American Wine Society Merit Award for Joel Peterson, the Godfather of Zinfandel and Founder of Ravenswood Winery - 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA

The American Wine Society 2023 National Conference was held November 9-11, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency at The Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.  

4 Tastings

Annette Schiller, President of ombiasy WineTours and member of the American Wine Society, led 3 wine tastings at the 2023 National Conference of the American Wine Society: 

Kékfrankos - Blaufränkisch - Lemberger: A Grape’s Immigration Story From Central Europe To The US West Coast

Dive Deep Into Burgundy With Louis Jadot (jointly with Thibaut Marquis, North America Export Manager, Louis Jadot)

A Journey Through The Loire Valley 

In addition, Annette and I had a table with German wines at the "Showcase of Wine" evening.

Also, during the whole conference, Annette and I had an ombiasy WineTours booth promoting Annette's wine tours to Germany, France and Austria.

American Wine Society 2023 National Conference

More than 400 members from all over the USA came to this 3-day event, filled with tastings, seminars and presentations.

Thursday was the day of wine judging. There were full-day courses for those who want to become a certified AWS Wine Judge. This is a 3-year program. Also, the Amateur and Commercial Wine Competitions continued on Thursday, starting earlier in the week.

Friday and Saturday was filled with about 50 wine seminars, led by winery owners, wine educators, and renowned winemakers. The breakfasts, lunches, dinners and after-dinner gatherings provided ample opportunities to network with other AWS members.

All of the pictures in this posting are mine.  

Postings on schiller-wine

This is the 9th in a series of postings related to the American Wine Society National Conference 2023 St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA:

Announcement: 56th American Wine Society National Conference, November 9-11, 2023 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, with 3 Presentations by Annette Schiller: (1) Kékfrankos - Blaufränkisch - Lemberger (2) Dive Deep Into Burgundy With Louis Jadot (3) A Journey Through The Loire Valley

The 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA: Seen Through Christian Schiller's Camera Lens

Kékfrankos - Blaufränkisch - Lemberger: A Grape’s Immigration Story from Central Europe to the US West Coast - Seminar at the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA led by Annette Schiller

Dive Deep Into Burgundy With Louis Jadot - Seminar at the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA led by Thibaut Marquis, North America Export Manager, Louis Jadot, with Annette Schiller

A Journey Through The Loire Valley - Seminar at the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA led by Annette Schiller

German Wines at the American Wine Society: Tasting Premium German Wines from the Veritable/ USA Portfolio at the Showcase of Wines of the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA with Annette and Christian Schiller

Private Tasting of Premium Wines (mainly Bordeaux and California) at the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA with President Bill Stefan 

American Wine Society Merit Award for Joel Peterson, the Godfather of Zinfandel and Founder of Ravenswood Winery - 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA

McLean (Virginia) - Springfield (Ohio) - St. Louis (Missouri) - Memphis (Tennessee) - Nashville (Tennessee) - McLean (Virginia): On the Road to and from the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference

An Evening on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, the Home of the Blues and the Birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll - Going back to Virginia after the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA

An Evening in the Honky-Tonks of Nashville, Tennessee - Going back to Virginia after the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA

The American Wine Society

The American Wine Society was founded in 1967 as a non-profit, educational, consumer-oriented organization for those interested in learning more about all aspects of wine. On October 7, 1967, around 200 grape growers, home winemakers, and wine lovers gathered at Dr. Konstantin Frank’s vineyard on Keuka Lake near Hammondsport, NY for the AWS’ initial meeting.

In December of the same year, the thirteen charter members, led by Founder Dr. Konstantin Frank, met to determine the organization structure of AWS and elect officers. Now in its 49th year, the American Wine Society is the largest consumer based wine education organization in North America. Membership is open to anyone interested in wine and over 21 years of age.

In the early days, AWS members were located primarily in the eastern part of the country. As the society grew , we established chapters throughout the eastern U.S., then into the south and Midwest, and finally into western states. Today, the American Wine Society has over 5,000 members in 45 states and 120 chapters across the U.S.

Each November the Society hosts a three-day national conference with two full days of nearly 50 educational seminars to choose from. Winery owners, wine educators, and renowned wine makers are selected to present sessions during this national event. In addition, a program educating members to become AWS certified wine judges is conducted on the day preceding the seminars.

American Wine Society Merit Award for Joel Peterson, the Godfather of Zinfandel and Founder of Ravenswood Winery

A very special moment of the 2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA was when Joel Peterson, the Godfather of Zinfandel and Founder of Ravenswood Winery, received the American Wine Society Merit Award 2023 during the Grand Banquet on Saturday evening.

Joel was accompanied by his son Morgan, the winemaker and owner of Bedrock Wine Co. in Sonoma, CA - a winery dedicated to preserving and rehabilitating old vineyards across the state of California.

