Joseph Phelps Vineyards

General Winery News: The Ageability

of Insignia

With the release of the 1999 vintage, Insignia celebrates its 25th birthday, with most of the early releases still going strong. What accounts for the wine's extraordinary longevity?

In October of 2001, Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine published the results of a vertical Insignia tasting which included 15 wines beginning with the inaugural 1974 vintage. Of that
wine they wrote: "Even today, the wine is rich and supple with sweet fruit and mild tannins holding
it up . . . This first Insignia is still a remarkable bottle of wine." (Click here for additional excerpts from the review.)

When asked to analyze the various viticultural and enological components that contribute to a wine's ageability, Craig Williams, JPV's Senior Vice-President and Director of Winemaking, answers, "Aging potential is related to a wine's ability to resist oxidation."

Craig's first Insignia goes back to the 1977 vintage, but he credits Walter Schug, JPV's first winemaker, with laying the foundation for quality control standards. "Walter was very focused on cleanliness of barrels, temperature in the barrel room, and hygiene and sanitation in general. He was fastidious in minimizing a wine's exposure to oxygen while it was being transferred and racked, and all of this contributed to Insignia's ageability."

Still, before the 1990's, when JPV's Insignia vineyards came into their own, there was much more luck involved in both the quality and ageability of the wine.

"A lot changed in the 90's," Craig explains. "We became more detailed in the selection and blending process. In the past, we would take the press wine and free run and age them separately, then blend them back together. But in some years this process created too much resistance to oxidation and created overly tannic wines. Today we grade the press wine and free run separately and make multiple cuts before blending them together. We also blend earlier, which creates a buffer against oxidation."

Grape sources for Insignia are primarily estate-owned Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot vineyards in Stag's Leap and Rutherford, but blending options are kept open, and both the '97 and '99 vintages have included a small amount of Petit Verdot from the home ranch in Spring Valley. Following the Bordeaux tradition, in years that are warm enough, late-ripening Petit Verdot contributes structure and ageability by increasing the quality of color and tannins.

Today's Insignia represents an evolutionary process with vintages from the last ten years displaying more vibrant, youthful flavors and greater potential for longevity. This is attributable not just to superior quality vineyards, but to more sophisticated winemaking techniques.

"The 1999 and 2000 Insignias had different crop loads and different chemistry," Craig explains, "but both are outstanding examples of their respective vintages and have similar aging potential. Technique is the reason for this, and 25-plus years of experience goes a long way in helping mitigate the ups and downs of different growing seasons."



RELEASE DATE: Spring 2002.

BLEND & GRAPE SOURCE: 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 6% Petite Verdot, 1% Malbec and 1% Cabernet Franc, primarily from estate-owned vineyards in Stag's Leap and Rutherford, with additional fruit coming from independent growers in Carneros and St. Helena.

WINEMAKER NOTES: The outstanding 1999 vintage was characterized by a long growing season which allowed flavor development to proceed at a measured pace. Temperatures were mild, there was no threat of rain, and warm weather in mid-July allowed the crop to mature into picture-perfect clusters of small berries which, by harvest, displayed optimal color, flavor and acid levels.

The Insignia from this growing season is a deep, black cherry red color, with aromas of roasted black fruit, licorice, cedar and spice. The tannins are rich and full in flavor and texture to give this wine incredible depth and length in the finish.

Winemaking News: My Daughter is in

College, or Why Good Wine Costs so Much

By Craig Williams, Senior. Vice-President & Director of Winemaking

Our daughter left for college this year after 18 years of care, love and guidance. Almost two years ago, my wife and I performed the obligatory task of reading an array of college reference books, sending our daughter to SAT preparatory classes, visiting colleges and filling out the dreaded application forms. Most daunting was the high cost of this education. During the time we were waiting to hear from the colleges we had applied to, an April 8, 2001 article in the New York Times clearly explained why these costs would only get worse. (And in the process, unintentionally shed light on the high cost of quality winemaking.)

The authors* outline the difficulties experienced by labor-intensive industries such as health care, law, education and social work in controlling the cost of sales or increasing productivity. When compared to "hard industries," the cost of delivering these services goes up, not down, over time. In economic circles, this condition is known as Baumol's disease, named after William J. Baumol, director of the C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics at New York Univer-sity, who first explained this disparity in productivity.

