February 14 - February 27, 2021

	Sunday February 14, 2021 I need to explain a little more about coffaro.com here at the winery. The internet connection goes down here for no reason at times. I can still surf and thus go to any website but coffaro.com. That means I can not post the diary or get mail. Brad and I are still trying to figure it out, but Brad has to restore it so he is very important to Pat and and I at the winery. 8+ So tonight I am tasting Barolo against our 2013 Aglianico and a high end Aglianico from Italy, East of the Amalfi coast. I want to find out which Varietal is the most intense. I swirl every wine so I almost gargle........to me that is the only way to see how the wine tastes...........I digress I started yesterday tasting Barolo and Aglianico and now I need another day since last night I was not that impressed with the Italian wine but it game into it's own tonight.......more input tomorrow........ I am looking at Tennis and It is complicated to figure out what our actual sales were last year. Shopify is complicated and makes it hard to figure out. Maybe i should have all our " Futures " charges go into before the wine is claimed? It would be more simple and I would not spend trying to figure all the partial refunds and most important partial claimed wine. I like a challenge so it is like an easy game to me, not like Chess.............So This system, Shopify can not figure out these transactions so I have spent hours trying to be correct and give my accountants an accurate figure for our sales last year..........................I love a challenge So my Pizza Turntable for inside Pizza when it is raining tonight and I can't do BBQ, turned out great tonight so I may have more input tomorrow BUT GEE the market is closed but I hope the shop in New York calls me back tomorrow to tell me why they sent me wine I did not order....... So I am back and That Cat was out in the garage. He does not like the rain......he does not have a potty box so he has to go out. The rain is slowing down so I opened the door for him to see there is no one looking to hurt him. He is a survivor so far. I think we have lost more than 10 cats over the years to the road or monsters out in our vineyard. Did I mention Tennis and there are two new series tonight, one about Lincoln!! And one about food in Italia....fun..........fun........fun Monday February 15, 2021 OK, the mystery case I received has been resolved. Go back to last week to see more. I did receive 2 bottles of Roth Reserve and 2 bottles of Regular. I had stated I only received one bottle of Reserve. I just talked to the guy who selected the other 6 bottles that were in the case I received last Friday. He said we talked on the phone, but I am sure I did not ask him to add these specific wines and I never received an email suggesting what they should be. Maybe I was on the website looking to add another 6 bottles and he called OR I called, it has been 2 weeks. That said, I am keeping the wine since the total charges seem to be OK. They might have even charged less for the shipping. I will have fun tasting more Cabernet.............I will be ordering no more!! Tuesday February 16, 2021 8.....Tennis later A new day......I went to a Physical Therapy place to look into my back problem. This was not my suggestion, I can stand pain, but my new primary asked me to go. As you know I have trouble standing and walking even around the kitchen while preparing our main course in the evening. After about 45 minutes, I need to go out and mellow out with a glass of our sparkling and a glass of mixed white wine. Of course that is after a shot of Grapefruit, Tequila, and Campari, and of course there is a lime. Then I am ready By sitting out by the BBQ for only 10 minutes I am fine with my back usually.........but this evening!!! OK I have had my primary doctor ask me to try Physical Therapy and I have tried over the years but it has not helped me........... LIKE after to day at 9am, this new lady had me do a few very small exercises, not more than 10 minutes.........a few small exercises......I am hurting tonight. Sure I will try again, but I have knee problems and they want me to pull up my legs and it should help my back? I will try 9 exercises they suggest and I will do it for the next few days, since they want me back on Friday to suffer more??? I hear they will try new things and I will see.......... TSLA was down so I bought more to make some money to pay for all this high end wine I have been buying OK, winemaking. Our great warriors moved at least 100 barrels around today, Organization, we had to move the bottling line.....long story, but not interesting to most of you Politics, I am still concerned, but I have no more to say right now. I am happy with Biden SO Far.......IPA Wednesday February 17, 2021......8++ I really need an IPA after consuming wine Our youngest employee has had an accident on his Motorcycle............ He is in a coma and he has a 50 percent possibility to survive. He is only 18 years old so that could help....... He is Catarino and Martha's Son We know so far he went through a 4 way stop and went into a van at high speed,........... He has worked here for over a year, like I said he is only 18 and has done a great job here. So in the afternoon after leaving here does he go off and drive his Motorcycle. We have seen it a few times...........most of the time he comes with his parents. On a normal day At 2 pm they leave here, all our great Warriors at about 2 pm, after being here at 7am and then Cristian goes off to have fun? We feel somewhat responsible that we gave this nice guy money in his salary that gave him the opportunity to purchase a motorcycle. I asked him once why.......he did not answer. I said every person who drives a motorcycle will get injured...............this is so tough We are devastated. THIS Family is what is the most important.............!! This family does everything here. Jose does all the winemaking with Salvodor............Catarino runs the vineyard with Salvodor, Salvodor is not a Family member but he is their best friend........ Then there is Martha a gem, the Mother.........Who does so much here!!! I could actually imagine something like this happening to Pat and I......I am sorry, I remember tonight my Father had an accident ....................I digress We hope Martha can get through This...... be carefulllllllllll everyone out there We hope for the best.............the winery will be closed tomorrow Thursday February 18, 2021 The latest update on Cristian is not good. Doctors here performed surgery and they are going to do another one at 1 pm. If he survives this surgery he will be transferred to UCSF or Stanford. It looks like he may me paralyzed. 7++ IPA Pat says why am I updating everyone on my diary. It is my diary and as I have said it is what is in my mind, so she says people don't want to hear what is happening here. I know she would say something else but ......here is Cristian went through another surgery and will go through another soon and if things work OK he will be transferred to Stanford, that is all we know now........ I have tried many more Cabs, Aglianico and Barolo wines and I may have input in the future, these wines are expensive and We have wines that are more fruit forward so some think we have too much fruit in our wines........that is what I strive for and can not understand people who do not like fruit forward wines and with a middle and and end.......I digress Of course there are other things in my mind, like stocks, tennis and our new sale........but obviously Cristian is what we hope...........will be better.........tomorrow is another day Friday February 19, 2021 3 pm........Here is an update on Cristian. Pat talked to his sister and the only good news is we think he is not in a coma anymore. He is on a lot of drugs, obviously, so he is a sleep most of the time. He has responded to a few questions. The Family is only allowed in the hospital for 5 minutes at a time because of the virus. So we do not know exactly what the doctors are saying. He has had 6 surgeries in the last two days. We believe he has fractured most of his bones from the waist up including his jaw and neck. They think he will be paralyzed. We are hoping for the best. He is going to be moved to Stanford to do more surgeries. 7:30 pm.........As I have said I have been tasting some Cabs lately and also Chardonnay.......But nothing is in our mind more than Cristian. I have purchased 30 shares of TSLA lately and have a small loss, the stock is down from the high so time will tell........buy low sell high so I may buy more if it goes down next week. Don't ever chase a stock when it goes to new highs. Wait at least for it to sell off a little, It is rare when it does not happen....patience My Cruise stocks and Airlines are doing real well. I hope some of you took my advice to purchase some stock? Do not buy now, see if they go down a little, they are at 9 month highs............. Catarino is concerned as usual. He is the Father of Cristian and he is worried about the vineyard. He organizes all the operations in the vineyard so he wants to make sure we can get the pruning done. We assured him that Salvador and our new hire a few months ago, Antonio, will complete the final week needed to finish the pruning before bud break which is usually in March. My new Primary doctor has asked me to go to a Physical Therapy place, I went today for the second time. I have to go twice a week, for ever? Time will tell......... Saturday February 20, 2021 8+ Cristian and our other employees have insurance I established last year and it is Kaiser. I never imagined anything like this happening......so Cristian was moved from here in Sonoma County to Vacaville, I hear a Kaiser