March 22 - April 12, 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.
Dave
For any comments or questions I encourage any of you to e-mail.....david@coffaro.com
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