Dr. Baumol uses Mozart as an example. Although centuries have passed since the composer's death, playing one of his quartets for string still demands four instruments,
four players and the same number of minutes. No method has ever been discovered to
make this process more efficient despite the enormous gains in industrial productivity
during the same time.

The authors reveal that education shares a similar fate. Schools have tried to increase class size, insist that the professors teach more classes or have teaching assistants assume more educational responsibility. None of these approaches are popular with students, parents or faculty. The real cost of teaching has risen 67 percent over the last 18 years and still, the number of students taught by each professor has remained relatively constant. Yet despite this high cost, international student enrollments are up 108 percent over the last 25 years and they continue to come in droves willing to pay full price. (Obviously, for American colleges and universities quality of education remains the overriding motivator.)

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Which brings me to the subject of quality winemaking. Despite all of the technological advances during the past century, we have not yet found a shortcut to produce quality wine. Yes, technological advances have provided wineries with improved winemaking and processing equipment. Some of the advances are quite sophisticated allowing wineries to carefully and without detriment remove water from grape juice and alcohol or acetic acid (vinegar) from wine. Yet, the time allotted to growing, hand harvesting, crushing and fermenting grapes into wine remains the same.

We barrel age our wine for the same amount of time used years ago. Sure, we could add oak chips into a tank of wine to quickly extract oak flavor without the inconvenience of filling hundreds of oak barrels. We could also bubble oxygen through the tank of wine to shortcut the aging process but the fragrance and flavor results would not be the same.

Rotary fermenters, capable of extracting color and tannin within 2 days compared to traditional 10-14 day fermentation, produce wines similar in quantitative chemistry but the qualitative taste tells a different story. Rotary fermenters used this way provide speed and low cost but don't provide much flexibility in the fermentation process; seed tannins, depending on the vintage, sometimes take much longer to extract.

Or, we could substitute our gentle and time-consuming batch press equipment with a continuous press operation increasing our yield per ton and reducing the cost of production. However, the press wine, an essential component in producing the appropriate balance and longevity in a wine, would be compromised in quality, making it unsatisfactory for blending. Even in the vineyards, we spend increasingly more time not less with hand vine care procedures to ensure the highest fruit quality at harvest. As with Mozart, any compromise during the process inexorably changes the result.

Quality wine that embodies the characteristics of its region or place cannot be produced cheaply. Like a quality education, I wouldn't want to settle for less.

Special Report: Under Visionary John De Luca, the Wine Institute Comes of Age

By Kathie Fowler

In his quarter century with the Wine Institute as President and CEO, John De Luca has presided over the most tumultuous time in the industry's history, which from an historical perspective alone would make interesting reading. But De Luca himself is so articulate and impassioned about his work, and brings such a global perspective to it, that any understanding of today's wine industry must include De Luca's role in shaping it. At the beginning of his tenure he formulated a vision, and in the course of implementing that vision the wine industry was changed forever.

At first glance, De Luca seems an unlikely candidate to lead the wine industry into the 21st century — or to be the recipient of the 2001 "Agriculturist of the Year" award.

Born of immigrant parents from Sicily and reared on the Lower East Side of New York, De Luca quips that his first introduction to agriculture was "my mother giving me a small pot of basil and parsley to water on the fire escape."

In 1948, when John was 15, the family moved to Los Angeles, then a largely agricultural community. "My father loved the orange groves and vineyards and open spaces," De Luca recalls. "It reminded him of Italy. We would get Zinfandel grapes from Cucamonga, and he would crush and ferment them in barrels that he'd brought from New York.

After high school, De Luca graduated from UCLA with Phi Beta Kappa honors in political science. He received his Master's Degree in Soviet Studies from Harvard in 1958 and his Ph.D. in International Relations from UCLA in 1967. In 1959 and '62 he traveled throughout the Soviet Union with several U.S. Exhibits attached to the Embassy's Cultural Section, and in 1965-66 he served as White House Fellow in Lyndon Johnson's administration. During this time he worked on national security matters and served on various State Department coordinating committees. His political contacts eventually led him to San Francisco, where he served as Deputy Mayor under Joseph Alioto from 1968-75.

