President’s Letter

 

Thanks must go to our Vice President, Bob Long, and his hardy band of volunteers for making our Annual Tasting such a great success. Nearly ninety Napa Valley wineries poured a dozen varieties of their red wines other than Cabernet, donating at least a case of wine to do so. Thomas Keller had offered to donate the bread for winery tables, so we combined his Bouchon Bakery artisan bread with John Raymond’s selection of artisan cheeses and our volunteers could barely keep up with this successful pairing. We have several innovations in mind for next year, as Bob continues to chair this event.

Thanks are also due board members John Skupny, Allen Price and Julie Dickson for putting together our two seminars. Regrettably, John has announced that "Beyond the Cabernet Horizon" was his tenth and final Varietal Seminar. For a decade John assembled a diverse faculty for each Varietal Seminar, making sure each member was not only knowledgeable but also a good speaker, something we all have appreciated and will do our best to emulate. We will miss you, John.

Jeff Adams has also stepped down from the Board, after just three years. We were glad to have his help with both the Annual Tasting and our seminars, and hope to keep in touch with Jeff in his new position directing marketing for Chateau Montelena.

The St. Helena Historical Society invited our board and staff members to join their officers and members for Christmas cheer at the St. Helena Public Library, Tuesday, December 5. Such an occasion gives organizations like this one a great chance to become familiar with the resources, collections and pursuits of sister organizations. And, speaking of collections, we have a new collections policy in place. We will have accessioned the Nathan Fay material donated by Nathan’s widow, Mary Jane, with our recently adopted protocol before this year is out.

Here is to Harvest 2006, safely in, and to 2007 and all it may bring.

Kevin Alfaro, President