Meeting at Quigley’s Restaurant
593 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY
February 1, 2018
Members Attending (13): Roberto Martinez, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Debbie Rodriguez, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Dick Drumm, Julius Frankel, Bill Dowd, Phil Kellerman, Ray Hannan, Terry Brewer, Jim Leyhane.
Guests (1): Sue Goold Miller, Brookview Station Winery & Goold Orchards.
ANNOUNCEMENTS/BUSINESS
OPENING — President Roberto Martinez welcomed attendees. He also “treated” us to photos of the aftermath of his black-ice car accident on his steep, winding driveway. All airbags deployed, one tree was damaged, one vehicle was caved in, but no one was hurt.
ROTARY HOME COOKING MENUS– Next up in the member-hosted series will be “A Greek Evening” at the Calamaras residence on Saturday, February 17. The menu will include leg of lamb, roasted potatoes, green beans a la Grecque, Greek salad, and — but not limited to — homemade baklava and other assorted sweets. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres at 5 p.m., dinner at 6. Then, on Saturday, March 24, the Brewer residence will be the site of a “Cocktail Social” open to all Rotarians and family members. Terry says the time frame will be 6 to 10 p.m., and cost will be $10-20 per family. The evening will include a beer tasting, a wine tasting, and team trivia. Please be sure to contact Dean Calamaras ASAP if you are interested in attending the February dinner, and Terry if you are interested in the March social. … Two other events, neither of which have specific dates or themes yet, will be in April at the Forth residence, and in May at the Martinez residence in cooperation with Jim Leyhane.
INDOOR GOLF TOURNEY — Murray Forth reported that registration for the scheduled February 10 event at Burden Lake Country Club is very weak. At this point, we have only four teams signed up. Consideration is being given to moving the event to March.
BOWLING FOR VETS –– Jim Leyhane reports that plans are advancing for the March 4 fundraiser at the East Greenbush Bowling Center. A principal recipient will be the Bell Top School’s project to purchase a support dog to be trained for a military veteran in need. Other funds will go to various veterans-related efforts. Bell Top is issuing a challenge to other schools in the East Greenbush Central School District to participate. In addition, the new Rotaract club we are sponsoring at the UAlbany School of Public Health plans to participate. Bill Dowd is creating a flyer for the event and will distribute it to the club members. We will need to sell lane sponsorships, and will need desk volunteers to work the event. See Jim if you are available.
CLYNK CONTAINER REDEMPTIONS — Bill Dowd reported that he expects to have plastic collection bags and barcoded stickers available for members at next week’s meeting to get the fundraising effort going. He also will provide a “cheat sheet” to all members explaining the process of collecting and redeeming bottles and cans at local Hannaford supermarket dropoff stations. A supply of bags and stickers also will be provided at the Third Thursday breakfast meeting on February 15.
PEDIATRIC CATARACT PROJECT — Project lead Sean Williams of the Granville Rotary Club notified us that the project to which we contributed has gotten under way in Bangladesh. Click here for details.
YMCA MIRACLE LEAGUE DINNER — Organizer Shannon Romanowski still is in need of volunteers to help with the Sunday, February 11, event at the Greenbush YMCA. It is a cooperative effort of the Y, SRC, Rotaract, and the Kiwanis. She needs people for a variety of chores at different times, including food prep, serving and cleanup. If you can help, please email Shannon at sromanowski@cdymca.org or call her at 518-477-2570, extension 1200, as soon as possible.
MISCELLANY — Rotary is planning a “World Affairs Seminar” at Carroll University in Wisconsin in June. Earlybird registration deadline is February 28. Details of the event and registration requirements are available by clicking here. … We received a thank-you note for our financial support of the Freedom From Fistula Foundation. … We again will address the committee restructuring process at our February 22 meetings. Roberto will send out a note to members asking for people to indicate the committees on which they would like to serve. … We will have a Maple Hill High School student,Olivia Sterantino, participating in a short-version Rotary Youth Exchange visit to a country to be decided. Because it is a short-term visit, SRC will not be required to host a student from abroad as a quid pro quo. Olivia will attend our dinner meeting next week. … A reminder that we still have various items of club merchandise for sale — freezer tote bags, branded mugs, shirts, etc. See Roberto or Murray if interested. We also have received a $250 grant from the District to help with the tote bag project. … Terry Brewer and Ray Hannan will attend the next District Membership Committee workshop, scheduled for next Tuesday, Anyone else who is interested in participating is asked to contact Terry.
NEXT MEETING — 6:15 p.m. Thursday, February 8, at Quigley’s The speaker will be Kelly Walborn, a three-time cancer survivor.
PROGRAM: “The Evolution of Brookview Station Winery”
Pat Bailey introduced our guest speaker, Sue Goold Miller, co-owner of Goold Orchards and its companion Brookview Station Winery in Castleton.
Sue described the operation of the 108-year-old farm founded by her grandparents. It has evolved from being strictly an apple orchard to growing all types of fruits and adding a winery operation 12 year ago.
She and her husband, Ed Miller — the winemaker — recognized the financial need to diversify their business and taught themselves from a book how to make basic wine. They started by making a wine called Whistle Stop White from their estate-grown apples, producing a modest 350 bottles with the help of a U.S. Department of Agriculture startup grant. In a quirk of timing, they received the grant and their state winery license on the same day.
The passage of the state’s Farm Winery Bill and subsequent relaxation on some state regulations have helped the business grow, as has the addition of such cold-weather-hardy grapes as Frontenac, Marechel Foche, and Marquette they now grow. Ed also makes a variety of wines by purchasing stock from other providers, usually from throughout the Hudson Valley region, and sometimes buying other producers’ wines and tweaking them to make a different expression. They also now make a varieties of hard ciders.
Marketing is a major part of becoming known to consumers, and Brookview has employed the use of such things as dogs and historic local sites on their labels. They also have won numerous medals in wine judgings, although Sue noted that care must be exercised in entering competitions because of the prohibitive costs of some of them
She said consideration is being given to adding food to the farm’s tasting room offerings, and discussions have been held with a variety of chefs. She also recently catered a wine dinner for 35, and may do more such events.
Sue finished her presentation by leading us in a tasting of several Brookview beverages such as the Whistle Stop White semi-dry apple wine; Pomona a semi-sweet wine made from apples and pears that are crushed together then fermented; a Frontenac, a Moonlight Marquette red, and several ciders.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 