September 22 - September 28, 2013

	Monday September 23, 2013 9:00 Am: We already have 2 tons of fruit in this morning. There was a small amount of rain to fall on the leaves in our old vines Saturday which cleaned off some of the dust from the summer and thus help ripen the grapes. The crew removed some leaves yesterday so it was easier to see the grape bunches this morning. As I said Saturday we are picking Block 4 today and will finish tomorrow. We will then pick all the ripe fruit in the old vines which includes Block One and Block 3 and Block 4 south where there is mostly Zinfandel vines. We suspect a lot of the rest of the vineyard may be ready to pick next week. 9:30 Pm: Every year is different. I love what I do. I took over 50 samples of juice while crushing today into our fermenters. I had a reading at 30 and several readings at 22 sugar. We saw many bunches coming in with red and green berries which were for sure under 20 brix. I am listening to Catarino about stripping the vines of leaves so we can see the bunches BUT that means you can see unripe fruit????.......................... It is not easy picking grapes. I have done it many times in the past. It is so messy. We are picking at usually 25 percent sugar. It is sticky. I have a lot of respect for our pickers to put up with this juice. I checked the sugar samples of 4 fermenters tonight and they were over 24 brix and I expect 25 so those may be OK. One fermenter was under 24 brix and I checked again just now and I got a little over 24. I am not happy. We need to pick Block 4 with readings over 25. SO I have to make a decision with my meeting with Catarino.....where do we pick tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day Tuesday September 24, 2013 3:30 Pm: Today was a better day. We finished picking the Block 4 and the sugar came in over 25 brix. Also yesterday's fruit swelled up to well over 25% so everything looks great. Tomorrow we will start picking old vine Zin again. 8:45 Pm: I did not get much sleep last night so I am paying for it right now. Tomorrow will be another day so I have to get ready. The wind is up big around here so I am certain there will be no fog in San Francisco where Kate lives. We own a condo that I want to give to Kate some day when I stop buying things like Tesla. I am digressing because I have had little sleep.......... I know there will be no fog in San Francisco tomorrow morning because the North wind is up Here. I can predict the weather. The Carignan sample today came in at 24.5. The Cab sample a few days ago was at 23.2. We may be picking for the next few weeks. This time of year we usually go up 1.5 brix every week on samples. Mourvedre and Aglianico are the last ones to come in. If no rain we will have everything in............in by October 22. That is the day I pick up my Tesla Model S. BMW 2011 535i..... I have looked into selling my best car I have owned. I hate to sell it but I do not go many places except a few trips up North and South on the West Coast as far as Canada, when I do not have more important things to do here. I love being here but I love adventures and especially also driving cars. I had two Corvettes and two Porches before I was thirty. I loved those cars and I love all cars.......Like the Beatles said " Do you want to drive my car..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_My_Car so I have had trouble selling my BMW, because I am into the Harvest and we live too far away from California South of here..........where most people exist and love BMW's. If anyone is interested in a 2011 535i with a manual transmission and only 26,133 on it, let me know. I am going to keep it if I do not hear from someone. Thursday September 26, 2013 9:00 Pm: I am taking a break from the 49er game and the last Dodgers, Giants game of the year. I will miss seeing the Giants play. Every year has been different as I say every year. I asked Catarino to take samples of grapes that are still out in the vineyard. After picking half our crop, we need to reevaluate. Not one of the samples came back with what I expected. We did 10 tests and I will report on the big surprises and thus what we will pick tomorrow and Saturday....... We will harvest Mourvedre which was over 27% sugar (Mourvedre has never come in before October). Pinot left on the vine unripe a few weeks ago was 28, Grenache was 27+ and Peloursin was 20. So tomorrow Peloursin because the vines are not responding (we will have to remove them next year).....and the Pinot....and the Mourvedre before the Grenache because the Mourvedre has a lot of raisins in the bunches (Why?, we are confused). The combination of sugars should give us about 26 sugar, 15% alcohol and it will all go into the Terre Melange. Saturday we will finish