"My job morphed dramatically from opening doors in Washington to governing a city," he remarks. "The police and firefighters were on strike, the SLA had kidnapped Patty Hearst, the Black Panthers were out in force, and we were dealing with the Zebra killings. It was one of the most turbulent times in San Franciso's — and indeed the country's — history."

In 1975, when Alioto's two-term limit was up, Jo De Luca encouraged her husband to turn to the private sector. The head of the San Francisco-based Wine Institute was leaving, and after extensive discussions, De Luca was offered and accepted the position.

At the time the Wine Institute was primarily engaged in public relations and marketing activities such as sponsoring tastings, conducting seminars and publishing cookbooks. Wine was promoted as the beverage of moderation, a legitimate slogan but an inadequate marketing tool to fight the growing anti-alcohol movement which De Luca, in a white paper written in 1977, had termed "neo-prohibitionism."

"My studies showed that our adversaries were repositioning us as a 'sin' that should be taxed. That wine was a 'gateway drug' of choice right along with tobacco, crack and hard drugs. The wine industry didn't realize this. They thought everyone knew us and liked us."

Indeed, the entire alcohol industry was being perceived as a public health hazard by such government agencies as the Dept. of Health & Human Services, the FDA, and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism. Anti-alcohol groups wanted the "War on Drugs" to take on a political agenda involving health scares, warning labels, "sin" taxes, advertising controls and litigation incentives.

"It became clear to me that we couldn't counter these charges through public relations channels," De Luca reveals. "If we were going to be attacked on health issues, we had to counter-attack from a public policy standpoint. We needed to find independent proof that wine in moderation was nutritionally beneficial."

When asked how, in the face of seemingly overwhelming evidence to the contrary, he believed he could accomplish this, De Luca answers, "I trusted science. After all, it's a matter of history. Look at Crete, Cypress, Sicily — the whole Mediterranean. People have been following the same principle for thousands of years with wine: a little is good, a lot is not."

In 1991, when the Wine Institute changed from a trade association to a public policy advocacy group, the move was extremely controversial. "A lot of members felt that we rebuilt ourselves after Prohibition with good PR, and that I was throwing it all out the window by switching over to public policy," De Luca recalls. "Out of a total membership of 500, 150 resigned. It was a gut-wrenching experience. But it led to all of the positive things that have followed — the scientific approach, dietary guidelines, all of the achievements that place us on the side of diet, lifestyle and nutrition instead of street drugs and punitive laws and regulations." (Today, totaling 585 members, the Institute represents 92% of California's wine production.)

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The first break had already come in September of 1986 with an excerpt in Reader's Digest from an article called "The Mediterranean Diet - Ancient Secrets of Modern Nutrition," by Carol and Malcolm McConnell, in which wine was listed as part of a healthy diet. The article was later expanded into a book, and De Luca accompanied the McConnells around the country participating in seminars on the book. He then went to BATF. "Here is third party corroboration that wine can be part of a healthy lifestyle," he argued. "The Wine Institute has a First Amendment right to disseminate this information to the public — not for self-promotion or advertising, but as public policy." After two years of correspondence, the federal agency agreed.

The next break came on November 17th, 1991, with the airing of a report on "Sixty Minutes" titled The French Paradox. Interviews were featured with international medical experts showing a connection between regular, moderate wine consumption, particularly red wine, and low heart disease rates among the French, despite a lifestyle of a high-fat diet, smoking and little exercise. Research was presented from Boston University School of Medicine, the Lyon unit of INSERM (the French equivalent of the National Institute of Health), and the Harvard School of Public Health. In the four weeks following the broadcast, red wine purchases in supermarkets increased by an astounding 44% over the previous year.

But the real turning point, according to De Luca, occurred as a result of a Washington press conference announcing the government's new dietary guidelines. All major media were in attendance and on January 3, 1996, the front page of the New York Times declared,

In an About-Face, U.S. Says Alcohol Has Health Benefits.

The article began, "In a new set of dietary recommendations, the Federal Government acknowledged for the first time today that consuming some alcohol can be healthful."

The "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," which are printed every five years, included the suggestion that moderate drinking may lower the risk of heart attacks, and Dr. Philip Lee, Assistant Secretary of Health, is quoted as saying at the press conference, "In my personal view, wine with meals in moderation is beneficial."

