Weeks 13 - 14
March 27, 2005 to April 9, 2005 

	Wednesday April 6, 2005 The weather has been cool or rainy for the last few weeks, so the vines have grown very slowly. At this time we are about a week behind normal. What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time we were a month ahead of normal. Even though the growth is out very little, it appears that we will have a good sized crop. I will know more in two weeks. Our sales of 2005 Pre-Harvest Futures are going well, although the trend of the last few years continues. Every year we are receiving less orders, but customers are buying more cases. Each year our dollar amount also is going down a little. But our overall sales are up, because we are selling more bottled wine at higher prices. I have been rethinking this whole pre-harvest situation and I will announce in the next month what we have decided to change. I will say that prices will go up substantially after May 31. I just received preliminary pricing on my labels and those costs are up 27%. I have been looking into a different bottle that could save me some money, but overall our costs to produce a bottle of wine are up dramatically. I will promise not to raise my prices up to the same level of my competitors and we will always offer pre-harvest futures. Tonight Pat and I and two customers will dine at a new restaurant in Healdsburg. The restaurant called Cyrus has already gotten some great reviews. Here is a link to their website: http://cyrusrestaurant.com/ Thursday April 7, 2005 Oh MY I have a new pizza oven. It is small, but it will do two pizzas at a time. Some of you are invited April 23 at 5 pm to have a slice. No one will be accepted unless you respond with an e-mail, since ingredients will have to be arranged. Even Everett and his nice wife, Taffy, and friends are invited. The oven I chose is a Backers Pride P22sbl. It is brick lined and is electric. I am a control freak so I had to know the exact temperature at all times. I will leave the show of break fired ovens to my very successful winery owners: Lou Preston and the owners of Yoakim Bridge Winery. At both establishments I have had great foods cooked in custom made Brick ovens. I like the control of electricity.  I fired up my new oven tonight for the first time and had one of the best pizzas I have ever had. So as long as you are a valued customer and I hear back from you, you are invited to a great event: Saturday April 23rd at 5 Pm. We will have to limit this function to 100 people so please respond as soon as possible.  Friday April 8, 2005 Ok I jumped the gun! Pat informed me that April 23rd is the night of the Passport event so we are going to have to delay our Pizza party. I plan on announcing a smaller party later in the year. The weather has been very variable again. Sometimes it is raining and sometimes it is sunny, but it has been a long time since we have had warm weather. Maybe things will change next week. Cyrus Restaurant was great, but the food was so rich that it took me many hours to recover. I am feeling fine now. I would highly recommend the restaurant the next time you are in town.
`	Dave
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