Locals win winemaking ribbons at fair

Five Fallbrook residents won ribbons at the San Diego County Fair’s homemade wine competition June 17.

Bob Howard won three ribbons, Carin Howard took home two ribbons, Chuck Morgan was given two ribbons, Jim Swelgin received two ribbons, and Samuel Oriza merited one ribbon.

Bob Howard won second place in the Sauvignon Blanc category with a 2006 bottle, third place for his 2004 bottle of Zinfandel, and fifth place for his Viognier entry bottled in 2006. Carin Howard took second in the Fruit Non-Stone-Dry class for a blossom off the Howards’ guava tree and bottled in 2005 and fourth in the Computer Produced category (in which the label and not the wine is judged) for champagne bottled in 2007 and produced in 2005. The Howards have been making wines in Fallbrook since moving from Walnut Creek in 2000. They have 1,000 vines and grow barbera and nebbiolo varietals, and some of their crop is sold to wineries in Temecula.

Morgan was second for a bottle 2002 wine entered in the Computer Original Art and Graphics category and third for a 2004 bottle of Merlot. Swelgin placed fourth for a 2005 bottle of Merlot and fifth with a 2005 bottle of Syrah. Oriza’s 2002 bottle of Syrah took second in that category.