October 2 - October 8, 2011

	Tuesday October 4, 2011 We are getting ready for a lot of rain. We had almost an inch yesterday and the forecast is for much more tonight. In the next two days Catarino and the crew will be out after the rain to drop some fruit in the Petite Sirah. We have a large crop and the leaf cover is too much in this type of weather. Already we have seen a little rot so we have stopped irrigating last week. We are hoping most of the rest of the crop will be OK. I am estimating we have harvested about 40% of all the fruit. I am hearing most wineries have barely started.  Wednesday October 5, 2011 It is morning!! We had over one inch of rain last night and it is sunny now. There may be a shower this afternoon but I doubt it. There was speculation of another rain event next week but now the weather experts have changed to predicting warm weather. My best guess is that we will pick Lagrein in a week to 10 days. By then many other varietals should be ready. It will be nice to have a break. There are three varietals I am worried about. The damage from the rain could be evident in the Petite Sirah, Grenache and Peloursin. Catarino and the crew are out now pulling leaves and dropping fruit in the Petite Sirah and then will move onto the other sections to assess any damage.  Matt is taking the Petite Sirah grapes that are being taken off the vine and he will make some homemade wine. The sugar will probably be about 22 brix. Yesterday the Market was up and down violently. We may have seen a reversal so higher prices may be on the way for awhile. I have purchased some Google but I still am cautious and have 30% cash. 9:00Pm: I would like to mention Steve Jobs, how I thought of it. Ok some one may read this in a few years and not know what I mean so.......Steve Jobs died today. BUT I need to make an update on our Harvest first: Catarino and the crew picked off 900 pounds of Petite Sirah today. I say "off" because we thinned these vines and our hoping these bunches thinned will help to keep the rot down. We are eliminating any bunches that are touching another bunch. These are young vines so every year we have to thin the crop. Think about when all of you were young. Maybe some of you are even real young and know you want to be strong. These vines are strong and want to produce too much fruit to be of great quality. We won't waste this one ton of grapes that are being picked off these Petite Sirah vines. Matt wants to make a lower sugar Petite Sirah. We may call it a Light Petite Sirah. Tomorrow should be clear so I will have more to say. CNN played back a little of what Steve Jobs said at Stanford years ago. I do not believe in a life after so I only remember his reference to death. I'll have to hear what he said again, but I thought he said death can be a good thing. Death makes room for someone else. That is what I believe. It will be hard to replace Steve Jobs!!!! Thursday October 6, 2011 9:00Pm: It has been tough. I got a relief when I saw Pat pop gum. She is the expert at popping gum that is NOT bubble gum. We had more rain today so we could not harvest the rest of the Petite Sirah that needs to be thinned. We have other problems including one small drain so that has been one of the many top priorities. Catarino and the gang will be out again tomorrow to thin more varietals. I will take a walk out in the vineyard tomorrow!!! One of the main problems is the health of my Mother. She is home so Lynda and I are trying to keep figuring out how to keep her healthy.  I mentioned the death of Steve Jobs yesterday. I heard the Stanford speech in full this morning on CNN at 7Am. I am hopeful most of you have heard it also. What a speech. I can relate to all that he said. Saturday October 8, 2011  Another great person dies. As some of you know I despised many things Al Davis did in the last 25 years, especially what he did to Marcus Allen, but I had enormous respect for him because he always wanted to win. The Raiders will never have that much passion around them again, but maybe they will win more.
	Dave david@coffaro.com
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