brings a bottle of their favorite Bubbly and an appetizer and we enjoy a beautiful evening of wonderful conversations, good champagne and appetizers.
Wine Finders 1 is a couples Activity that meets every other even month starting in February on the 2nd Thursday and then we meet in April, June, August, and October. Five tastings a year and in some years we add a 6th over the Holidays.
A different member hosts each tasting and they get to pick the varietal to be tasted. Everyone tastes, votes on their top 3 and then we rank them. The tastings are always fun and interesting. Of course, each couple brings an appetizer which provide more than enough great food. Some of us are serious about our tasting but the evening is always and casual with good conversation, snacks and of course wine.
If you don’t belong to Wine Finders 1,2 or 3, but are interested in learning more about our tastings, or starting a new group, etc,. Just drop Ron Smith an email and I will get back to you.
Special Note—In 2025 we will lose our Asst. Chair, Tony de Losada when he moves from the area. If you are interested in helping me run this activity, please let me know. Not a lot of work but important to help events run smoothly.
August 2024
Our August tasting was scheduled for Thursday, August 8 and the varietal selected by the hosts (Ken and Linda Stehr) was Merlot.
Well, what a tasting. The day started with an e-mail from Ken Stehr letting me know that Linda was ill and rather than take the risk of possibly exposing the group, they were cancelling the tasting. By then everyone had already purchased their wine and made their appetizer or at least had the ingredients. Judy and I talked and decided to let everyone know that it would be at our home. That was the easy part.
We started out with 2 Bogle’s and 2 Coppola’s and then due to a “correct” spelling that was auto-corrected by Word from Bogle to Noble, we ended up with 3 Bogle’s. Turns out that one of the Bogle’s was a different vintage. (How can one Bogle get 19 pts. and another get 2 points?) And there were two Francis Coppola’s. What a mess. Only 4 different wines out of 8.
So with all of that I’m sure you still don’t understand what is going on. That’s OK. And I apologized for not policing the input better, but I had no computer for 2 weeks prior to the tasting. No excuse. That meant we would be tasting only four different wines. Turns out that one of the Bogle Merlot’s was actually a 2019 and the other two were 2021.
If nothing else, it tells us a lot about the complexity of wine tasting and how varied the results can be.
BUT- as always we had wonderful appetizers, great company and conversations. It was the usual fun, interesting and educational evening for Wine Finders 1.
Thanks to you all for making it that way.
Special note – I just read Ken Stehr’s e-mail and Linda is doing much better.
Want to join us?
Members/spouses volunteer to hold the tasting at their home and they select the month they would like to host and the varietal to be tasted. So the venue moves around and we taste different wines from all over CA and the world. Always interesting, educational and fun. And everybody can’t host but you can join and taste.
If you don’t belong to Wine Finders 1,2 or 3, but are interested in learning more about our tastings, or starting a new group, etc,. Just drop Ron Smith or Tony de Losada, an email and one of us will get back to you.
In the meantime, enjoy your wine, whatever your choice..
Ron Smith, Chairman Wine Finders 1
Tony de Losada, Asst. Chair
July 2024
There was no tasting scheduled in July. Our August tasting will be at the home of Ken and Linda Stehr on Thursday, Aug. 8. They have chosen the red wine standard– “Merlot”. I am sure there will be a few surprises in store. Maybe even cooler weather. Watch for results next month.
Want to join us?
Members/spouses volunteer to hold the tasting at their home and they select the month they would like to host and the varietal to be tasted. So the venue moves around and we taste different wines from all over CA and the world. Always interesting, educational and fun. And everybody can’t host but you can join and taste.
If you don’t belong to Wine Finders 1,2 or 3, but are interested in learning more about our tastings, or starting a new group, etc,. Just drop Ron Smith or Tony de Losada, an email and one of us will get back to you.
In the meantime, enjoy your wine, whatever your choice..
Ron Smith, Chairman Wine Finders 1
Tony de Losada, Asst. Chair
June 2024
Malbec Tasting on June 13, 2024 at the Crowley’s
Well, that was really an interesting tasting and certainly unexpected, by me, from a bunch of Malbecs. But was I surprised. Overall I found the wines to be quite good and was generally surprised. Thanks Dan for selecting the varietal. Otherwise they would have remained on my “don’t bother” list.
The weather was cool so we stayed inside which really made a nice setting for sitting around, chatting and enjoying the wines and appetizers. We always have exceptional eats but this was a table full of the best I have enjoyed in a long time. Maybe it was because I skipped dinner. Thanks to everyone.
It was also one of the most lopsided tastings we have had (from a scoring viewpoint). The first place wine had 18 points and was a runaway winner brought by David Glazer and Helen Choi. The Casillero del Diablo Concha Toro, from Chile was only $12.99 at Bev Mo. The only wine not from Argentina.
David and Helen seem to come up with a lot of winners. You should go to Bev Mo or elsewhere and pick up a couple of bottles. I will.
The list of overall scoring and points, etc is attached for your enjoyment.
Master Wine Entry & Final RankingSheet – Copy
Our second tasting of the year was on Thursday, April 11, 2024, at the beautiful home of Helen Choi and David Glazer. Even with several couples either sick or unavailable, we had 12 enthusiastic tasters trying to sort through six Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio. Not as easy as it might sound. This is actually the same wine made from the same grape (Pinot Noir), but in Italy it has to be called Pinot Grigio. Elsewhere it can be either. It was a tough job working thru that many Pinot Gris/Grigio or any wine for that matter but somehow the group always gets it done. And the winning bottles go to Ken and Linda Stehr for their J. Vineyards & Winery 2022 Pinot Grigio-Calif. $15 and Safeway. And Ed and Vicky Kirschner with 2021 Mezzacorona from Italy. The big hit of the night was the home-made Pizza by David Glazer. His backyard, propane Pizza Oven really fires up and he made 2 delicious pizzas. One was Burrata cheese(outstanding) and the other a fruit pizza (forgot the name). All in all, even with 6 couples, we had a great tasting. Want to join us? Members/spouses volunteer to hold the tasting at their home and they select the month they would like to host and the varietal to be tasted. So the venue moves around and we taste different wines from all over CA and the world. Always interesting, educational and fun. And everybody can’t host but you can join and taste.
Updated 12/14/24 MLF
