Winemaker's Diary for Weeks 1-3, 2026

	January 1 - January 17, 2026
	Tuesday January 13, 2026 I am sorry I have not posted in two weeks. There has been too much happening for me to have time to write what is going on. Like today I have a home physical therapy appointments and two reports due, one for sales tax and the other to report to California the results of our Harvest. I have also been delaying those reports because of all that is happening. We are bottling this week and next all our 16 month 2024 wines.This month I have already had several medical appointments and tests. My left eye is still cloudy and I have lost half my vision. It has not improved for two weeks so I can't drive. I had an MRI of my neck on December 12 and since my hand has been tingling and hurting me at night, so much that it is keeping me from sleeping half the night. The only way I can relieve the pain is to hang my arm off the side of the bed. Fortunately I only feel a little tingling during the day.I am hoping to clear up both by the end of February. Doctors are confused about both my eye and my hand problems. I had to go to the ER yesterday because I could not sleep Sunday night.... GEE, I just got a video visit call from the hand doctor! She read my MRI of my neck and she will schedule a steroid injection in my neck and give me some drugs first in hope of relieving my hand problem. OH and, I have changed my mind and we will bottle half our 2025 wines in July because we need empty barrels for the 2026 Harvest. I will post more about all these things when I know more............... One thing I forgot to mention: I have been tasting many samples of our 2024 wines before we started bottling and I made one important decision! We are using too much new oak in some of our wines. Also I discovered that the new French oak we are using is smoothing all the wines used in those barrels. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. Like do we want our wines to show more character from the vineyard? I have big decisions to make by tasting barrel samples from our new 2025 vintage. Friday January 16, 2026 Dr Bacharach my long time eye doctor is confused about what is causing my eye problem in my left eye so I went to an optometrist I like and he explained more. It looks like there are some particles on my cornea and I have to put heat compresses on my eyes and blink constantly and there is much more I may have to do like wear contacts filled with liquid, too much information. I am still alive. Oh and I am taking steroids and getting a shot in my neck for my hand that swells up at night because I have a pinched nerve in my neck............ Wednesday January 21, 2026 The 6 day pills of the steroid is over. I was amazed when the pain in my whole body subsided during the 6 days, BUT now the pain is coming back. During that time, I did stop the only pain prescription I was taking, Celebrex. I have decided to continue to not take Celebrex to see if I can endure any pain. I have been told that because of my one kidney, I should not take any NSAIDs. Time will tell. On January 29, I will get the shot in my neck. I tried small samples of Cabernet, Aca Modot and Petit Verdot from what we bottled yesterday. The Cab was smooth and intense and the Aca Modot was complex. I was not impressed with the Petit Verdot. At this stage I thought it was somewhat bitter. These were all 2024 wines aged 16 months. We could use more Nebbiolo and Sangiovese so in the Spring, we may bud over some of the PV to one of those. Friday January 30 2026 Last night I tasted the 2024 Sagrantino and Aglianico. I really preferred the Aglianico for the intensity. Remember I like intense upfront wines. I thought at this stage the Sagrantino was very round and balanced but still very intense which is a good thing for some of you. I think maybe I will use less French oak this year, I think the ones with heavy oak and open grain that I have been buying, seem to smooth the wine a little too much for me, maybe covering up the fruit a little more than I want. I am really thinking of bottling half our 2025 wine in July. I will try to see if we can release the wine for some orders that have all those wines. Otherwise, like if someone bought Grenache and Cabernet in the same order that would be a problem since I will definitely bottle the Cab next January and probably will bottle the Grenache in July. We have to bottle some of the wine in July to free up some empty barrels for the 2026 Harvest. I am really thinking the Block 4 should be more in neutral barrels to show off the character of the vineyard. That may mean bottling some in July that had some oak and maybe aging the rest in neutral oak for the remainder of the 6 months and bottling in January. The 6 months more aging will smooth out the wine. We do rack again in April so I could change the barrels I am using now. I have to make a lot of decisions soon since I must order the July labels. The choice of what barrels to use for the last 6 months for some of the wine will have to be made before we bottle and then rack in July. I will be doing a lot of tasting, It will be fun! I think I mentioned before, I am getting great at swirling a small amount of wine in my mouth and spitting the rest out. I really do not have to swallow the wine, to identify it, which keeps me somewhat alert! Well so far the shot I had, in my upper back near my neck yesterday has been relieving me of the pain in my hand and also some of the pain in the rest of my body. I know I can now take Celebrex but I don't need it yet! Tuesday February 3, 2026 Now after 5 days the pain in my neck is coming back so I have started taking Celebrex again, it sure helps! The steroid pills and shot with some steroid in it helped even more, but I hear that is not a good thing to do often? I am seeing a Rheumatologist on February 26 so it will be interesting to hear what she says to say. So far the extreme pain in my hand at night has not been a problem. As I have mentioned, because of the new system we are using, we can not release wines at the usual 10 month and 16 month times as before. SO, I have done a lot of thinking about barrels lately. I have been using mostly 30% new American oak for our lighter wines, like Grenache and Carignan. We have also been using 30% new American Oak for our Zinfandel based wines along with Petite Sirah and a few other heavier wines. We have been using about 50% new French oak for our Cabernet, Aglianico, Sagrantino, Italiano and Super Tuscan. For the first 10 months, I may change a little the mix of oak for some of these wines. We will bottle some of our lighter wines in July BUT I have made a big decision for the rest of our wines! In July when we rack for the last times our old vine Zinfandel and all our other wines, including our most heavy wines, the last 6 months before bottling in January, the wines will be racked into neutral older barrels. This last 6 months will give all these wines a chance to recover from the the oak influence and showoff the Terroir from our amazing unique vineyard. Terroir is a French term meaning the “sense of place” that a specific environment gives to an agricultural product, especially wine. It refers to how factors like soil, climate, topography, and local farming or winemaking practices shape the character, flavor, and style of what’s produced in that place.
	Dave For any comments or questions I encourage any of you to e-mail.....david@coffaro.com
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