FRIDAY, JANUARY 27--A small number of you will receive an email notice from Jefferson that your credit cards will be run again in an effort to charge for the 2002 released wines.  I apologize for the lateness in working on these accounts.  These are for cards that were either declined are returned as invalid.  We run declined cards a number of times in order to give them a chance to clear and go through.  Invalid cards are usually because a digit is transposed or an illegible digit was misinterpreted.  For a number of you, accounts and expiration dates will need to be updated.  I appreciate all your understanding as we work on this.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18--Welcome to the new year.  Made it back alive from the changes in latitudes and the changes in attitudes that the Blues Cruise affects.  Will post some pictures when I'm able.  Michael's still off visiting family and friends in his home state.  I feel obliged to give him a shout out, though, I will make it a small one: Go Broncos!   There.  Enough said on that subject.

    Many of you have asked about the floods here.  St. Helena received over nine inches of rain in one day.  Our two main roads, HWY 29 and the Silverado Trail, had sections under four feet of water.  Therefore, we were cut off from the world.  Also, most streets out of town were flooded and blocked off.  However, Cheryl and I had a New Year's Eve Raider game and party to go to.  So we headed up over the Mayacamas Mountains on the the Oakville Road and turned north at Drycreek Road.  We four-wheeled it over numerous washouts, water falls, and mudslides.  As we descended down to Napa, we saw a sign facing the other way.  As we passed it, we turned back and read that the road was closed.  Good thing the one at the other end washed away.  No amount of hell or high water will come between us and a Raider game and a party. 

     This time of year is data base clean up time.  That means that we will be adding people from the wait list to the regular list.  A letter will be sent out to these people asking them to confirm their contact information.  These people must confirm with us in order to receive the '03 Release Offering Letter in the spring.  All initial offerings will be for three 750 ml bottles.

    Also, people who have purchased wine directly from us for three years in a row now, will be upgraded to what we call the Reserve status.  The K on the end of your customer number will be changed to an R and you will be receiving discounted prices on your next wine purchases.  Conversely, Reserve people who didn't purchase this past release will be down-graded to the regular mailing list status and will once again see a K at the end of their customer number.

    Also, people who haven't purchased wine from us for the past three years, will be taken off the active list.  So if 1999 was your last purchase, you are being replaced by wait listed people. 

    This is also the time of year we work on the wine allocation numbers.  We'll go through the list a number of times.  We utilize an allocation system in order to be as fair as we can to both the people who've been with us for a while and to the new people coming on.  The bottle allocation numbers are not written in concrete.  I refer to it as a flexible allocation system.  We try our hardest to fulfill your requests.  Generally, upping the number of 750 ml bottles is not a problem.  We are more limited in the splits and larger format bottles.  These, and all bottles, are allocated based on your purchase history and requests.  If you did not indicate your requests in the '03 request column, then your '02 purchases will be assumed as your '03 request.  People who remain on the active mailing list, but did not purchase any of the '02 wine, will be assigned an allocation of three 750 ml bottles for the '03 release.

    My son, Jefferson, will be working with me during the '03 release season.  Many of you know his better half, Alisa, from the past two seasons.  She's now at her father's electronics firm.  I trust that we will all have a great year together.