Joel Peterson/ Ravenswood/ Once and Future Wine Company

Joel Peterson: In late 1972 I met Joe Swan and was given an extraordinary chance to learn the art of winemaking. I was a complete novice when it came to the craft but not when it came to wine.

I grew up in a household of two chemists: my mother Frances, who trained as a nuclear chemist worked on the Manhattan project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and my father Walter, who was employed as a physical chemist at Shell Development in Emeryville, California.

After my brother and I were born my mother took those meticulous science skills and applied them to cuisine (later doing much of the recipe testing for Alice Waters’s original Chez Panisse cookbook). Fittingly, my father became wine obsessed, eventually writing one of the first wine newsletters in the San Francisco Bay Area called The San Francisco Wine Sampling Society.

With this as a childhood backdrop, I learned about the pleasures and complexities of food and wine at a rather early age, along with a healthy love of science.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, with the California wine business still recovering from the hangover of Prohibition and offering few options of high quality wine (with some notable exceptions) my parents’ taste, and as a result mine, was informed by European wines. Many of the best were from single vineyards growing grapes that were perfectly matched to site, made by a person who had special insight into that location and a deft touch with the process. I learned that the most interesting wines were generally made in fairly small lots, frequently relying on native flora for fermentation and more often than not, stored in wooden cooperage for some period of time to mature and concentrate before bottling.

When Joe Swan took me under his wing in the early 1970’s, his fastidious winemaking techniques played out the theories of my tasting experiences with real-world creation. Grapes from carefully selected and cultivated vineyards were harvested at ripeness but not over ripeness. They were fermented in small 3 – 4 ton open top redwood fermenters and punched down by hand. The processing was minimal and the storage in small, newly imported French oak cooperage.

Although Joe wanted to specialize in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, he practiced his early winemaking with Zinfandel. As the four subsequent decades have shown, these turned out to be some of his best wines. It was those first Joe Swan wines that made me fall in love with Zinfandel and, in particular, with older vines. I saw these as the most European grapes in California. Mostly planted in the right locations, frequently mixed with other varieties, generally dry farmed, moderate in production (2 – 3 tons per acre), head pruned and specific to California. And, when treated with respect, the vineyards made magnificent wine that improved with age.

When I started Ravenswood in 1976, I wanted to focus on Zinfandel. I planned to make single vineyard wines in a somewhat gothic, old world style. It was my hope to make wine similar to that made in Europe but with a Californian twist. Small open top, redwood fermenters, hand punch downs, extended macerations, native yeast, gentle transfer, minimal processing and small French oak aging – all done by hand. I thought the winery, if I were lucky, would grow to six or seven thousand cases.

For a number of reasons, mostly dealing with the hard realities of cash flow and distribution and the necessity of equity partners, I found myself unable to make that vision a reality. Though I was able to make single vineyard wines that I hope helped redefine the qualitative ceiling of California’s old vines, Ravenswood also started to make a wine called “Vintners Blend” that proved immensely popular. Starting in 1983, seven years after the first vintage, Ravenswood began to grow. Over the following three decades its annual production kicked up to nearly one million cases, at one point becoming the bestselling red Zinfandel brand in the world.

Along the way, I have watched and participated in the growth and maturation of the California wine business. I have seen the general sophistication of the growing wine consumer population. I have had the pleasure to work with some of the best, most talented and nicest people in the wine business. I have travelled to and sold wine in most of the wine drinking countries of the world. I have had the pleasure to taste some great wines. I have been a Sole Proprietor, a General Partner in a Limited Partnership, the President of both a C Corporation and a publicly traded corporation and a Senior Vice President at Constellation Wines. I have been the President of Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers. I helped found ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) and have had the opportunity to be its President two times. I sit on the Board of the Sonoma County Vintners. Somehow, fellow industry members gave me honor of being inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame. I support and consult with the Historic Vineyard Society.

Perhaps best of all I have a son, Morgan Twain-Peterson, who has chosen winemaking as his career and runs the highly innovative and successful Bedrock Wine Company.

I have definitely learned a thing or two about vintage variation both in the vineyard and in life. I am enormously proud of the wines I made at Ravenswood, from those wines that hopefully sing of place- Old Hill Ranch, Dickerson, Belloni, Barricia, Teldeschi—to the more economical wines that hopefully helped turn a couple of generations of people onto the joy and deliciousness of well-wrought wine. However, after nearly 45 years in the wine business, I feel it time to look backwards.

Once and Future Wine Company is a return to the original vision I had for Ravenswood so many years ago. A project that specializes in wines from special vineyards made with a sensitivity to place and in a style that I personally love and believe in. Wines that force me to dust off the old redwood vats and get out a new punch down tool (my original is in the Smithsonian), wines that dye my hands that harvest shade of black/purple and sometimes force me to take an additional Advil some mornings. In short-wines of sweat, exertion, and love.

