September
4 - September 24, 2022 
Tuesday September 6, 2022
The high yesterday here was 119.8, my official weather box with a Taylor thermometer in it showed 121. These readings were the highest I have ever had here. Previously I think I had 117. The grapes seem to be doing fine so we will see how the fruit comes in.
Yesterday we harvested Grenache at perfect sugar and today we will be harvesting some younger Zinfandel. We will be harvesting every day, even Saturday, but we will take a break on Sunday to watch Football.......
Wednesday September 7, 2022
Yesterday, we hit a record high temperature which I believe will hold up for years. The high was recorded in my weather box at 121.2!! The grapes still look fine!! Yesterday we brought in some of our younger Zin and today we are picking Merlot and Malbec for our Aca Modot blend..
Friday September 9, 2022
Yesterday we had a high of 107 and picked part of our Cabernet grapes. The Sugar came in at 30 brix, the highest harvested ever!! We are picking the rest of cab today and some Sangiovese. Tomorrow we will harvest all the rest of Younger Zinfandel. Next week Petite Sirah and much more!!
Saturday September 10, 2022
So much fun picking a really ripe tomato off the vine just now!!!!!!!! and of course popping in my mouth...........
What happened today is what I will relate later, but I can say we started on our Petite Sirah and finished all our Zinfandel and destemmed Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and the rest of our great Cab........it is complicated.............
Will the Raiders win tomorrow........will a Norwegian win tomorrow in tennis,,,,,,,,,,,,........so much in my mind, especially for next week.........Harvest for everyday until Football next Sunday a week from now..........
Tuesday September 13, 2022
Remember when I said I like grabbing a fresh tomato off the vine in the evening? Well I did grab one the other night but reached too far while on my scooter and pulled a muscle. I can not move without pain but I am still doing all I need to harvest the grapes.
Yesterday we harvested a lot of Petite Sirah and today we are picking our Sagrantino. We will be harvesting every day through Saturday and may finish everything by next week.
8....We did some more sugar tests to day and I just went out in my scooter to taste some Petit Verdot, one of the last to come in and I think now everything is ready and the temps will be low for days, so not more ripening. I figure we will be done by next Thursday........
Like I have said Pat and I did not know we would be grape growers in 1973 when we got married on September 29. Since we moved here in 1979 the harvest is always going, still in the middle to end of ON September 29...........
BUT now on September 29 we will be finished with Harvest for only the 2nd time since we have been here so
We booked a reservation at The Matheson in Healdsburg but after that I am hoping to get down to Santa Cruz?
Wednesday September 14, 2022
Another day of harvest and it looks like we may get a little rain next Sunday and Monday so that will only delay us a day or two UNLESS we had over an inch of rain which is not forcast. We still have a chance to finish by next Friday or Saturday, September 24 the earliest ever........time will tell.........
Our generator is still not working after close to 2 years, near the end of the warranty so!! We had another outage of 2 hours and it did not come on. I have been in contact with Generac and their service team with no success...............California Lemon Law?
Friday September 16, 2022
So I was not in agreement with the head of FedEx who said he thought the economy was not looking good, so that is why the Market was down!! The Feds better watch out though!! Don't raise interest rates anymore.........I have been around longer than all those guys and I wrote a theses about this back in 1967.........more to say tomorrow
I just got back from the vineyard So, I have thought the acids are up nice this year and will prolong these wines beyond my time. So we are harvesting Lagrein tomorrow and the grapes I saw tonight WILL BE INTENSE!! Usually Lagrein comes in with low acid so this could be interesting if we can get all that intensity I TASTED tonight with good acid!!!!!!!
Rain is coming!!
Saturday September 17, 2022
In 1967 I needed one more credit to fulfill my diploma in Finance and my professor asked me to write a report of my choosing so I wrote a report about how the money supply affects the stock market. Even in those days interest rates and especially the money supply was important. If the money supply rose steadily the stock market would rise and if the money supply was cut the market would fall. If I remember, I tracked the money supply back many years and proved my theory. Below is what I found in Google which still applies today:
"Money supply indirectly affects the stock market through the consequences of increasing or decreasing it. As money supply is increased, interest rates fall, which leads to an increase in spending by businesses and consumers. More spending increases demand, which, in turn, often increases inflation."
Since March of this year the money supply has actually fallen slightly so is that why the market has fallen?
I remember back in those years after 1967 inflation was just starting to roar ahead. Since 1967 until today for instance, the buying power of chicken has gone up from $26 to $166. The Dow Jones industrials in the same time has risen from 900 to 30,800. Inflation is starting to go up now but is it bad? As long as salaries go up eventually, what is the problem with inflation? To avoid a recession we need to keep the money supply rising!!
We are destemming our Lagrein now and the sugar is great at 26.5%. In the next few days we we calculate the acids.
Tonight I will watch a few boxing matches on pay per view. I still remember watching boxing on Friday night with my father before he died in an accident back in 1953. I was a real big fan of Ali. Boxing to me is one of the pure competitions being one on one like Tennis and Chess. Chess though is the only game which does not have chance in it unless a player does not focus at all times. Boxing is similar re: focus where a boxer is hit with a punch he does not see. Tennis has some close calls on shots so some chance is involved..............
Monday September 19, 2022
We did receive 1.28 inches of rain. That is enough to slow the ripening of what we have left. We will start again on Thursday. In the mean time in the next two days we will harvest the 2nd crop which will go into our Dave's Cuvee.
It is now dark by 7pm so I have to try to get out in the vineyard earlier.........
Oh the generator.........
Oh permit for my storage.........
Oh....I could go on, but NFL for now
Tuesday September 20, 2022
This is complicated, but the bottom line is I have a generator that has not worked for 1.5 years!! AND the company I bought from is out of business. I will document this at a later time but I have to get into finishing my Harvest!!
We did start our 2nd crop today and it looks good and will be used for Dave's Cuvee. Will hope to finish tomorrow, 2nd crop from mostly 120 year old vines left over, but maybe better since they have hung on the vine that long??? I know I have said hang time is not important here since!!!!! think of it we are almost finished here and it is only September 20!! We have never finished this early and we only have Syrah, Peloursin, Petit Verdot and Montepulsiano left
Thursday September 22, 2022
too much information about the generator , still not working for 1.5 years. I am working with Generac, with little success so we will see.
We will be finished for Harvest on Saturday, more to come...........
Today, We did harvest the rest of second crop and will finish with Syrah tomorrow and then Petit Verdot on Saturday. It is still an adventure..........
Saturday September 24, 2022
7pm
I was just out in the vineyard and I could not find a berry...........YES WE FINISHED TODAY.......It is emotional for me..........
We had some lower sugars for the Terre Melange Blend but the wine should still be high by 50 year old standards, look what the alcohol in wines was back in 1969 when I first discovered WINE, good wine,
sure my Special Italiano Uncle at Thanksgiving would pull out a glass for me back in the mid 6 tees but it was probably a jug wine, some from here before DRY CREEK VALLEY was finally recognized for premium wine in 1983. I got here in 1979........
Harvested today......the Terre Melange, blended with Grenache, Mourvedre, Peloursin and Syrah all from the Rhone and grown here will be ......14%
For any comments or questions I encourage any of you to e-mail.....david@coffaro.com
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