The IEEE Southeastern Michigan EMC Society presents

A Wine Tasting Evening

Tom Chessworth

This special social event is open to registered IEEE EMC Society Members only plus one guest. You must be at least 21 years old and pre-register through the website. This event limited to the first 40 people registered. All guests must be pre-registered on the web site as well. Wine , crackers and cheese are provided by the SEM IEEE EMC Society.

Web Registration Link: https://www.readysecure2.com/users/tabonetechnicaldesigncom/emcsociety/emc_meeting.asp?id2=WINE

To be added or removed from the IEEE EMC e-mailing list, send email to S.R.Lytle@IEEE.org with ADD or REMOVE in subject line.

The IEEE Southeastern Michigan EMC Homepage is https://www.emcsociety.org

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Plan to join us for a social evening of conversation, instruction in the art of wine ‘tasting’, and some of the humor of Tom Chessworth the editor and publisher of Electromagnetic News Report. Tom will be giving us a lecture on ‘tasting’ wine, though to quote Tom: “You can learn as much about wine tasting by just sniffing the aroma as you can by tasting.” So, if you prefer tea, or don’t drink at all, come join us for the learning and conversation.

We will be tasting (sniffing?) four different wines during the evening, and Tom assures me that with the thimble of wine used to perform the ‘taste’, there is no chance anyone can become inebriated. If you feel dizzy it must be from the engaging conversation and delightful company.

This event is intended to be a totally “non-technical” evening, where you can bring your significant other and not be too embarrassed by all of your geekey friends talking about electromagnetic field theory. Though ‘shop talk’ won’t be specifically prohibited, it will be discouraged in favor of those subjects to which normal humans can relate.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Tom Chesworth

I was born on the banks of the Monongahela River near Mingo Church where a group of moonshiners fomented the Whiskey Rebellion. In the multi-ethnic dirty little mill town of Belle Vernon nearly everyone had a grape arbor in the back yard. My grandmother made quarts of jelly, but the Sicilian families had a better idea – they made wine that they shared with visiting children. In my middle teens I made some beer. It was horrible; I drank it anyway.

I moved from the mills and mines to State College, saw my first tree and my first cow, thought I was in heaven, and have stayed ever since. As a lab exercise at college I made three 100-milliliter flasks of fermented sugar water and was operating three stills. The instructor, Mrs. Oakwood, had vast experience with freshmen and knew what three stills meant. She made me pour it all down the sink.

A fraternity house bill which included room, board, and parties and which could be reduced by washing dishes was the cheapest way to go to college. Freed from the expense of paying by the glass, my beer consumption hit an all-time high. I met my first wife, Josephine, in the student union and we subsequently married. We’ve been married a very long time; my children say it seems like a lifetime.

On a trip down the Rhine I found out that white wine actually tasted good. My beer consumption plummeted and has never fully recovered. A bottle of Mouton Cadet convinced me that even red wine was tolerable. In the Napa Valley I took my first tasting lessons at Inglenook and discovered the then-new Fume Blanc. In the early ‘80s I made some wine myself. It was horrible; I drank it anyway.

At the beginning of the gala ‘90s I joined the American Wine Society. I am also a Knight of the Vine and a member of the Society of Wine Educators. I write, lick stamps for, and mail our wine clubs newsletter. With my wife I have run our, Mt. Nittany Chapter’s, amateur wine competition for several years – she runs it; I uncork bottles.

I am an AWS Certified Wine Judge.

Thomas and Josephine Chessworth