Dear Growers, Producers and Friends,
I am writing to let you know about recent and upcoming TAPAS events, and again encourage you to become a member of TAPAS.
With close to 80 members, TAPAS (http://www.tapasociety.org/) is to American growers and producers of Iberian grapes and wines, what the Rhone Rangers and ZAP are to their constituents. Already TAPAS has, through several educational programs, publications, and wine tastings, promoted our products to thousands of trade professionals and consumers.
Annual membership meetings are held every January in Sacramento, in conjunction with the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium; as you know this event is organized by the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) and the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), and is the largest wine and grape trade show in the nation.
Most recently, TAPAS hosted its second annual Grand Tasting on June 14, 2009 at Fort Mason in San Francisco. The event started at 10:30 am with a trade seminar and guided tasting of Tempranillo and Albarino, and the afternoon featured walk-around tastings for the trade and consumers, with 37 TAPAS member wineries and growers participating. Food was provided by Marco Paella and The Spanish Table. Over 300 people attended the event. Our plans are to present another Grand Tasting in San Francisco, tentatively set for June 2010.
Other notable TAPAS activities have included:
· Seminars at the Society of Wine Educators Annual Conferences in Monterey (2007) and Sacramento (2009).
· Featured speakers, Earl Jones of Abacela and Markus Bokisch of Bokisch Ranches, at the UC Davis “Grapes of Iberia” seminar in May 2009.
· First annual Grand Tasting at COPIA in Napa, August 2008. This two-day event included a press and media luncheon, trade tasting and seminar, and consumer tasting and seminar.
· Tempranillo! Seminar at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in 2008, sponsored by Duarte Nursery, a TAPAS Grower. Featured speakers and participants included Markus Bokisch, Bokisch Ranches; Abacela Vineyards; Scott Klann, Twisted Oak Vineyards; Pablo Rubio, Laboratorio Rubio Yeramian, Spain; and Jesús Yuste, Instituto Technologico Agrario de Calstilla y Leon, Spain.
One purpose of this letter is to recruit you to become a member of TAPAS. As the American trade Association of Iberian varietal growers and producers, TAPAS believes its membership has the passion, ability, and other resources -- in short, the collective power -- to increase the popularity and sales of domestically produced Iberian varietals and wines. This is a lofty goal but the combined forces of like-minded growers and producers are very strong and convincing. With intelligent application of our collective power through carefully chosen educational, promotional and public relations events (like those mentioned above), the interest in, demand for, and consumption of these wines can be greatly enhanced. Join TAPAS and help put the spotlight on domestically produced Iberian grapes and wines.
If you agree, then download the application form:
www.tapasociety.org/tapas_grape_exchange/join-tapas.html and mail it with your check for $100 (the three classes of membership; Winery, Vineyard, & Amigo all pay the same dues), to Les Martin, Treasurer, Red Lily Vineyards, 11777 Highway 238, Jacksonville, Oregon 97530. (Or pay online.)
Sincerely,
Heidi L. Stine
Heidi L. Stine , CSW
Executive Director, TAPAS
P.O. Box 86638
Phoenix, AZ 85080-6638
480.330.3766 cell
hlstine@cox.net
www.tapasociety.org
www.societyofwineeducators.org
TAPAS is a non-profit trade association incorporated in 2006 under section 501(c) (6) of the Internal Revenue Code, with its base of operations in San Luis Obispo, CA. See http://www.tapasociety.org/. TAPAS’ mission statement is: “To promote Tempranillo and other varietal wine grapes native to the Iberian Peninsula and wines produced from them in the United States.”
