This is the label for my home winery. I make a small amount of wine at my family’s home in New Jersey where I have been living for the past almost eight months during the Pandemic. Due Gatti means two cats. These are my two big furry ginger tabbies when they were babies. I made my first vintage in 2006 when they were two.

This year I didn’t get my act together in time to buy grapes from Corrados, my reference point and supplier of grapes which hail from Lodi, CA. I had planned to buy Petite Sirah which I rediscovered with pleasure this year and have really been enjoying. Instead, I have committed to drinking through much of the wine I have in my cellar – about 80 bottles of my homemade wine. I often give them to my neighbors as well. It’s been a great way to barter and bring joy during Covid.

Some 14 years have past and my boys are 16. One passed away in April after a long illness and the other is almost there too and it’s breaking my heart but I know that they will live on both in my heart and on  my label for many years to come. My heart is heavy. These last two months, Pumpkin has taught me that it is really about enjoying each day, one purr at time. I’m hoping to have a few more days together as long as he is purring through it all.