Happy Chinese New Year!  2020 ushers in the Year of the Rat,  for those born in 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 and 2008. “Rats” are leaders, pioneers and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are the most highly organized, meticulous, and systematic of the twelve signs. To honor the Rats among us (and everyone else) we will be holding our annual banquet with a return visit to Han Dynasty, located in the Sawmill Village Plaza in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a mere 5 minutes from our usual meeting place at Lamberti’s. Now with 6 locations, Han Dynasty enjoys a fantastic reputation for food, with the flagship location in center city Philadelphia garnering a coveted 3 Bells from Craig LaBan of the Philadelphia Inquirer. For those fearful of spicy food, there will be dishes in a range of heat, from none to spicy. We will be pairing the food with some excellent, easy drinking, great value German wines. Food will be served family style, as is typical at a Chinese banquet. The chef has asked that I let the restaurant know of any food allergies, so please include that information in your RSVP. Bring a hearty appetite, and plan to join us for a great evening. For those of you who have not yet forwarded your 2020 dues, we ask that you do so as soon as possible. Dues are $35.00 for individual or couple memberships. Checks payable to the German Wine Society can be mailed to 24 Shadowstone Drive, Blackwood, NJ 08012. Your dues must be current for you to attend events at the member rate.

Our wines for the evening will be:

2016 Messmer Spatburgunder

2018 Darting Durkheimer Fronhoff Riesling Kabinett Trocken

2018 Braunewell Scheurebe Halbtrocken

2018 Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten Riesling Kabinett

2018 Jakob Schneider Riesling Kabinett

DATE: Wednesday, February 19th
TIME: 7:00 p.m. PROMPTLY
PLACE: Han Dynasty  
Sawmill Village Plaza, 404 Route 70  
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034  
(856)  428-0088

COST:  Couple Members and Single Members with one guest, $50.00 per person; Non-members and additional guests, $57.50 per person, ALL INCLUSIVE (food, wine, tax and gratuity).
RESERVATIONS: Via reply to this e-mail or call 856-228-7330 and leave a message no later than noon on Monday, February 17th.. Payment at the door via cash or check payable to the German Wine Society is fine, but you MUST reserve in advance – no walk-ins allowed as the restaurant has allocated our space. Any reservation requests received after the cut off date will be accommodated at the discretion of the restaurant management.

I look forward to celebrating with you on February 19th.

All Society members and guests are reminded that alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication and therefore Society members and their guests are expected to drink in moderation at Society events. We suggest those attending either utilize designated drivers or other modes of transit where available, or mostly taste rather than consume alcohol when such drivers or alternative means of transportation are not available.

Beth Sheligo
Chapter Chairperson

Our next tasting will be led by Michael Lykens, Assistant Portfolio Manager for Terry Theise Estate Selections at Michael Skurnik Wines. Those of you who attended Mike’s tasting last year will remember what a knowlegable and entertaining presenter he is, those of you who have not, please join us fpr what will be a highly enjoyable event. We are excited to present a sampling of the 2018 vintage portfolio of Terry Theise, from which we have thoughtfully curated some of the top values from his top estates to pour. Come and taste for yourself the depth and breadth of the wines across regions, pradikats and grape varieties. The list of wines follows:

2018 von Winning Estate Riesling Trocken
2018 Darting Durkheim Muskateller Trocken
2018 Minges Scheurebe Feinherb
2018 Strub Niersteiner Hipping Thal Riesling Feinherb
2018 Donnhoff Kreuznacher Krotenpfuhl Riesling Kabinett
2018 Spreitzer Oestricher Lenchen Riesling Kabinett
2018 Selbach-Oster Graacher Domprost Riesling Spatlese
2018 Meulenhof Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese #30

The tasting will be held at the award winning Caffe Aldo Lamberti in Cherry Hill , NJ . Recently honored by the Wine Spectator for their wine selection, our Chapter has enjoyed the wonderful service and outstanding food at this location for the past several years. For this event, a cold anti pasta, hot appetizers and pasta served family style will be included with the tasting. Please plan to join us and welcome Mike Lykens back to our chapter for this very special event.

DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 2020
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
PLACE: Caffe Aldo Lamberti
2011 Route 70 West
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
856-663-1747

PRICE: Couple Members and Single Members with one guest, $50.00 per person; Non-members and additional guests, $57.50 per person.
RESERVATIONS: By e-mail to bsheligo@germanwinesociety.org or call 856-228-7330 and leave a message by noon on Friday, January 3rd. While it is possible to check space availability after January 3rd, we cannot guarantee that space will be available. Please let us know of your intention to attend at your earliest convenience. Payment at the door by cash or check payable to German Wine Society is acceptable, but you MUST reserve in advance – no walk-ins. Please make your reservation today to avoid disappointment.

