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Locust Valley Garden Club Wine Tasting




By Dagmar Karppi


 The Locust Valley Garden Club held a wine tasting at their May meeting, to learn the fine points of growing grapes to make wine.


Wine merchant Ronald Metzger, was the speaker and he talked about the effects of the soil, the climate, the weather, the grape variety, and the “vinification” - the process of turning the squeezed grape liquid into wine.


They all work together to create each wine’s unique taste. And he brought along wines so that members of the club were able to sample wines to educate their palettes.


In his talk, Ron spoke about the fine points in the wines of France and Germany.


It was Locust Valley Garden Club member Veronica Feeg, who suggested that the Club invite Metzger to talk about viniculture. The two have been friends since attending the Gables Intermediate School together in Locust Valley in fifth grade in 1960. (Club member Priscilla Thomson was also a classmate.)


Metzger was especially welcome because the women in his family have been longtime members of the club, his grandmother, Mrs. Maurice (Catherine) Metzger, was a charter member and two aunts were presidents.


Additionally, Ron’s father was one of the paratroopers that landed in Ste. Mere Egliese in June 4, 1944, when the Americans flew over Nazi lines to capture the city.


After the war, Ste. Mere Egliese became a Sister City to Locust Valley, and through Operation Democracy and the Marshall Plan, was part of helping France recover after the war.


The Garden Club was founded in 1947, as one of the divisions of the Locust Valley Woman’s Club and Operation Democracy, and was the first project tackled by the woman’s club.


The tables in the Community Room at the Locust Valley were set with wine bottles, donated by Metzer. Several members met to decoupage the wine bottles with flowers and Ronnie added fairy lights to add a sparkle. Lucille DeVito, Irene Duque, Helene Henken Priscilla Thomson, Kassie Roth, and Ronnie decoupaged the bottles.


The bottles from each table went home with the person with the nearest birthday. The club’s next program is a talk on Water Gardens.

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