San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society (SDAWS)

03/22/2026

Grapes waking up in the mountains of San Diego County and 2025 wines still progressing

01/24/2026

Who's entering the WineMaker Magazine competition this year??

10/30/2025

Did you know we have discussion forums available on our website?

Winemaking: https://sdaws.org/forums/forum/winemaking/

Grape Growing: https://sdaws.org/forums/forum/grape-growing/

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06/13/2025

Congratulations to everyone that won awards in the Orange County Fair Homemade Wine Competition! Cheers!

05/18/2025

Congratulations to everyone that entered and won a medal!

The results of the 2025 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition are in! Congrats to all of the winners and thanks to everyone for entering! https://winemakermag.com/article/2025-winemaker-amateur-wine-competition-results

04/18/2025

SDAWS meeting April 05, 2025, Recap

The SDAWS meeting was held at Tre Sorelle Vineyard in Ramona on April 05, 2025.

In the meeting, Dan led us through an active discussion regarding the use of sulfites in wine making and a demo of testing sulfites using the Vinmetrica titration method. This led to a winemaking and growing grapes discussion with the members that was very interactive. We had about 20 people in attendance. We had Kim Whalin come to the meeting to tell us about the upcoming RVVA wine competition and Patty brought up the San Diego County Fair competition in hopes of getting more of our members to participate this year. Following the meeting, the members shared their own homemade wines, and we had a marvelous potluck. Rob shared some information about his vineyard and grapes, noting that they are for sale.

We would like to thank Rob de la Grange for hosting and Lori Hardesty for sharing her lovely home with SDAWS for this meeting.

Note:
Our next meeting will be at Dan’s place, Monarch Hill Vineyard, June 07, 2025, 11:00 to 2:00. More details to come.

04/17/2025

RVVA Presents: The 2025 Wine Competition
Featuring the Lum Eisenman Best in Show Award for commercial, amateur and vineyard!
The RVVA invites you to participate in its annual wine competition. This event is open to commercial and amateur wine makers. All wines must be made from grapes grown in San Diego County. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals will be awarded to wines during a double-blind judging.

RVVA Members receive 10% off of their first entry!
Each year, awards are chosen from entries of red, white, rosé, sparkling and dessert wines made from grapes grown in San Diego County. The RVVA Wine Competition (previously the Lum Eisenman/San Diego County Wine Competition) was created to give individual winemakers constructive feedback on their techniques and results and to improve winemaking throughout San Diego County.

Lum Eisenman was born and raised in Riverside, CA and migrated to Del Mar in 1971 with his wife. A physicist by profession, he was also an amateur winemaker from youth. Lum Eisenman became a mentor for San Diego vineyard owners, and the founder of the San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society. He has written dozens of articles, and The Home Winemakers Manual is considered an authority by many throughout the United States.

IMPORTANT DATES:
April 1: Entries go live
May 27: Deadline for Entries
May 17 & 18 and May 24 & 25: Delivery of Entry Wines (Contact drop-off location to arrange for other delivery dates. Deadline is May 26)
June 4: Competition Judging – Double-blind tasting with our elite panel of judges.

For further information about registration and who to contact, click the link below.
🍇🍇🍇
https://ramonavalleyvineyards.com/rvva-presents-the-2025-wine-competition/

04/12/2025

Good luck to everyone that entered!

02/13/2025

Thank you to everyone who attended our last meeting on February 08, 2025, at Hatfield Creek Winery in Ramona. We had about twenty-five members in attendance last Saturday, and it was a beautiful day and space for our meeting.
We started the meeting thanking and saying goodbye to Dane Marolt for being our acting President these past two years. Dan Matheson has graciously agreed to step into the role as the new president of SDAWS. We are still hoping to have someone in the group step up to fill the VP role vacated by Dan. Please reach out if interested.
Dan gave us an interesting presentation on malolactic fermentation. The members were engaged in active discussions and questions during and afterward on this topic as well as general winemaking. Steve shared that you could pick up liquid malolactic at Ballast Point Brewing Miramar. Patty brought information on the upcoming Winemaker Magazine Conference and wine competition to be held in Sacramento mid-May. We would love to have a table of San Diego folks at the conference to represent SDAWS.
Our membership signups are growing, and we have about two-thirds of our eighty-three members paid for 2025 or beyond. After the meeting, the members were treated to a tasting of all ten of the Hatfield Creek’s wines on the menu, and it was very much enjoyed by all in attendance.
Reminder that our next meeting will take place in Ramona on April 05, 2025, at a private vineyard, Tre Sorelle with Rob as host. Here we can bring our own wine and food, and a save the date will come out in March for this next meeting.
Cheers, and happy pruning to those of us that “get” to grow the grapes!
See you in April!

12/02/2024

Congratulations to member Don Nelepovitz for his role in this article in WineMaker Magazine on making award-winning red wines!

Three acclaimed amateur winemakers share their advice for making a red wine from a kit that will stand out in competition.

11/03/2024

The American Wine Society conference is underway! Any of our members attending?

Tonight kicked off with the First Timers Reception! Nearly 200 first timers this year. Couldn't resist getting a photo with them! Welcome, enjoy, hope you have an amazing conference!Shout-out to Danny, the guy in the tux who makes First Timers so much fun.