DIRECTIONS:

From Philadelphia and points West, take the Ben Franklin Bridge , and exit from one of the two left lanes. Follow signs to
Routes 30 – 130; stay in one of the two left lanes. Two miles East of the Bridge, the highway divides at the top of a ramp. Bear left, towards Routes 38 & 70. At the bottom of the ramp, move over one (or two) lanes to your right, to stay on Route 70 East. Go straight for three miles; 1/4 mile before you come to the restaurant, you will see a sign for Grove Street . Lamberti’s is on your right on Route 70 at the Grove Street turn. (Traffic is normally light on 70 East from the Bridge to Grove St. , and the normal ride is 7 minutes.)

From NJ or points South, take Route 295 North to Route 561, Haddonfield/Gibbsboro, and turn left towards Haddonfield.
Follow 561 until it ends, at the former Kress Liquors. The road will fork to your left; stay in the right lane and bear left onto Potter Street . Follow Potter to the light at Kings Highway , then jog across onto Grove Street . Stay on Grove Street through Haddonfield, and across the bridge over Cooper River . As you are approaching the intersection of Grove Street and Route 70, right before 70 you will see a sign on your left for Commerce Bank. Turn left into the bank parking lot, and continue straight past the bank into the back parking lot at Lamberti’s .

Beth Sheligo Chapter Chairperson

All Society members and guests are reminded that alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication and therefore Society members and their guests are expected to drink in moderation at Society events. We suggest those attending either utilize designated drivers or other modes of transit where available, or mostly taste rather than consume alcohol when such drivers or alternative means of transportation are not available.

The San Francisco Chapter of the German Wine Society’s next event will be a festive evening featuring Holiday Samplers of Sparkling and Stickies (Sekt wines and sweeter wines).  During the event, we will also hold our Chapter’s Annual Meeting and elect Chapter Officers and Board Members for calendar year 2020.

This Annual Holiday Tasting will showcase an exciting flight of three sparkling wines followed by Prädikat level wines (two Kabinett wines, two Spätlese wines, two Auslese wines, and two Beerenauslese wines – vintages 2005-2012) from the Rheingau, Mosel, and Nahe. This will be another wonderful evening of fine & rare German wines from the Chapter cellar and the cellar of our Chapter President.  We look forward to seeing you!

Date: Saturday, December 7, 2019  Time: 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Where:  Home of Joan and Barry Boothe, 2435 Divisadero Street, San Francisco.

Street parking is available in the area.

Cost:  The price for this event will be $50 per person for Members, plus $50 for one guest per Member, and $50 for first time attendees.  The price will be $65 per person for others and additional guests.  To avoid the additional $10 per person late charge, please reply by Friday, November 29^th with payment to the Treasurer by Tuesday, December 3^rd.   Monday, December 2^nd will be the last day to RSVP late (and pay the $10 per person late fee), with payment to be received to the Treasurer by Thursday, December 5^th.  Please RSVP early to give us sufficient time to ensure we have the amount of wine and food necessary to serve all attendees.

Food:  There will be our usual buffet spread of enough delectable food to make a full meal, including dessert.

RSVP is Required!

Please send a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response to

Barry Boothe by the initial deadline of November 29th. 

Barry‘s email (preferred):  barrypboothe@aol.com  

Phone: 415-346-5934

To confirm your attendance, send a check made payable to the German Wine Society-SF to our Treasurer: Harris Holzberg – 24 Hawthorne Lane                       Corte Madera, CA  94925

To avoid the $10 per person late fee, checks must be received by the initial deadline payment date of Tuesday, December 3rd, at the latest.

Please notify us kow if you have any dietary restrictions or allergies, if you have any questions related to your membership or would like to be become a member.

All Society members and guests are reminded that alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication and therefore Society members and their guests are expected to drink in moderation at Society events. We suggest those attending either utilize designated drivers or other modes of transit where available, or mostly taste rather than consume alcohol when such drivers or alternative means of transportation are not available.

Barry Boothe, President and Cellarmaster– barrypboothe@aol.com     Harris Holzberg, Treasurer  –  coachharris1@comcast.net    Henry Kim, Event Organizer – henrykimm@yahoo.com   Arlene Boro, Secretary– arlene.boro@buonvivant.com

                   Carlos Lopez, Assistant Cellarmaster and Website Organizer  –  carlos.alfonzo@gmail.com