Chancellery

CHANCELLERY CHAPTER ANNUAL

On February 15, the Chancellery Chapter continued the Valentine’s weekend with our Eighth Annual Crab Feed. We were happy to host many from our chapter along with the Lake Tahoe Region and Lodi Chapters and a number of guests, several who had traveled a great distance. Gentle Lady Glenys Kaye brought her sister who was visiting from New Zealand. I am happy she could attend a Knights of the Vine event. It was wonderful time for the forty in attendance!

The venue the new Baker Family Wines’ Tasting Room and production facility in West Sacramento, California where Master Commander Charles ‘Chik’ Brenneman is winemaker and partner with baseball great, Dusty Baker. Unfortunately, Dusty was unable to attend as he has new responsibilities with the Houston Astros. Many of our members have been drinking Baker Family Wines since our beginnings in 2012. It was fun to introduce our newer members to our brand and to have everyone experience the up and coming urban winery concept. This is the first of its kind in West Sacramento.

We started the social hour with great conversation complemented with cheese and crackers, provided by Gentle Lady Barbara Walker and Vice Commander Suzanne Oppegard. Our taste buds were primed by the hot shrimp that was served for appetizers. They certainly did not last long! Next year we’re definitely have to have more! After a nice social-hour we sat down to salad, pasta and rolls. A local West Sacramento institution for over eighty years, Club Pheasant, made the pasta for us. On a side note, Club Pheasant, still owned by the original family, was a speak-easy in times past and has a lot of experience in supporting wine events. After welcoming everyone, Master Commander Chik spoke about Baker Family Wine’s history for those who did not know it already while we waited for the first trays of crab to come to the table. Chuck Kelly, Cadre member Stan Oppegard and their friend “Dave” cleaned and cooked the crab to perfection, as usual.

The lively conversation continued during the crab cracking and into dessert. There was wonderful team effort even after the event when we had so many help to put away the tables and chairs for which we were very thankful. What a fun evening and a great group of people! The weather was beautiful and we can only hope for the same next year!

BY POLLY & CHIK BRENNEMAN

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Chancellery Chapter Update

What do you do when you cannot do much? We can all lament the ‘virtual’ shutdown of the country, but that led to other virtual events and small gatherings of our local KOV members. While the Chancellery Chapter was able to hold its annual Crab Feed, our Assemblage was postponed until larger gatherings are approved here in California. Pat Pingitore worked with Supreme Knight Jean-Charles Boisset to host a virtual tasting in late May. Polly and I were disappointed that we couldn’t ‘attend’ but we were excited to see that our ‘Spyglass Gang’ in Auburn, a mix of both the Chancellery and Lake Tahoe Chapters, was able to participate! In addition to the tasting, their gathering included food pairings, music and dancing; all done with KOV neighbors. It was described

Supreme Knight John Kautz, and our newest Supreme Lady

Gail Kautz, with Chancellery Comm Chik Brenneman and

Chargé d’Affairs Gentle Lady Polly Brenneman as the “highlight of our socially distanced experiences”, said Claire Christiansen. I am not sure I can top that, but if this shutdown goes on any longer, we are going to have to try. On a much smaller scale, Lodi Chapter’s Supreme Knight John Kautz, and our newest Supreme Lady Gail Kautz, Chancellery Commander Chik Brenneman and Chargé d’Affairs Gentle Lady Polly Brenneman have been having frequent “lab” parties. What is a lab party you may ask? You would think it might have something to do with a laboratory, after all this is the era of COVID testing and we hear about labs every day, but this is

By Chik Brenneman

different, and is rather exclusive. Far away from any laboratory, we gather at the ‘lake’ on the Kautz vineyard property in Sloughhouse. There we are surrounded by a buffer zone of better than a thousand acres of Chardonnay! To be invited you must own a labrador, or any other water loving doggie. Gail and John’s two beautiful girls, Brandy and Zoe, and our Brixie are regulars. Being joined sometimes by their son Kurt Kautz’s Marley and their friend, hopefully future knight, Mike Hunerlach’s Chloe. We often have as many dogs as people. Being outside on their property and having just a few people is a safe way to safely socialize on a warm afternoon. We each bring our own lunch and share a little wine, or shall I say that it started out as a ‘little’ wine. We all find it very fun and relaxing to watch the dogs swim, chase sticks and interact. Fresh air, good conversation, wine, and some good dog play for entertainment... what a way

to spend an afternoon. As restaurants started to open for outside dining in California, Gentle Lady Glenys Kaye (Lake Tahoe) and her husband, Knight Jim Kaye (Chancellery), braved the heat for dinner with the Brenneman’s at a nice Italian restaurant in Fairoaks. The restaurant had a shady, well established patio that had a misting system for added comfort. We shared a couple of bottles of wine, enjoyed a nice meal and talked about the trips we could not take this year. The conversation turned to favorite trips and special memories from those trips. We had a lovely evening and it was nice to get together in person. Many fond memories indeed and we are optimistic that we will all be able to get together for chapter events before long and make more memories together.

Jim & Glenys Kaye with the Brenneman’s enjoy dinner in Fairoaks, CA talking about the crazy year that is 2020