Life Before Alsace
LIFE
We're now officially over a week with our new puppy. Sleep is lacking but he's awfully cute so it mostly makes up for the middle of the night bathroom breaks. On the bright side, at least he warns us now before he has to do some numbers (you know, 1 and 2). He also sits and comes to us, especially if you're holding anything resembling food.
One small problem we're having is that he hates his collar. Every time we put it on he goes berserk and runs into a wall. It would be funny if we weren't so scared about him damaging his developing brain by running head first into the baseboard heater. So I'm trying small doses when we're outside (not that many walls or large objects to run into out there). Yikes.
Things are quiet on the winery front. We'll be bottling our 2008 Sauvignon Blanc in early March, so we're proceeding with finishing that up. We have a pouring for our SF Chronicle medals at the end of February, followed by the World of Pinot in early March. Every day I eagerly check the mail for our government paperwork so we can get started on what we need to open the tasting room. Nothing yet...
WATER ISSUES
It's another gorgeous day here today, which makes us all very angry. Thank goodness rain is in the forecast because grapegrowers around the state are looking at probable water shortages for their vineyards. It's estimated that, in our area, if we don't get 15 inches by summer irrigation season that many vineyards won't have enough water to get a crop. That means that growers and wineries with vineyards are purchasing crop insurance this year with a "loss of irrigation" clause. It means that at least they'll be getting some money in return when they can't irrigate and don't get any fruit to sell. It's scary, so everyone please do your best rain dance for us. We need it desperately.
The only upside to something like this happening is that, yet again, wine production will be down in California. Small productions = scarcity = at least stable prices in this economy. That won't make up for the lack of wine to sell, but at least prices won't have to take a nosedive like the rest of the economy.
We're now officially over a week with our new puppy. Sleep is lacking but he's awfully cute so it mostly makes up for the middle of the night bathroom breaks. On the bright side, at least he warns us now before he has to do some numbers (you know, 1 and 2). He also sits and comes to us, especially if you're holding anything resembling food.
One small problem we're having is that he hates his collar. Every time we put it on he goes berserk and runs into a wall. It would be funny if we weren't so scared about him damaging his developing brain by running head first into the baseboard heater. So I'm trying small doses when we're outside (not that many walls or large objects to run into out there). Yikes.
Things are quiet on the winery front. We'll be bottling our 2008 Sauvignon Blanc in early March, so we're proceeding with finishing that up. We have a pouring for our SF Chronicle medals at the end of February, followed by the World of Pinot in early March. Every day I eagerly check the mail for our government paperwork so we can get started on what we need to open the tasting room. Nothing yet...
WATER ISSUES
It's another gorgeous day here today, which makes us all very angry. Thank goodness rain is in the forecast because grapegrowers around the state are looking at probable water shortages for their vineyards. It's estimated that, in our area, if we don't get 15 inches by summer irrigation season that many vineyards won't have enough water to get a crop. That means that growers and wineries with vineyards are purchasing crop insurance this year with a "loss of irrigation" clause. It means that at least they'll be getting some money in return when they can't irrigate and don't get any fruit to sell. It's scary, so everyone please do your best rain dance for us. We need it desperately.
The only upside to something like this happening is that, yet again, wine production will be down in California. Small productions = scarcity = at least stable prices in this economy. That won't make up for the lack of wine to sell, but at least prices won't have to take a nosedive like the rest of the economy.
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