"Between coverage from network television and major media, we estimate that 125 million people heard about the new guidelines," De Luca confides.

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Today, the Wine Institute is the pre-eminent public policy advocacy group for wine in America and has been praised as a model of social responsibility on the floor of Congress. It represents an industry whose California wine sales last year totaled $13.4 billion in the U. S. alone, and currently staffs seven regional offices in the United States, 10 overseas offices and employs 45 contract lobbyists.

The future is bright, though De Luca acknowledges that there are still serious challenges ahead. Promoting sustainable farming, combating the glassy-winged sharpshooter, fighting for wineries' rights to ship direct to consumers — these are among the complex issues facing the Wine Institute today, and their resolution will be as crucial to the industry's survival as anything that has gone before.

Uncorked!

by Tom Shelton

Watershed Task Force Provides Blueprint for

Restoring Health of Napa River

For more than five years Napa County officials, grape growers and environmental groups have engaged in discussions, often contentious, over the health of the Napa River watershed and proposed remedies whose purpose would be to remove the Napa River from the Federal Register of Impaired Waterways.

A Watershed Task Force, comprised of a broad range of Napa County special interest groups, was assembled in 1999 and released a final report with specific recommendations in 2001. These Task Force recommendations provide the framework for a new County ordinance, currently being drafted, which will establish new environmental standards for vineyard development and replanting.

Napa County enjoys an established record of environmental sensitivity that dates back to the Agricul-tural Preserve of 1968. In large measure, the Ag Preserve successfully positioned the production of world renowned wines as the highest and best use of land in Napa County and provided a practical defense against the kind of urban encroachment that has claimed other agricultural lands in close proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1991, the County adopted a Hillside Ordinance, the first of its kind in the United States, to deal with erosion concerns related to hillside development.

From my perspective, the current debate is framed by a desire to do more than provide new environmental protections. New measures carry additional responsibility of restoring the Napa Valley watershed to a condition that will sustain invertebrate populations of steelhead trout, Chinook salmon, and California freshwater shrimp. These species have declined at alarming rates and are significant indicators of the overall health of the watershed. The new ordinance, along with continued environmental study, is needed to further the process of renewal.

Extremists, however, will not be satisfied and there are powerful means of obstruction at their disposal. Lawsuits, public initiatives, and CEQA challenges provide adequate opportunity to keep the County in a quagmire of delay. For some, defeating agriculture has become a greater goal than protection and restoration of the watershed. However, their credentials for stewardship are in question and their ability to lead very much in doubt.

Fortunately, Napa County has a clear and present mandate for progress through formal adoption of the Watershed Task Force recommendations.

From our Hospitality Staff: What Do You

Love About Wine?

By Jeff Hunsaker, Director of Hospitality

Ask ten different wine lovers the above question and you're likely to receive ten different answers. The varied tastes and expectations of our guests provide a rewarding challenge for JPV's hospitality team, who are committed to stimulating — or furthering — your interest in wine.

Perhaps you're a dabbler seeking to learn about the winemaking process or a serious collector searching for an epiphany in the depths of a rich Cabernet. Meeting those unique expectations has become the mission of the hospitality staff, and as a result we are conducting several different educational seminars daily.

Are you interested in exploring different regions within the Napa Valley? Take the "Terroir" tour, and taste and blend barrel samples of components from the critically acclaimed Insignia.

Test your skills as a winemaker in our "Wine Blending" seminar, where you will experiment with blending the components of Le Mistral and be evaluated in our guided presentation.

The discriminating palate is always challenged with the "Dynamics of Food & Wine," an in-depth study which guides you through the five basic flavor components (salty, sour, bitter, sweet and umami*).

Or hone your sommelier skills on our "Aroma Identity" tour, where your olfactory senses will be challenged by several different aromas and you will be pleasantly rewarded for accuracy.

Our most popular seminar, "Wine Appreciation," leads guests through an exploration of wine's appeal to all the senses. You can also sharpen your skills on wine history, tradition, proper serving, storage and evaluation — a must for any wine connoisseur. And all the tours conclude with a tasting of current releases and our flagship wine, Insignia.

Whether you're a novice wine drinker, a seasoned veteran, or simply wish to flatter us with your repeat business, we're sure you'll find the exact tour to enrich your wine tasting experience. Call 800-707-5789 or 707-963-2745 for reservations.