hospital, where they will do more surgeries on his jaw. We hope they will do as good as Stanford where we hoped he would be sent? More stressing, the Kaiser hospital there will not allow the Family to visit!!!!!! The Family is asking why???? I will taste two more Barolo wines tomorrow. They are intense, upfront but they do have a finish, similar to Aglianico. They are not balanced with a beginning, middle and an end.........and take a long time to mellow out, but I like the intensity on these young wines,,,,,,,....I will have in the tasting our 2019 Aglianico and one from Italy and taste blind......I have a 2013.........it will be fun....... Some of you may know I am in to boxing. So I have been saving up several matches. I still think it is the only pure sport...........one on one. Tennis is close, but Tennis does not involve touching your opponent.............So I have some boxing matches saved and I will look at them after the Tennis women's match tonight. UFC is not what I am interested in, but it also is one on one.............. Sunday February 21, 2021 I think I have talked about this before? We have not charged sales tax even in California until last month. Most customers in California are charged about 8% sales tax on everything except food. We decided a few years ago to pay the tax to the state and thus not charge our customers here. I felt it was unfair since we were not charging out of state customers. We have permits in almost every state in the country. Those permits cost money and also we pay excise taxes to most states. We are also charged sales tax in most states. Until last month we did not charge our customers. We have since started charging all customers sales tax. In most states, we only charge the sate tax, about 5% and not local taxes even though we must pay them. This has helped out with all these expenses, but still it does not pay for all the shortfall. We also have shipping expenses!! Our Club members are not charged shipping expenses or sales tax on their club shipments. They are charged sales tax and a flat rate of $20 on bottled wine outside their club shipment, but they get a 40% discount on bottled wine and 15% discount on Futures outside the club shipment. Other customers are also charged only $20 for shipping a case of wine. With shipping expenses and packages going up in price over the last few years we have paid more. For instance, our cost to ship to the East Coast is about $60 and our cost to ship to California is about $30. Pat and I have been thinking about some changes. First of all we started looking at what other wineries in Dry Creek Valley are charging for wine. I had not looked in the last few years. I was surprised to find almost all wineries are charging from $40, for non Estate Zinfandel and up to $60 for Estate or vineyard designation wines. This is about the same for other varietals and blends with Cabernet being much more. As some of you know we charge no more than $38 and we give a 40% discount for club members. I know I have said I think wine is too expensive but this is concerning. Some people out there may think our wine is inferior because we charge so little. Then there is our Futures Club!! Right now we charge only $16 a bottle, even for our Cabernet and best selling wine, Block 4. That includes shipping and sales tax. I justify this, because it does not cost us that much to produce a bottle of wine. All other wineries have similar costs. They charge so much because they can. Now like I said, our other costs and expenses like our backup generator and other equipment have been enough that the winery breaks even every year. Since Pat and I sell the grapes to the Winery, we make money and thus pay taxes. As I have said also I do real well in the Stock Market. NOW Should Pat and I decide to raise prices and if so which ones? 7+ I have heard from two people who know more than I. The Vacaville Kaiser hospital has done great things in the past so we are hopeful. At 9am tomorrow we hear that they will do a spine surgery on Cristian, I want to make this clear, I am not making a mistake on his name. His parents named him Cristian, not Christian..........We hope for the best. Of course the market is open tomorrow at 6:30 am and I will be ready to buy more TSLA if down. My Cruise and Airline holdings are fine now......going up. I have read some articles that some so called experts think we have a lot of people ready to buy many things, since they have been in home ready to get out and buy!! Unfortunately some restaurants will have closed. There will be new ones so I hope they will succeed. Pat and I go out to a restaurant rarely but we would like to have the opportunely. I am heading off tomorrow at 8:45 am after the market starts to Physical Therapy. I am happy with the exercises they have suggested, but I do not like going in and have them do heat and stimulus on my back for two