Curiously, perhaps, there were no reminiscences from the speaker's podium during dinner and no recitation of accomplishments. The wine served at the reception was HostetterTrockenweiss, a sparkling wine introduced by Brights in October, 1984, in George's honor. There were, to be sure, appropriate presentations by Edward S. Arnold, president of Brights, and others, and a toast to George and his family.

Only the guest list, the names signed to the telegrams read to George during dinner, gave any indication of what George's contributions were to Brights and to the Canadian wine industry. There were present and past associates at Brights, Canadian government officials, scientists from the United States and Canada, winemakers and many others. They were all George's friends, and they had all come simply to drink a glass of wine with him.

"If you're going to write about me, don't make it sound like an obituary," George warned one well-intentioned journalist. Probably nobody in the room knew everything George had done during his career. He is best known for his pioneering work in growing the vinifera and French hybrids (see the accompanying article), and for which he received the American Wine Society's Award of Merit in 1979. Many of those present knew that George was instrumental in re-establishing grape growing in southwestern Ontario by working with growers in that area and setting up a test vineyard at Harrow. Better known was George's more recent role in setting up the British Columbia division of Brights Wines in the 1980s. Virtually forgotten today is the role George played in founding the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival in 1952.

Many of George's most influential accomplishments never received publicity. He was, for example, responsible for securing the government funding that would ultimately benefit not only Brights, but the entire industry: the low temperature studies conducted by John Paroschy at the University of Guelph, and the aerial infrared photography survey project undertaken by the Horticultural Research Institute of Ontario to determine comparative low temperatures at different sites in Ontario.

The Canadian wine press has said much about George, and two comments seem to sum up his career as well as any. From the Toronto Globe and Mail: "Mr. Hostetter has been close to the epicenter of just about every breakthrough in winemaking, not only in Canada, but in the eastern United States;" and from the Toronto Sun: "Nobody has done more to improve the image of Canadian wines over the years than Brights Director of Research George Hostetter."

What made George's retirement dinner a party was that nobody present thought of George as retiring from anything except his post at Brights. One of the few people present with a sense of history was Nelson Shaulis, another "non-retired" retiree from the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. On his own personal "whim," as he put it, he requested that the picture on page 11 be taken: "George represents viticulture; Germaine de Chaunac, winemaking, and Ollie Bradt, research; and it took all three to make this industry what it is today." Nelson then very firmly refused to join those included in his historical retrospective.