More County Fair Winemaker Winners

In last week’s column I talked about two Ramonans who won medals for their homemade wine at the San Diego County Fair and said I would talk about other winners this week.

Two other vintners who took home medals from the fair are Don Bartick and Paul Griffin.

Bartick, of Starry Night Vineyard, won a bronze medal for his 2009 Merlot. He said this was only his second year as a competitor at the fair.

“Last year we won a gold and a silver,” he said. The gold was for his cabernet sauvignon and the silver for the merlot.

He felt he was lucky to get anything this year.

“It was a bad year for grapes,” Bartick said. An attack of mildew affected the quality of his crop.

Bartick and his wife Arline co-own a quarter acre of grapes on their two-acre Ramona property. They grow merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc.

“We’re a home hobby vineyard,” said Bartick. “If everything goes well, we should be able to get 350 bottles a year, which we give to family and friends.”

An Indiana native, Bartick has lived in Ramona for more than 20 years. He describes himself as “70-something,” and a “semi-retired” mechanical engineer. He operates his own home-based engineering company. He also builds and flies model planes.

He and Arline became intrigued by wine on a visit to Napa 10 years ago. They started planting vines seven years ago. This year will mark their fourth harvest. They are members of the San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society.

Bartick made clear that growing grapes, even as a hobby, is a challenge.

“The main issue is getting the fruit to survive on the vines,” he said. In addition to the mildew problem, he cited birds and wasps as threats to the grapes, “and this year we had wild turkeys getting in the cab franc.”

“I would not want to do this for a living,” he said. "I have a greater appreciation for farmers now.”

At the same time, he sees his success as an example of the quality of wines that Ramona operations can offer.

Paul Griffin won a bronze medal at the fair for his cabernet sauvignon. This was the fourth year that he had participated.

“The first year was just for fun," said Griffin. "We didn’t win anything."

In the second year he started garnering honors, including first place for his merlot, “before they started giving medals,” he said. Last year he earned three silver medals for his merlot, sangiovese and cabernet.

While he makes wine for himself, Griffin’s Adobe Vineyard sells grapes to other Ramona Valley winemakers too.

Griffin worked 30 years as a city of San Diego firefighter before retiring. He has been growing grapes for 11 years and has lived in Ramona for 25 years.

“I’d always been interested in growing something,” he said of his start in grape growing. A fellow former firefighter, Bob Weirich, was one of the founders of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association. Weirich supplied the first cuttings that Griffin planted in his vineyard.

Griffin praised Weirich and other RVVA members such as Joe Cullen who were instrumental in helping him get started.

“We sort of helped each other,” he said of the association.

Griffin has 1.25 acres of cabernet grapes, plus “ a small amount of merlot and sangiovese.”

He said he has talked of getting bonded to sell his wine commercially but for now “it’s a fulltime job as a grower.”

He enjoys competing in the fair, speaking of the awards ceremony as a time to “taste and mingle.”  He also said the competition provides “a good critique. You get a scoresheet back.”