Weeks 24-25
June 11, 2000 to June 24, 2000 

	Saturday, June 17, 2000  There's fog!! I guess you have heard we have had some extreme ranges in temperatures in the last week We had 108, 114 then the last two days the temperature has drooped to 95 and then 87 yesterday. There is definite damage to the leaves and bunches, but every year we have some damage so I am not too concerned now. I am in the process of reassessing the potential crop and I will give a further report next week.  Wednesday, June 21, 2000 Susie and Kate have been out of school into the second week now, so I have had little time to come down to write in the evening. I prefer the evening , because I can concentrate without being interrupted by the events of the day. Every day there are so many things that occur that change my life that I should carry a tape machine or of course a perpetual video camera.  I have finally finished my new estimate of the wines we will produce for the coming harvest in less than 3 months. I will only state now how many cases I will produce and why, but later this evening or tomorrow Brad will check this out and will have received my excel file. This file will include the percentages of grape varieties and hopefully he will upload that info to the site.  Last week we did a tally on the amount of 2000 futures we have sold. Each year the pressure  mounts to produce more wine, because we sell these pre-harvest futures at a faster pace. This year we have already sold over 1800 cases. Every week we continue to receive orders even though we have removed the form off the internet. This obviously gives me a great deal of pride, but also increases the need to produce more wine. BUT I will resist as much as I can..Since we no longer have a distributor, we probably will be selling less wine through those channels.  Here are the total sales so far: Zinfandel (476 cases), Estate Cuvee (410 cases), Petite Sirah (252 cases), Aca Modot (225 cases), Cabernet Franc (170 cases), Carignan (152 cases), Sauvignon Blanc (122 cases) and Block 4 (13 cases).  I am now hopeful that we will have a normal yield from our cabernet sauvignon grapes, so the cases amount on the zinfandel remains the same at 985, but the cabernet hopefully will increase to 10%. Now that we have sold over 400 cases of Estate Cuvee I want to increase that production to 785 cases (we have less than 10 cases left of 1999). Petite Sirah will stay at 600 cases. The sales of Aca Modot have been a big surprise. We planned on making only 300 cases, but fortunately it appears that the malbec, cabernet franc and even the petite verdot and merlot planted on the site in 1994 are starting to yield better. A small amount of barbera from that area will also be added to the blend. We now hope to produce 380 cases, but it appears that we will sell out of this wine before the end of the year. Depending on the year, even at maturity, we will be producing from 350 to 500 cases maximum from this old Pomo site. The Cabernet Franc blend (340 cases) will continue to consist of neighbors' grapes. We are very happy with the quality from this fruit, but we will be selling some of our own fruit next year so it makes less sense for us to be purchasing big quantifies from our neighbors. Carignan is another matter. I like carignan, and thus I want to produce more (450 cases). I am determined this year to produce this wine with an alcohol content of over 15%. Since in winemaking we are not allowed to add alcohol, this will require the harvesting of these grapes at over 25% sugar. We have already sold out of our 1999 Sauvignon Blanc, so we will be producing atleast 250 cases of 2000. I will also be harvesting a half a ton of chardonay from our vineyard (planted in 1981 and usually sold to Lambert Bridge). We will be picking this fruit at low sugar with the possibility of blending into the Sauvignon Blanc. The Block 4, our field blend may produce up to 160 cases and thus will not be offered through our web site (please call). We may produce 4000 cases total, more than I want.    Thursday June 22, 2000 Here are the current estimates for the 2000 vintage:      # cases Percentages Zinfandel (Estate Bottled)  985 75% zin, 10% cab, 7 % carignan, 5% PS and 3% barbera Estate Cuvee (Estate Bottled) 800 32% zin, 28% cab, 24% carignan, 16 % PS Aca Modot (Estate Bottled)  380 59% cab, 13 % cab franc, 16% malbec, 7% barbera, 3% petite verdot and 2% merlot Petite Sirah  600 76% PS, 14% syrah, 5% carignan and 5% zin Carignan  450 75% carignan, 12% syrah, 8% zin, 5% barbera Cab Franc  340 75% CF, 12.5% syrah, 12.5 % zin Block 4 (Estate Bottled)  160 40% zin, 40% PS, 20% mixed varietals Sauv Blanc (Estate Bottled)  300 90% sauvignon blanc and 10% chardonnay Saturday, June 24, 2000 I would like to let everyone know who reads this diary that we will be having an open house on Saturday July 15. We will be open to the general public during the day and to 1999 futures customers by appointment only in the evening (Admission will be a bottle of wine). We will be pouring all our newly bottled 1999 wines including Pinot, Aca Modot and Block 4. Any 1999 futures customers who wish to participate or pick-up wine, please contact us for further details.
	Dave
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