*Japanese for "savory".

New Releases: Updated logo and label

design debuts with 2001 white wines;

Pastiche sports whole new look

New releases include 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon, 1999 Merlot, 2000 Red and White Pastiche, 2001 Sauvignon Blanc and 2001 Eisrébe



BLEND: 78% Cabernet Sauvig-non, 22% Merlot from estate-owned vineyards and
independent growers.

WINEMAKER NOTES: Compared to some of the previous vintages, anxiety levels were mild
as the 1999 harvest approached and we observed grapes ripening slowly under moderate temperatures.

Although it was initially predicted that the strength of the vintage would be in white varietals, the 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon is proving to be one of the best Cabernet vintages in the last ten years. Concentrated ripe, sweet fruit is complemented by roasted red and black fruit flavors and a smoky oak component.



BLEND: 100% estate-grown Scheurebe from our Spring Valley ranch.

BACKGROUND: In 1994, the desire to produce an ice wine, or Eiswein as it is called in Germany, prompted us to adopt an innovative program, whereby Scheurebe grapes would be picked late in the season and then commercially frozen, thereby concentrating their already-high sugar levels. We called the wine "Eisrébe."

Although German Eisweins are produced from fruit that is actually picked frozen from the vine, we found that by freezing the grapes ourselves we could fashion a delicious dessert wine that is viscous and smooth, with excellent acidity to balance the sweetness.

WINEMAKER NOTES: The 2001 growing season was ideally suited to this early ripening varietal, with a prolonged hang time allowing flavors to develop in accord with desired sugar and acid levels.

The result is a stunning wine containing pear and citrus-like aromas and flavors, with excellent acidity balancing the high sugar content. This wine is equally at home as an afternoon aperitif or post-dinner dessert wine.



RELEASE DATE: Spring 2002.

BLEND & GRAPE SOURCE: 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 6% Petite Verdot, 1% Malbec and 1% Cabernet Franc, primarily from estate-owned vineyards in Stag's Leap and Rutherford, with additional fruit coming from independent growers in Carneros and St. Helena.

WINEMAKER NOTES: The outstanding 1999 vintage was characterized by a long growing season which allowed flavor development to proceed at a measured pace. Temperatures were mild, there was no threat of rain, and warm weather in mid-July allowed the crop to mature into picture-perfect clusters of small berries which, by harvest, displayed optimal color, flavor and acid levels.

The Insignia from this growing season is a deep, black cherry red color, with aromas of roasted black fruit, licorice, cedar and spice. The tannins are rich and full in flavor and texture to give this wine incredible depth and length in the finish.



BLEND: 100% Merlot from estate vineyards in Yountville (70%) and independent
growers (30%).

WINEMAKER NOTES: The exceptional quality of this year's Merlot, along with increased crop yields, allowed production levels to rise substantially from last year, and we are pleased to have sufficient quantities of this wine to permit national distribution. It is well worth seeking out for its bright aromas of red cherry, cranberry and coffee and its juicy, nicely focused flavors of red fruit and spice, framed by ripe tannins.



BLEND: 50% Grenache, 25% Mourvèdre and 25% Syrah from Monterey and Napa Counties.

WINEMAKER NOTES: Our version of a Côtes du Rhône blend, this versatile wine combines spicy/jammy aromas, concentrated plum and berry-like flavors and a smooth, balanced finish. It is perfect choice for barbecues, stews and spicy-styled dishes.



BLEND: 27% Chardonnay, 25% Viognier, 25% Scheurebe and 23% Semillon, primarily from Napa County.

WINEMAKER NOTES: Similar to an Alsatian white wine, this blend of four different varieties offers delicate floral aromas, and flavors evoking pear, citrus and spice. An excellent choice for poultry and seafood dishes.



BLEND: 95% estate-grown Sauvignon Blanc from Spring Valley vineyards on the home ranch outside of St. Helena, 5% Spring Valley Semillon.

WINEMAKER NOTES: The roller-coaster year of 2001 began with a warm spring and early budbreak, hot temperatures in June, a cooling trend throughout the summer, then a heat spell of 100 degree days the first week of October.

Nevertheless, the vintage is perceived as similar to 1994, which was considered among the best of a string of great vintages in the 90's which produced big, flavorful, concentrated wines.

