: March 10 - March 16, 2013

	Tuesday March 12, 2013 We had an interesting day. I feel Matt thinks he is in control.......long story, another time. Among many other things we had to decide about ......was the next time for the Wine Club shipment and what wines to send. We send out 6 wines and we have the main 5 wines decided BUT we still have to decide the random 6th wine that has been left over because people do not pick up there "Futures" they have already paid for..........long story. So we have many cases to choose from for the 6th wine. I said dramatically today at this meeting............. we do not want to send out the 10 month 2010 wines yet. We have about 200 cases left. My opinion during this meeting mid day today was they are still young. SO Cindi and Matt opened all the remaining 2010 wines aged 10 months THAT could be sent out for the 6th random wine. They asked me if I wanted to taste about 1pm. I said NO!! I said you are professional and you are welcome to taste the 2010 10 month wines and let me hear what you think later. Yes they came back and agreed with me........these wines will not be sent out yet. Tonight I just got finished tasting these wines Matt and Cindi said were too young. I agree BUT after tasting tonight, I think they are actually tasting OK now. Remember I am a fan of young wines. I love the 2011 wines NOW but the 2010 wines will out last me........BUT like I said, I was impressed tonight. I think I will start tasting these 2010 10 month wines on occasion. Yes they are still young, but as I said before the Zin based wines from 2010 have not been to my liking in the past but I was happy to see they are coming around SO they need another year or so. To experience the most interesting taste of how different the same wine can be changed by winemaking, you have to compare the 2010 Cabernet 10 month version and the 2010 16 month version, very different. The 10 month is still undrinkable to most including Pat, Matt and Cindi. I tolerate it because it is so intense. Cindi loves the 2010 Cabernet 16 month and I agree, it is much better now than the 10 month version. She wants to pour it in the tasting room. It is intense but has nice toasty oak. It needs many more years, but enjoyable with strong food. Matt and I are still trying to figure out what barrels we used for this 6 month longer aged, 16 month cabernet wine to make it more smooth. The 10 month 2010 Cabernet is the strongest wine I have made and we tamed it somewhat by aging and dropping the acid and bottling it in a red label. I have both opened in the kitchen to try again tomorrow. They are so different.......fun 9:30 Pm: My opinion is there is only two reasons to have a dog and both I can not identify with........I do not like dogs....... I have a neighbor who may have both of the 2 reasons to have a dog. The dog comes over here in the evening and causes many problems, but the most important is that my cat is afraid to go out side now. He has enjoyed going out on occasion but is petrified now. I have heard our neighbor likes to have their dogs swim in my pond, I assume with their children also? on my property. I have heard the police have been informed by a neighbor on the other side that they have had problems. I suppose I have to call the County and report this liability problem. OK You either love dogs because they are so loyal and protect you OR you just like the power they give you. I do not need either. Wednesday March 13, 2013 Some of you probably don't know that employers are required to pay for workmans comp insurance. The insurance is required by the state to protect employees from injuries related to the job. The insurance is expensive and over the years we have had no claims. That means I have paid insurance companies about $200,000 over the years. Finally we have a claim. Unfortunately Catarino our most valued employee has a bulge coming out of his belly button. It has been diagnosed as a hernia and needs an operation to repair. He should be fully recovered in a few weeks and be off work for about a week. After returning he will not be able to lift anything for a month or two. That will be no problem because we have three other employees who can do the lifting and thus Catarino can still run the vineyard operation. This time of the year, there is only tying of vines required in the vineyard and next month we will start training our young vines. Bottling will be in July and Catarino should be fully recovered. I have been extremely disappointed with the way the insurance company has handled this claim. It has been over a month since we filed the claim and finally today Catarino has an appointment with a doctor who will perform the operation. What I have been told is there are only certain doctors who are willing to do the operation. I don't know what that means. Maybe the pay is low? I am at a loss because I can't find out why the scheduled operation has taken so long. I hate insurance companies. Thursday March 14, 2013   I know I have said in the past I am not into religion. I believe in something more than I but certainly not a figure head to worship. That said I was impressed with the new pick of the Catholic Pope. It was the first time I have seen a Pope smile and look happy BUT of course I have not looked at every appearance of a Pope over the years. He seems vibrant and that will be good. Our sales on the second weekend of barrel tasting were down. Mainly the sales were down because we had far less people. Like I have said, those in charge are trying to keep younger people away from the event. We did sell more bottled wine because we offered it for the first time BUT "Futures" sales were down. It will be interesting to see how well our 2013 Pre- Harvest futures sales go when we offer them in April.
	For any comments or questions I encourage any of you to e-mail.....david@coffaro.com Dave
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