David Coffaro Vineyard and Winery Winemaker's Diary

Weeks 44 - 46
November 6, 2005 to November 26, 2005 


  Monday November 7, 2005

I like really young wine and it is clouding my appreciation for Older recognized great wines. I do not like Bordeaux wines of any age. When I moved here in 1979 I could drink nothing, but Bordeaux and I had enough Bordeaux for one bottle a day or 30 a month. I still have many old Bordeaux and I pull one up from my cellar for friends, but unfortunately I do not appreciate them anymore even though my friends go OOH and AHHH when they taste these wines. I can't imagine going back to appreciating old Bordeaux and I do not like Borola. I know it is expensive, but it is too thin for me. I do like Lagrein and Aglianico from Italia. These two varietals are intense and we will have them in production in a few years. 

Thursday November 10, 2005

Tomorrow, Saturday, Australian time--it is Friday there, I pick up Kate at SFO. Kate my first born has been off to school in Brisbane for 5 plus months. She is 20 years old so it will be fun to hear what she has learned. 

I have another problem, but this time I can solve it. Today I had to move all the Doug Rafanelli Cabernet out of the winery. Tomorrow we need to place all the 25 barrels, 1500 gallons into two tanks. I would use one tank, but Rick Hutchinson of Amphora is using my big tank ( I don't want to go there). I wanted to set  up this move today so it will be easy when I head off to my Mother's in preparation to pick up Kate. Today I moved out 56 Barrels (500+ pounds each) from under our guest house ( I took responsibility for a change and moved most of the barrels myself)( The guest house was started only to store barrels and case goods on the bottom floor when we found out we could have a house above ONLY for marketing and promotional activities for non paying customers, I know, what does that mean). I will move in the Rafanelli Cabernet after Steve and Matt aerate it tomorrow by violently transferring the wine into these two tanks.

You see, the Doug Rafanelli Cabernet wine produced by me from his grapes needs some help. I will fix it, but right now the wine has a slight h2s problem, a little stinky. I can solve the problem by aerating and adding a very little copper sulfate.

The 56  barrels need to be moved to the winery because the Guest House garage where they were stored was getting colder. The temperature had dipped down into the mid 60's and I need the temp to be above 70 degrees and I am keeping the winery at 71 now. These 56 barrels, I believe, still need heat to finish fermentation. It was an easy decision to now move the Rafanelli to the Guest House garage since it is through fermentation and does not need heat now. I have been thinking about this move for over a week and now it will be accomplished tomorrow. That is a load off my mind. 

Friday November 18, 2005

It is great to have Kate back again. I do not need to get reacquainted since I know her so well. But it is so nice to hear her voice again. As all of you know we all have a distinctive voice and also a personality that can never be duplicated unless in person. Even video can not capture the real event of being with someone. I know I will see Kate for a few weeks here before she goes off for school again and I hope to enjoy as much as possible. Of course she has already seen Harry Potter today and she is off to see Healdsburg in a playoff game. Kate will be helping at the winery tomorrow so even you could see her before she goes off to continue her adventure in life. 

The Tannat from Lodi is a puzzle. I can't figure it out. It has some body, but does not have the tannin I had hoped for. Next week I will start my blending. This will be the most interesting year for blending since I will have many different wines (320 barrels, 19,200 gallons). I will have more to relate to you next week when I make my decisions. I have already started putting all data into Excel and will publish the stats in an excel file next week. You could also make comments about the blending, LIKE I still have some who want me to make a 100% Petite Sirah (It May Happen This Year). 

Monday November 21, 2005

12:00 Noon: I have great news for all you botrytis lovers. Catarino just harvested 774 lbs of Sauv Blanc and Semillion which have been infected with the noble rot known as botrytis. We will start pressing it soon and I believe the sugar content will be over 40%.

5:00Pm: We have started pressing and the first indication is a sugar content of 38%. The reading should increase as we continue.

Thursday November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our final sugar reading on the Late Harvest went to 41%. Anyone who is interested in purchasing it on Futures can e-mail me. The price for now will be $14 a half bottle and $12 to Circle Members.


Dave
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