with all the Grenache. Friday September 27, 2013 10:00 Pm: It has been a different day.........since I have decided to sell my BMW 535i in Santa Rosa. As I have said I love this vehicle but I want to do away with any product that includes Crude OIL. I went down to Santa Rosa today just after we got in some great fruit. I arrived before time for a pre-arranged appointment at 3:30. As you can imagine, this was an adventure since it was just ofter a big harvest day.......and I did not know where to go since they have a new place that must cost millions........a BMW new dealership. They have a new place so I had to ask directions. I was not impressed, because I had an appointment THAT these two very young guys HAD no idea what I asked. They seemed to figure it out after a few minutes and constantly apologized for the delay BUT I finally got my price to sell to these two gentlemen. They were very nice. I presented to them a price I found on.....Edmonds Edmonds is very good. If you put in a zip code.....wow....... evaluations change.....up here where we do not drive much and have few accidents, the value for my car goes up dramatically......BUT does that help I have offered my 535i for sale at several places and have had no offers that I thought was fair.  Sure if my 535i was in a dealership, we know it would get a better price. Being 70 miles from San Francisco, I have no one come by to even look at my 535i. So in Santa Rosa I got a reasonable price of $35,000 and i will be dropping off my BMW tomorrow. Pat does not like to make decisions that will cause monetary considerations. Pat does not like changes. Pat does not like to spend money especially if she thinks we could get a better deal......like ask for a discount of $20 at a place to stay. I like to pay what I think something is worth. Some wines I believe had been special when I was in my 20's. I appreciated Bordeaux and you can search the diary for several references. I have paid a lot of money to taste other wines in my quality. We all make wines in the same way, mostly. There are differences which we make. Other winemakers refer to the past, like extended maceration is good. I disagree.......anytime wine is left on the skins will create less fruit, we lose character, but I assume and know I am in a minority. With corks still in the norm, we have wines that also have a cork flavor in them. Have you ever chewed on a cork. It tastes like a harsh wood. Why do they do that?......for tradition after centuries........? Screwcaps are much better....... I digress.......because Pat refuses to drive down to Santa Rosa to receive my $35,000, I have a problem. She thinks we could get a better price. I tried to convince her.......the price of this great 535i will go down by $1,000 a month. The bottom LINE is I need to find someone to drive my BMW  down to Santa Rosa tomorrow and I hope it will be Catalina....... Saturday September 28, 2013 Pat changed her mind and drove our Fiesta down to the BMW dealership and I drove my 535i. I will receive a check in a few days. I did not sleep well. I loved that car but it is an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine). Harvest went well today with over 4 tons of Grenache brought in. Tomorrow we are not harvesting AND it is Pat's and my anniversary. 10:00 Pm: I am still grieving on my loss of BMW. As you know i was not impressed with several Lexus cars i tried..........I know............I am into more safe handling cars and not luxury and soft drives that give you comfort to possibility in to an accident.....sorry, Lexus does not handle as well as a BMW......... Lexus, like I have implied reminded me of a 50's-60's Cadillac...........soft rides with no feel for the road.........Lexus is good for some people but not for me. I need to keep awake and feel the road. I digress again....... There may be rain coming in again that could cause more problems. I need to decide what should be harvested in the next week. We have several varieties that should be ready. Rain in small amounts is good. October is near. The first week has brought 100 degrees in about 5 years out of my 35 here. Almost always we have 80's and rain, never in the same day like in the summer in the Mid West or East Coast. Rain would be usually a high of 65 and a low of 55. If we get 100....there has been many times in late September and Early October when we could see lows in the 40's and highs as much as 100. Like I have said before we can see 60 point ranges during the day and many 50 point ranges, this time of year. To produce great fruit for wine, we need to have extreme highs and lows...............
	For any comments or questions I encourage any of you to e-mail.....david@coffaro.com Dave
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