March 22 - May 16, 2026 
Sunday March 22, 2026
A little more detail on the medical front. One of my problems is severe back pain. Last week my doc did a procedure called Lumbar medial branch blocks, where a local anesthetic is injected near the medial branch nerves that supply the facet joints in the lower back. This treatment helps diagnose and temporarily relieve pain originating from these joints, often due to conditions like arthritis or injury. For several days I had no pain!
In days gone by people would get spinal fusion surgery to deal with this sort of pain. Consider it a last resort and it makes it hard to bend. Because I did have no pain for a few days it means that the pain may be dealt with by destroying the nerves that transmit the pain. This can be done by a relatively new procedure called RFA for Radio Frequency Ablation. By generating heat around the nerve, the nerves are ablated, thus destroying their ability to transmit signals to the brain. Because the temporary anesthetic worked, I am a good candidate for RFA. Pain relief is something like 6 to 12 months (or sometimes longer). Eventually the nerves regrow and pain returns, but the procedure can be repeated.
I think this is what my doc now has in mind. I'll let you know when I know more.
Thursday March 26, 2026
I go in for my second needles injection next Tuesday. I know it officially is called a Lumbar medial branch block but I like to call it Needles because it really is several needles injected in my lower back. It really does not hurt at all and last time I felt relief immediately so I hope the same this time. I see the doc on April first the day after, and I hope it won't be April fools, but a conformation that the needles worked. If so the doc can set up an appointment to burn the nerves. Time will tell.
We are racking right now. I have tasted many 2025 barrel samples in the last three weeks and I have decided to replace all the 2025 American Oak barrels with 2024 barrels. Those barrels are used mostly in our Zinfandel based wines. 2024 barrels have only been used about 9 months on average so they still have oak flavor in them. As I have said when tasting blind lately, I have been impressed with neutral oak barrels, meaning older barrels that have been used more than 3 years. I found they show off the varieties in my vineyard better than new oak. We will still age all our wines for 16 months but some will have less new oak.
Thursday April 9, 2026
Yesterday, Jose and Salvador finished racking all our 2025 wine. We may now leave most of the wine in these barrels until bottling in January. Wines, like our Zin based wine, Grenache and Carignan will probably be aged mostly in neutral oak starting in July. Also in July we will be bottling our Fresco Rose and Chardonnay.
Good news, on April 22, I will go in to finish the injections in my back. As explained on March 22, Dr Dhillon will burn the nerves in my back and I may be pain free for many months.
Monday April 13, 2026
I am excited, I finally get some money! We are charging customers for our Dave's Club today. I still owe money to Lopez for work he did on our Winery roof. That metal building is the first building built here back in 1995. Now we have 5 other storage buildings. The metal building was remodeled in the interior several years ago when my daughter Kate married Bryan but the roof finally started leaking so that was a big project. All the meta panels had to be removed and then Lopez found insulation which was damaged also so that had to be replaced. The whole project cost me more money than I expected so I told Lopez he would have to wait until now. We had paid him more than half of what it cost but Lopez did not tell us what he was spending and thus it was a shock to hear the final cost. Lopez and his crew has done many jobs over the years including remodeling the canopy earlier last year and he has done great work but he is not good at communicating the costs even when he gives us scribbles on a piece of paper for estimates. So this time was the worst, he had put a large total at the bottom of a piece of paper that was half the final cost. It looks like we will be using another construction company in the future!
Wednesday April 22, 2026
Today the Lumbar medial branch blocks procedure was done on my lower back. I was told the doc used microwaves to-burn my nerves so I hope it will last for a few months, we will see. Right now there is no pain where the 6 needles here injected, the pain in my upper back and neck is still there.
Wednesday May 6, 2026
Well it has been an interesting two weeks. On May 3 I turned 83 and of course there was celebrations. On Saturday May 2, Kate and my two grandchildren came by to spend the day and night. I had so much fun spending a lot of time with the kids. The best part was to make pizza. I started off with flour, sourdough starter, water and Fast acting pizza yeast. Then my 4 year old Maia saw me manipulating the ingredients and decided she wanted to get in the action. She started pounding on the dough and then my one and half year old Jude wanted to get in the action so he also got up on a stool and I gave him half the dough to also pound on it. I figured it would not hurt the dough so after a while I took over and tightly rolled the two doughs into one ball. After one hour it was time to put the dough in the frig. You see with the pizza yeast I have found if I am using the dough the same day, it must go in the frig for two hours to slow it down. Then of course the two kids decorated the pie and I tossed it in the pizza oven. Gee it must have been the grandchildren because it was the best pizza I have made with many of airy bubbles in the crust!
During the previous week, I had two ultrasounds on my leg to see how my circulation is doing. And I saw my optometrist to check on my left eye and gee it is improving!. On the 25th we had the Passport event and I poured the 2024 Super Tuscan. I find the 2024 Super Tuscan is heavier than the 2023.
The burning in my back has helped but I still have some pain on my right lower back.
Our labels are ready so we may bottle our 2025 Rose and Chardonnay at the end of June.
Dave
For any comments or questions I encourage any of you to e-mail.....david@coffaro.com
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