Annette and Christian Schiller with Joel Peterson

Annette, Joel and I go back a number of years, to the 2016 American Wine Society Conference in Coasta Mesa, California. 

2023 American Wine Society National Conference in St. Louis/ Missouri/ USA

American Wine Society National Conference 2022 in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State

See: The American Wine Society National Conference 2022 in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State - Seen through Christian Schiller`s Camera Lens

2018 American Wine Society Annual Meetings in in Buffalo, New York State 

See: The 2018 American Wine Society National Conference in Buffalo, New York State, USA: Seen Through Christian Schiller's Camera Lens

2017 American Wine Society Annual Meetings in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania

See: The 2017 American Wine Society National Conference in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, USA: Seen Through Christian Schiller's Camera Lens

 

2016 American Wine Society Annual Meetings in California

See: The 2016 American Wine Society National Conference in California, USA: Seen Through Christian Schiller's Camera Lens  

Annette Schiller's Presentations at the American Wine Society National Conference 2022 in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State

The American Wine Society National Conference 2022 in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State - Seen through Christian Schiller`s Camera Lens

The End of the "Grosslage" in Germany - Seminar about the new German Wine Law of 2022 at the 2022 American Wine Society National Conference in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State, led by Annette Schiller

Towards the Freedom to Make the Right Wine - Seminar at the 2022 American Wine Society National Conference in Bellevue/ Seattle, Washington State, led by Annette Schiller

Annette Schiller's Presentations at the American Wine Society National Conference 2021 in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Annette Schiller`s 3 Presentations at the American Wine Society National Conference 2021 in Atlantic City, New Jersey: Sparkling Wines, Austria, Bordeaux

All Sorts of Sparklers: How do the Bubbles get into that Bottle? - Presentation by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, at the 2021 American Wine Society National Conference in Atlantic City

The Wines of Austria - Presentation by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, at the  2021 American Wine Society National Conference in Atlantic City

Good Value Bordeaux Wines: Discover the Petits Châteaux - Presentation by Annette Schiller, ombiasy WineTours, at the  2021 American Wine Society National Conference in Atlantic City 

Annette Schiller's Presentations at the 2018 American Wine Society Annual Meetings in in Buffalo, New York State

The 2018 American Wine Society National Conference in Buffalo, New York State, USA: Seen Through Christian Schiller's Camera Lens

VDP at AWS: Tasting Premium German Wines at the Showcase of Wines of the 2018 American Wine Society National Conference in Buffalo, New York State, with Annette and Christian Schiller

"Abbey Wines”: The Importance of the Monasteries for the Development of Viticulture - Seminar at the 2018 American Wine Society National Conference in Buffalo, New York State,USA, led by Annette Schiller

Burgundy Pinot Noir and German Pinot Noir: Differences and Similarities - Seminar at the 2018 American Wine Society National Conference in Buffalo, New York State, USA, led by Annette Schiller

A Journey through the Rhône Valley - Seminar at the 2018 American Wine Society National Conference in Buffalo, New York State,USA, led by Annette Schiller

Annette Schiller's Presentations at the 2017 American Wine Society Annual Meetings in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania

The 2017 American Wine Society National Conference in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, USA: Seen Through Christian Schiller's Camera Lens

Showcase of Wines at the 2017 National Conference of the American Wine Society: Annette and Christian Schiller Present German/ VDP/ Loosen Bros. USA Wines

A Journey through the Vineyards of Alsace - A Tasting Seminar at the National Conference 2017 of the American Wine Society, led by Annette Schiller (ombiasyPR & WineTours)

Burgundy: What makes it so Special? - A Tasting Seminar at the 2017 American Wine Society National Conference in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, led by Annette Schiller (ombiasyPR & WineTours)

German Wines in the 21st Century - A Tasting Seminar at the 2017 American Wine Society National Conference in in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, led by Annette Schiller (ombiasyPR & WineTours)

Annette Schiller's Presentations at the 2016 American Wine Society Annual Meetings in California

The 2016 American Wine Society National Conference in California, USA: Seen Through Christian Schiller's Camera Lens

The New Germany: Red, Sparkling and Dry - Tasting at the American Wine Society 2016 National Conference in Los Angeles, USA, led by Annette Schiller

The New Classification of German Wines: The VDP Classification - Annette Schiller Conducting a Seminar at the 2016 National Convention of the American Wine Society in Los Angeles, USA

The Insider’s View of Charles Krug Winery - Peter Mondavi Jr., Co-Proprietor, Charles Krug Winery

Château Climens, Premier Cru Barsac and Savory Dishes…who knew? - Bérénice Lurton, Owner of Château Climens and Tony Lawrence, Global Food & Wine Pairing Specialist