Members Meeting (February 15th, 2020)

Prosit Neujahr! Online registration for the 2020 Members Meeting is now open! Please make reservations by February 10.  This year’s membership meeting will take place on Saturday, February 15, 2020. The doors will open at 7:00 and we begin discussing business (of course mixed with a little fun) promptly at 7:30 pm. 

For this year’s Members Meeting, we are returning to the Van Ness Room at:

3001 Veazey Terrace NW

Washington, DC  20008

Metro is very accessible from the Van Ness stop on the Red Line. 

Members pay nothing for this tasting (but still need to register via our website or mail so that we can have an accurate count of who is coming and bring wines and food accordingly); non-members pay $15 each.

Register for this Event click here

We will sample a wide variety of wines from our cellar and also have our traditional quiz game and cheeses and bread. There will be a discussion of our finances, membership and cellar status, followed by an open discussion of plans for the future. What would you like to have the society do – what are your expectations? The Board needs to know!

It is at this annual meeting we elect new officers and directors to the chapter Board.   Only members in good standing, with annual dues payments current, are entitled to vote in the election or to attend this event free of charge; $35 annual dues payments may be made online or by check to ensure that you are current before the meeting.   Please contact the Secretary if you are not sure whether you are current.

Members can vote in person at the meeting, or by returning their written ballots by February 10, 2020. Candidate statements and the ballot form (for those who will not be voting in person at the election but would still like to submit a vote) are attached to this notice in a separate document.  Nominations of other candidates than those listed below and on the attached ballot must be received by no later than Friday, January 31, 2020.  Most of the candidates running have already been serving in their positions, but we have one new candidate for a director position on the board, Karen Stokes, replacing Hanne Caraher who is concluding her board service following decades of contributions to our Society.   The Chapter President is also running for Chapter Secretary, in the absence of a separate candidate to fill the Secretary position, which the President has handled on an acting basis for the past year.  

The candidates running for positions on the Board this election are:

Carl Willner – for Chapter President and Secretary (positions listed separately on ballot)

Christian Schiller – for Vice President

Ken Belsley – for Treasurer

Maria So – for Director, also serving as Webmaster

Stephen Kent – for Director, also serving as Cellarmaster

Jim Palanchar – for Director

Karen Stokes – for Director

Our bylaws do not permit nominations from the floor at the meeting for any position for which a candidate is already running, but only in advance so that ballots for a disputed election can be prepared, although floor nominations for uncontested positions are allowed.  For this election, all board positions have one candidate running.  You can give back to the Chapter by volunteering to plan or help with a monthly tasting, in addition to serving on the board.  Your active participation in planning and managing events helps the organization grow – and to do so in the direction you choose. 

All correspondence in response to this email should be directed to our acting Secretary, Carl Willner, by email to carl.willner1@verizon.net or by mail at:

Carl Willner

1014 Reserve Champion Drive

Rockville, MD 20850

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If you are attending as a non-member and need to pay online, please be sure to have a PayPal account in advance, as we cannot accept payments by other forms of credit.  If you decide to register by mail, please mail your registration (and check if registering as a non-member) to the acting Chapter Secretary, Carl Willner, whose address is listed above.

All GWS members and guests are reminded that alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication. Therefore Society members and their guests are expected to drink in moderation at Society events. It is advisable to provide designated drivers where available or mostly to taste rather than consume alcohol when such drivers are not available.

If you no longer wish to receive our announcements, please reply to this email to the sender.

Carl Willner

President and acting Secretary, German Wine Society Capital Chapter

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Please clip and return this registration form if registering by mail, to the Secretary at the address listed above.  Do not return the entire event notice.

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E-mail contact ____________________________________________________________

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