Northern Neck Uncorked

American Wine Society Chapter

History:

Kevin Kean, of Tappahannnock, a lifetime member of the American Wine Society, spearheaded the group.  His knowledge of wine has grown from years of collecting and sampling wines from all over the world. When the group meets to discuss wine, Kevin always helps newcomers feel welcome by offering helpful tips on wine tasting techniques.  “I’ve always wanted a wine club close to home,” he says as his main reason to establish the group.

Kevin and his wife Diane have toured many wine regions around the world and locally have volunteered for vineyard and winery operations.  "One of my greatest pleasures is sharing my passion for wine with others" he exclaimed while staffing a wine tasting both at the Virginia Wine Festival.  Kevin and Diane Kean are avid fans of wine appreciation and education.  Together they have been the driving force for organizing the most dynamic wine group in Virginia. 

The first meeting of the group was in March of 2006.  Attendance grew steadily over the past two years and a core group of attendees decided that the time was right to bring the meetings to a more formal status.  The group became an official AWS chapter as of January 1, 2008.
What else can you say.   Cheers!

The group holds monthly meetings plus a less structured Christmas Party, with wine and cheese as shown above.  

AWS website

BYLAWS - ms word doc format

GUIDELINES - pdf  Presentation Guidelines

\Carl G. Brandhorst

About Carl:

A Virginia resident, Carl G. Brandhorst is a longstanding member of the American Wine Society (AWS) and an AWS certified wine judge. As the current AWS Regional Vice President for Virginia, he assists in the formation of new chapters and supports current chapters through educational seminars.

Carl is currently the Vice President of the Vinifera Wine Growers Association (VWGA) and sits on its Board of Directors. He was co-chairman in July 2006 of the 2nd Atlantic Seaboard Vinifera Wine Competition sponsored by VWGA and co-chairman of its 31st Annual Virginia Wine Festival in Sept/Oct 2006. He is currently the president of the Washington, DC Chapter of the German Wine Society. He is also a founding member (1988) of the National Capital Chapter of the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Vine, an international wine organization, in which he holds the cadre title of Charge d’Affaires.

He has been a member of the Society of Wine Educators since 1985; further, he is a graduate of the two-week courses at the Austrian Wine Academy (Rust, Austria-1998) and the German Wine Academy (Geisenheim, Germany-1999).

He travels extensively to wine regions both in the U.S. and abroad most recently to Portugal, Spain and Canada. Carl is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and holds Masters Degrees in both Public Administration and International Relations.

Carl participates frequently as a judge in various annual wine competitions that include the AWS commercial wine competition, the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Farm Winery Competitions, the VWGA wine competition in Virginia, the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition and the Wines of the South Competition in Knoxville, TN.

Carl presented German and Austrian Wines on April 13, 2007