October 23 - October 29, 2011

	Sunday October 23, 2011 12 Noon: I just went out and collected several bunches from our front block Aglianico. The fruit looks great, no rot and the berries are firm on the stems. I did not see a lot of raisins and I selected bunches I thought were larger and maybe a little less ripe than the average. The brix came in at 23.0 so we need at least another week and probably 10 days. The Ph was fine at 3.7 but we are looking for a sugar of 25%. We have to hope for dry weather.  Wednesday October 26, 2011 I has been busy around here so I am making time to write. In the last three days we have harvested almost 5 tons of Carignan at 26 brix. We also harvested all the fruit that will go into our 2011 Escuro which was 600 pounds of Alvarelhao, 1600 pounds of Aglianico,1000 pounds of Tannat and 1500 pounds of Souzao. The combined sugar was over 25%, perfect. We pressed the Lagrein yesterday and some of that will go into the Escuro also. Tomorrow we will start on the Cabernet. Thursday October 27, 2011 9:00 Pm: This has been a big and adventuress day. My sister hung up on me, and Vivien, my Mother is taking a stronger drug for her pain so she is happy now. She is home and has agreed to having around the clock assisted care. Her mind is great!!! Yesterday she said she felt like the poor relative.......long story. Today she asked about the Dow Jones advance of 339+. She is into the news. I said that is right, I am doing fine. She said three times "I need to get up and moving again". Our Harvest is near: end and I hope to see Vivien next week. My sister thinks I should be down there. She is stressed out. We are both stressed so we are together to help our mother. My Mother has been the most important person to me in my life, but I also have to get the Harvest in.......I will be there soon. What a day!! I got a call from our local paper yesterday. Like I have said in the past, I have been in touch with the paper in the past with very disappointing results. Well the last person in charge is gone, maybe, so there is a new person......Cathy Bussewitz, The Press Democrat New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. It was neat..........we had a photographer here today and we may be in the paper Monday. At the winery, the most important information is Cabernet Sauvignon. I can only say Wow! And, John was here today to help. He is from Cloverdale and wants to learn more about the grapes that surround him all over this Sonoma County. He will not take money and he has taken only a few wines. I am hoping, he is thinking I might help him connect again with a mutual friend, but that is only a hope on my part. I digress again! Cabernet Sauvignon!!! Some day I will open all our Cabernet Sauvignon wines back to 1994, maybe at an event, but tomorrow I will bring up a few recent ones. Today we harvested almost 4 tons. I can't wait to taste the results in a glass. I have not checked the PH yet and I will soon, but the sugar was great at over 26%. I am hearing stories that most Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa is coming in at low sugars. Tomorrow we will finish the rest and on Saturday we will harvest Cabernet Franc. The end is near.   Friday October 28, 2011 Tonight I remember the first time I had an adventure, escape, after my Father died in an accident when I was 10 years old. All I remember: It was in a strange garden, maybe an abandoned house, it was in 1955 and my Mother was watching our pennies so I went out with a friend for free fun. There was one property that had a broken bottle in the yard. I stepped on it but did not notice until my tennis shoe was soaking in my blood. I remember: I had no pain. I knew I had only three blocks to get back to my home. I don't remember too much after that but I do know I was fine and was back on my feet the next day. I do still see a scar, but it is just a reminder. That is when I got a little confidence and thought I did the right thing. The rest of the Cabernet came in today and it looked fantastic. The sugar was close to 27% and the PH was 3.4, great. Tomorrow is Cab Franc. Saturday October 29, 2011 Today was busy again, but mostly with many customers in the tasting room. The Cabernet Franc came in a little lower in sugar than I hoped, at 23+%. The 1600 pounds will only press into a little over two barrels. After racking we would have less than two barrels. We have already sold 44 cases of Cabernet Franc (about two barrels) on futures so we have taken the wine off our futures form. I've decided to blend in about 25% high sugar Cabernet Sauvignon harvested yesterday to make sure the Cabernet Franc comes in at over 14% alcohol and I also need some for our Aca Modot blend. We will bottle 47 cases of Cab Franc in July, leaving me only three cases for my cellar. While figuring out these blends I decided to take my first look at estimating some of the other blends for this 2011 vintage. I have been planning 20 different wines, including a Grenache and this new Cab Franc. We still have our Mourvedre (to be blended into our Terre Melange) and Aglianico to be harvested Tuesday. On Monday we will harvest the rest of our 2nd crop Zinfandel and Carignan. In about 10 days I will have all the wine in barrel. Then I will have all the parts to the puzzle and thus be able to decide on the final blends.
	Dave david@coffaro.com
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