This year the wine tasting will take place in brother John Ballinger‘s beautiful backyard at 9846 N Yorktown Drive, Fresno, CA 93720 from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Brother T.A. Heckel always donates each of the wines we taste, and they all are pulled from his private cellar. Attire is casual.

John and Susan’s backyard is spacious and beautifully manicured. Some may be surprised to learn that John is a collector of antique cars, and he is going to show them as part of the ambiance of the wine tasting.

We will again have a silent auction offering some spectacular opportunities plus the raffle that enables brothers and guests to win some great prizes. This year Mark Springer will select one or more popular bourbons as well as premier wines. The Grand Raffle Prize will be an engraved wooden box of IN HOC wines plus some IN HOC engraved items such as slate coasters and cork pullers.

All proceeds benefit the Fresno Sigma Chi Endowment which is managed by the Fresno State Alumni Association. Earnings from the endowment provide annual scholarships in perpetuity to our undergraduate brothers with the pool of applicants taken from those who choose to live in the Chapter House. This year we will offer a total of $52,000 for the 2024/2025 school year. We are told Epsilon Eta has the largest chapter endowment of all Greek organizations in North America.

The tickets this year are $50 per person. Because of the size of brother Ballinger’s backyard, we must limit the number of attendees to 125.

You can also pre-purchase wine raffle tickets online. After inputing your name and guest name, select (5) tickets for $100 or (1) ticket for $25 and input the desired dollar amount in the space provided. We will clip your raffle tickets to your name badge, and you will receive the badge at the event entry.  This will save you time at the event, give you a receipt for your tax records and you will receive a luckier ticket. Just kidding about the luck part.