OUR 2025 ANNUAL MEETING – Sunday, November 9 at 5:00 pm at the Sandusky Yacht Club.
5:00 Social hour (cash bar) – Special treat – we will be serving wine from one of our local wineries.
5:30 A very short business meeting and Board meeting
6:00 Buffet dinner, with dessert served at the table
7:00 Speaker program
8:00 50/50 drawing closes out the evening
PROGRAM – This year we have not one but two guest speakers! This is your opportunity to learn about Erie County’s incredibly rich history of vineyards, wine making and wineries.
50/50 drawing is back!
DINNER RESERVATIONS – Make your reservation NOW: $40 per person for Members and $45 per person for non-Members (we also included an option for you to order a $10 membership which pretty much pays for itself!). Ticket price includes taxes, tips and other expenses and is basically our cost. The deadline is November 5.
WE FEAST – Oh how we will feast! The amazing Commodore Buffet we have planned will not disappoint. The Sandusky Yacht Club staff really outdoes themselves every year!
Your dinner will include: a House salad, dinner rolls, coffee, hot tea, iced tea, Carved top sirloin, seafood scampi, green beans almandine, roasted redskin potatoes, and veggie pasta. And for dessert, the Club’s famous warm bread pudding will be served at your table. If this sounds delicious, you will truly enjoy it in person, and yes, seconds are encouraged.
LOOK AT THE FUN WE HAD LAST YEAR! 2024 ANNUAL MEETING
MEET OUR SPEAKERS
James O. Miller and Bob Speers will take turns sharing stories and telling tales about some of the most recognizable and most historic wineries in the area and how the wine industry flourished. Both are Board Members of the
Society and have served for a combined 16 years. James is currently the President of our organization.
LAKE ERIE IS A DESIGNATED AMERICAN VITICULTURAL AREA – The Lake Erie viticultural area is distinguished from surrounding areas by its proximity to Lake Erie, a distinct and contiguous viticultural district where there are vineyards of one acre or more located in every county, except Sandusky County, along the lake shore from near Toledo, Ohio to south of Buffalo, New York. Lake Erie is the geographical feature that defines this viticultural area. It was established on October 20, 1983. This area has an over 190-year history of grape growing and wine-making, benefiting from its late frosts, moderate temperatures, and long growing season (a growing season of 165 days is considered minimal and 180 plus days is preferable). The first mention of commercial grapes being planted appears in 1850 on Kelleys Island. “Charles Carpenter… set out the first acre of grapes planted as a field crop… The first wine from the product of his vineyard was made in 1850 in the old log house, his former residence…” This was “the first wine cellar [erected] north of Cincinnati.” In the year 1850, “George C. Huntington, made a barrel of wine, as being the readiest way of disposing of his surplus crop… The wine was called very good when it was two years old.”