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National Tasting Project
2011 National Tasting Project
Merlot, The Wine that Gets No Respect
The 2011 NTP is complete and the results are on pages 17-
18 of this issue of the AWS News. Thanks to Dennis Cassady
and his committee for puttin g together this great group of
wines and handling all the details of the presentation materials
and data analysis. We are delighted that a record nu m-
ber of chapters and members participated.
2012 National Tasting Project
Subtle and Soft, Pinot Noir
Selecting the varietal, Pinot Noir, for this coming year, came
from two directions. First, 2002 was the last time that variety
was t asted; secondly, the location of the 2012 N ational
conference, Portland, OR, cemented the choice. I am i n the
process of ass embling a cro ss country team to select the
wine for tasting. Not only will wines come from many regions,
they will also represent different wine making styles
for an educational opportunity to enjoy. Check out the NTP
page on the AWS website to track the team’s progress.
http://www.americanwinesociety.org/displaycommon.cfm?
an=1&subarticlenbr=54.
Rege Duralia
2012 National Tasting Project Chair
ntp@americanwinesociety.org
Nominations for National Officers
Treasurer’s Report
Sam Streiff
In last year’s Treasurer’s Report I commented
on the decrease in conference attendance
and membership that had occurred over th e
3 preceding years. I am pleased to report
that conference attendance rebounded for t he 2010 Ci ncinnati
conference and that membership has started to increase.
The Board reo rganized and reloca ted the nat ional office in
2010, hiring John Ham es as Exe cutive Director. Since then,
John has worked hard to red uce our expenses - questioning
every expense and trimming many.
The conference is currently the f inancial engine that drives
our organization, and sin ce the Cincinnati conference did so
well and since John has controlled our expenses so well, we
had over $54,000 of ope rating income for Fiscal Year 2011
which ended August 31st.
Thus, at the end of fi scal year 2011 the Society again has a
reasonable (but not large) “rainy day fund.” As we l ook forward
to fiscal 2012, we see that we again have good attendance
at the Rochester conference and our budget again calls
for a profit.
This spring the Board re emphasized the importance of
providing service to our curr ent and future members by hiring
a membership services manager. With her help, we look
forward to the chall enging task of increa sing our me mbership.
As always, we remain committed to the Society’s mission of
wine education and to informing other s of the benef its of
wine.
As I am reaching the end of my term as Treasurer, I want to
thank all of you for your support and assistance.
Sam Streiff
streiff@americanwinesociety.org
Financial statements on Pages 10-11
Do you know anyone who woul d make a good AWS N a-
tional Officer? How about you? In 2012 our membership
will be electing the following officers, for terms b eginning
January 1, 2013:
Secretary to serve a 3-year term (2013–2015)
Director of Education to serve a 3- year term (2013-
2015)
Nominations deadline is May 15, 2012
Please contact Willis Parker, Chairman of the Nominations
Committee at wparker@americanwinesociety.org or Joh n
Hames at executivedirector@americanwinesociety.com for
more information on the nomination process.
AWS Website Updates
www.americanwinesociety.org
Have you visited the AWS website recently? It’s going to have
a whole new look soon, so be sure to check it out.
The complete results from the 2011 Com mercial Wine Competition
have already been posted, along with information on
Award of Merit winner Gordon Murchie and Outstanding Member
Dave Barber.
More conference photos will be added soo n. Maybe you will
see your face on the net….
AWS News—December 2011
Page 9