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| Robin, Mahogany Mountain Winemaker and Batwoman |
The theme of the evening was “The Plot Thickens, a Night of Mystery at the Library”. Many folks showed up in beautiful costumes. Some of the costumes were fantastic like the beautiful Batwoman and Robin who were gracious enough to pose for pictures. I also loved the costumes from the Sherlock Holmes worn by a lovely couple. There were two lovely young ladies dressed in Princesses costumes who stopped by and chatted with us about our winery. I would have loved to take a picture of Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind), in a beautiful dress with big hoop and beautiful straw hat.
As part of the fundraiser, six wineries in Ramona, including Mahogany Mountain Vineyard & Winery, Pamo Valley Winery, Chuparosa Vineyards, Woof’n Rose Winery, Kohill Winery, Edwards Vineyard & Cellars and Pyramid Vineyard & Winery, offered wine tastings and donated wines to the fundraiser volunteers for selling by the glass to raise funds for the event. Several party goers commented to us that they were astonished by the high quality of Ramona wines that were being offered for tasting. People from other towns told us that they did not realize there were so many wineries in Ramona. This gave us, winemakers and winegrowers, a chance to chat with the public about grape growing, handcrafted wines and wine making process. Some people were surprised to learn from me that in wine production, yeast converted the natural sugar in grapes to carbon dioxide and alcohol. They had thought that alcohol was an extra ingredient that was added to wines! Phew, I was glad to set the records straight on that. I told them that the amount of alcohol in a wine would usually depend on how much sugar is in the grapes when they were harvested. I further explained that the quality of the wines would depend on the grape grower’s and winemaker’s art (or skill) in finding the ideal time to harvest grapes – depending on the grape variety, region or terroir, winemaking style and a host of other factors.
It was truly a fun evening for a good cause! I was told that all proceeds from this event would be used solely for the daily operating expenses for the Intermountain Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department. With the fire season approaching, it felt good to be able to contribute to a worthwhile cause that would benefit the fire fighting force in the backcountry as the last two big county-wide firestorms had taught us that fires started from the remote areas could spread to the urban areas.
Carpe Diem! As Scarlett said, “After all... tomorrow is another day!”
