Creative Spirits

Calling all home winemakers: The new millennium’s first amateur wine competition, presented by the Home Beer, Wine Trade Assn. and the Missouri Winemaking Society in St. Louis, is seeking submissions through Feb. 20.

The HWTBA 2000 Wine Competition is international in spirit with ferment-your-own entries coming from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The contest probably will draw around 500 challengers, including several from the Ventura County area, said John Daume, proprietor of Daume Winery in Camarillo and the Home Wine, Beer, Cheesemaking Shop in Woodland Hills.

Daume’s winemaking club put on the event last year and this year will again sponsor many area contestants.

There are categories for just about any wine type you can imagine. Sure, grapes. But some of the more fruit-some enthusiasts create the likes of pomegranate, apricot and berry wines, plus mead or honey wine.

“You can make wine out of just about anything,” Daume said. And at amateur competitions, you see “all the stuff that crazy winemakers make wine out of.”

Also prominent at amateur competitions are the more standard wine grape types, or vinifera, such as cabernet sauvignon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay. Some do-it-yourselfers grow their own small lot of vines, purchase grapes from other growers or buy their supplies at shops like Daume’s, which has been open since 1972.

The Home Wine, Beer, Cheesemaking Shop is one of the oldest of its type in the country and is just about the only game in town around Southern California. Daume caters to many home winemakers around Ventura County who shop for supplies of all kinds, including grapes, in season.

One of his patrons is Sam Villavicencio of Camarillo. When not on duty with the Ventura County Fire Department, Villavicencio is often found scrutinizing his works in progress. For this year’s event, he expects to go into battle with a Cabernet Sauvignon, merlot and Chardonnay.

In his six years of home winemaking--a hobby that began during a weekend winery tour when Villavicencio became intrigued by the science of winemaking--he has garnered top awards from the Ventura County Fair and other competitions. Villavicencio said he bottles about 30 to 35 cases a year and calls his handiwork La Cumbre Winery.

Home winemakers come in many types, from the obsessed soloist to ensemble-style, like Villavicencio, who shares his favorite pastime with an extended bunch.

“It has become a family gathering once a year when we do our bottling,” he said. “I have my in-laws, my folks, aunts and uncles, cousins. We all get together and have 25 to 30 people here at our house.”

At the HWTBA 2000 Wine Competition, amateur wares will be judged on a 20-point system. You earn points in categories such as color, bouquet and acid balance.

DETAILS

The Home Wine, Beer Trade Assn.’s 2000 Wine Competition is open to amateur winemakers 21 or older. All entrants must be sponsored by a retail member of the HWBTA. Area competitors can be sponsored by the Home Wine, Beer, Cheesemaking Shop, 22836-2 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills.

Entry fee: $7 per bottle. Entrance deadline: Feb. 20. Competitor’s wares will have to be received by that date at St. Louis Wine & Beermaking in Missouri. The event is being presented by the Home Beer, Wine Trade Assn. and Missouri Winemaking Society.

Sponsorship, entry requirements, shipping instructions and registration forms are available at the Home Wine, Beer, Cheesemaking Shop. You can reach owner Jim Daume at (800) 559-9922.

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How Sweet It Is: Here’s a chance for grandma’s famous rhubarb torte to earn national acclaim. Dezzerts.com is hosting an Online Dezzert Bake-off, which will treat five finalists to a “Culinary Getaway” at the Disney Institute in Orlando, Fla.

Got a favorite recipe you think will woo a team of discerning judges? Just sign on to https://www.dezzerts.com and fill out the online entry form. On the final day of their stay, finalists will re-create their chosen recipes for a panel of judges who will determine the winners. First place will receive $2,000; second, $1,000; third, $500.

DETAILS

Submissions to Dezzerts.com’s Online Dezzert Bake-off must be posted by midnight EST Jan. 15. Up to three original dessert recipes per person can be submitted online at https://www.dezzerts.com. Entrants must be 18 or older.