times a week. I can do it at home see this is what i ordered.......https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q32KX3J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I am one of the 4 who decide on tasting here. I am up for starting outside tasting again so we will see. Catalina and Jesse are welcomed back tomorrow after being at home for a few weeks. They are here to pack up wine. We have over 100 cases to go out this week......OH is it because we sell wine at a good price. see above......... IPA Monday February 22, 2021 6:45 Am I have decided to cancel my 8:45 am Physical Therapy today. With all the changes with our employees and a lot of shipping today, I can not go off for this appointment at this time in the day. I will reschedule, but like I said, do I need to go in twice a week? I can do the exercises and stimulus at home. I will think about it and decided later. 8+ IPA, There has been a lot happening here today. I tried my exercises and even my new stimulus device and I thought I was doing better until tonight. I am in more pain since I was in Auckland a year ago and went through the airport before and threw out my back for the two weeks we were on a cruise and in Sydney. Yes I have pain but maybe this is good for me??? I made another appointment at the Physical Therapy place for Thursday. They want me there as much as possible so they can make some money, but I like these people, they want to make me feel better. I told them I can stand pain so we will see............... We heard about another close friend who has died, not from the Virus, but a stroke at about 90 years old. Peter was a good Friend. We will miss him, He always had something to say....OH, I miss him........ so back when Elvis died, Peter and Gena, his wife climbed up our 120 stairs in Fairfax and we listened to Elvis........I had every recording of Elvis. Gina had been to Vegas and seen him live. Gina and I cried to Old Ship.......look it up, but that was the first time Peter, was like us, nothing to say. Going back to the beginning.....Pat knew Peter and Gina before me and thus we were friends right away. The first time....... This is my diary. I do not want to forget these great times and i would like to share with others............. It was in January, 1973, the year Pat and I got married in September. It was so nice to meet Gina, she was Pat's room mate. I was offered a glass of nice wine. I sat down in a chair and caught my finger in the back of the chair. I started seeing some blood. I figured all I needed was a band-aid, I can stand pain.........but Peter jumped up and was concerned,. he was in control. Peter moved around the room and found some SULFUR and he insisted I put it on my cut. I had never heard that before so I accepted and I was fine in a few days. I never forgot Sulfur, especially when I bought This Farm. I will have more tomorrow. I want to go up and see Italy, a new series. Some of you may know, TSLA was down big today so I loaded up on 70 more shares, buy low sell high. I may buy another 30 tomorrow. My Airline and cruise stocks were up big today so I sold a few shares. Cristian went through another surgery today and it went well if you consider they need to take him off the ventilator tomorrow......More tomorrow Catarino, the Father has been home since he can not visit his son, so he wants to come in tomorrow and organize the last of the punning..........it will be hard for all of us.......... Tuesday February 23, 2021 7+ Sulfur, one more about Peter,,,,,....when I was up on a tractor in the first time in my life back in 1979, I found as the vines were growing, I needed to dust sulfur to preserve the fruit and I always thought about Peter.........look back if you want about the great times I enjoyed early at 5:30 am on my tractor and sulfur, a cloud of dust.......I digress.....IPA..Like I say, too many things going on here......... I could not function this morning, only my back hurt so I survived. I decided to still do my weights and a few stretching exercises so I survived. I did get to use my new stimulus device again and I like it, but I doubt it is helping. I will got back to the Physical Therapy place for Thursday and I will see. Catarino did come in today and also Jose. I asked them if they have been getting sleep, they said little........this is their Father and Brother. I gave Jose some over the counter sleep help and I hope he will get some sleep tonight. Martha the Mother is not doing well, but she wants to come back to help to make money.........She needs to stay home and when she wants to come bake a few times, I will still take care of her salary. OK, I was down in the office at 6 am and saw TSLA was down big. I bought 30 more shares so I have now bought 100 shares in the last few days, I am buying real low so I help to sell high............ Lincoln series is on for tonight............. Wednesday February 24, 2021 7+ OK second shot today, no problems yet. My back is still hurting me after all these excessive exercises. I had trouble walking only about two blocks in and out. but we are happy it went well......... My trade on TSLA has been good so I made another good profit so I paid for some of the wine I have bought lately. I tried some cabs tonight and even a cab from Chile was not great, A 91. Only $30 though and will improve over the next two days. I expected that from one that was $30, but not Forman which cost $100. I will try again tomorrow. I am still trying Aglianico wines against Barola and I need to try again, but the next two nights are about Cab Cristian had another surgery today on his jaw and things went well and they will wait to do more surgery on his pelvic in 3 weeks. We are all concerned about the costs with Kaiser. We have insurance for our employees but the family is concerned if Kaiser will step up.........otherwise there is medical and social security.......... Martha, the Mother wants to come in tomorrow and clean our kitchen!! She called this evening to find out if it was OK with us. She said she has to work to get her mind off this......................for a short time  Thursday February 25, 2021 7+ I want to be honest as usual, this is my diary. I do not think these Physical Therapy people are helping me even when I take Ibuprofen and a hit at night I still feel PAIN. A hit for me makes me think about all the pain but it helps me think about the next day......These people did not help today so I may not go back again I have decided to buy more TSLA so I may buy another 100 shares tomorrow if it goes down. If you believe in the future of electric cars, you should think about TSLA and several others, which are down this week. Let me know in an email if you want me to give advice....... Cristian is stable tonight and he is scheduled for new surgeries in the weeks ahead. Eventually he will be sent to a rehabilitating place to see what his chances in the future...... Martha did come in today and did a great job as usual, cleaning up all the mess I have done in our kitchen. She wants to get her mind off Cristian for a few hours.. Second shot after one day. Pat said she does not want dinner. I have never missed a dinner so I did fine, but maybe I am a little tired......IPA will help NOW Friday February 26, 2021 7+......IPA I bought some more TSLA to day so we will see what happens next week To night I tried the exercises again and again they made my back worse so what can I do?? I have researched and I see back fusion is not a good thing so I have made an appointment in 4 weeks with a back specialist and I am sure he will appease me and suggest that most doctors say........back fusion is not a good thing and of course do Physical Therapy. ......... I have heard from one person who reads my diary, he had successful surgery, but I hear that is rare. Like I say I can stand pain but can not go out in my 25 acres in the vineyard unless I am on my scooter........I have no problem with that......... Nothing new on Cristian........... The Cat was Back.........trying to get in the office.......... The Market is not open tomorrow so maybe I can get some sleep............ Saturday February 27, 2021 8+......IPA I have this Pain going down my Right Leg since I came here in 1979. It is a pain that is hard to deal with, after 30 minutes standing or even moving around, especially after I move around preparing our great Lobster and oven fries tonight. If I can figure out how to fix this, it would help. Today I tried massaging with this new device, four times today and it did not help and like I said these exercises have only made it worse........... I can deal with pain and I have my scooter, but i can't Walk in the vineyard and can not go to an airport BUT I can live just fine, as long as it does not get worse when I can only be in a wheel chair............. Boxing tonight......and IPA So this evening I tasted some Barolo again and it is astringent and intense. Pat is not a fan and maybe most of you would not like these wines. I like intense and especially astringent. These wines, I get......a big beginning and hard to find the middle but intense on the finish. I love Aglianico also so I tried both tonight. We grow the grape that is used for Barolo..........Nebbiolo but we only had 17 gallons last year so not enough to produce a barrel, but I will keep some separate this year in a small container and see what we have. We usually blend it into Italiano. I have heard no one around here has been successful growing Nebbiolo so maybe I should bud over to some next year if this small container produces interesting wine. I am sure no one this north has tried Nebbiolo.............
	Dave For any comments or questions I encourage any of you to e-mail.....david@coffaro.com
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