Early-ripening Sauvignon Blanc responded well to the warm spring and moderate summer temperatures, and achieved high sugar and acid levels well before the heat spell later in the season. The result is a wine with clean, crisp, citrus-like flavors and aromas, with a subtle grassy component that is typical of this versatile white varietal.

The Wine Advocate

1999 INSIGNIA 93-96

"Another great Insignia in the making is the 1999. An impressive black/purple color is followed by aromas and flavors of melted licorice and créme de cassis, immense body, a voluptuous texture, and an opulent, multilayered palate. This fabulously concentrated, low acid yet super-endowed wine should rival the compelling 1997 * . . ."

* NOTE: The 1997 Insignia received a score of 96 from both Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator, and was also rated No. 5 Wine of the Year in the 12/31/00-1/15/01 edition of the Wine Spectator.

Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine

1974: Even today, the wine is rich and supple with sweet fruit and mild tannins holding it up. It has developed the cedary patina of age, and its finish is arguably a bit less than it might be, but at 27 years old, this first Insignia is still a remarkable bottle of wine.

1979: A lovely outgoing aroma of currants, cedar, vanilla leads to similarly cast flavors that show the beginnings of old age in their makeup. Very few wines of this vintage have aged into graceful perfection, but Insignia comes as close as any, and at 22 years old has lived up to the enthusiasm it generated as a young wine.

1991: This bottling moved Insignia wholly and without reservation into its current incarnation. Today's tasting confirms that this one is as deep, rich, polished , layered and refined as we remembered it to be. Moreover, at ten years old. it is still in its development phase and will easily age another decade or more.

1994: Here is the wine that we would list among our top ten Cabernets of the entire decade here in California. It has fruit, richness, depth, incredible mouthfeel and magnificent balance without bombast -- all the things one wants in California Cabernet and cannot often find even in the very highest rated wines.

1997: Nothing has changed since we fell in love with this beauty a year ago. Tasted as part of this vertical, it shows that the winery is allowing Insignia to get a little riper and deeper than it had just a few vintages earlier. It is part and parcel of the California trend in that direction, yet Insignia somehow has distanced itself from most of its peers by achieving richness and depth without losing its wonderful opulence.

1999 and 2000: CGCW generally does not comment on wines that are not yet released to market [but] we think the '99 will reflect the Phelps move to somewhat bigger, more extracted versions of Insignia . . .The 2000 is still too young to call with any precision, but has a very convincing fruit center and is certainly a wine to watch.

Personnel Corner: Monika Foxworthy is at

the "pulse" of Joseph Phelps Vineyard

Monika Foxworthy, JPV's personable customer sales coordinator, came to work in October of 1994, and reports that she has found her professional niche. "I'm responsible for inventory tracking, wine allocations and budget forecasts and projections," she explains, "and I love working here. It's a challenging, open environment with wonderful co-workers."

Tom Shelton, President & CEO, describes Monika as "the person responsible for the orderly conduct of transportation to all customers, and my connection to the pulse of our company."

An Indiana native, Monika moved to the Napa Valley with her daughter Jessica in 1985, primarily because Mark Fox-worthy, her high school sweetheart, had moved here and was pursuing a career in the printing business. A 17-year courtship culminated in marriage two years ago — "Mark wanted to make sure I was the right one," she laughs, and today the couple are completely involved in renovating a house they bought in September of 2000.

The 800 square foot fixer-upper was actually advertised in the newspaper as "El Dumpo," and Monika reports that she and Mark together are doing all the renovation work. "We tore out all interior walls and replaced ceilings in three rooms," she explains. "The bathroom was stripped to the foundation and rebuilt and refurnished; plumbing and electrical were completely redone; room dividers were installed, floors sanded."

The couple are clearly on a mission, doing all the work themselves during evenings and weekends, and when asked if she had any prior experience with this kind of massive remodeling, Monika says that Mark has taught her everything. "But it's hard living in the house while you're remodeling it," she says. "Last week we finally had a stove delivered — I've been cooking with an electrical skillet and a microwave for the last year and a half."

How is their marriage faring under such pressure? Monika laughs. "Well, some weekends we start at 10 a.m. with a glass of champagne to get us moving, but it will definitely be worth it in the end when we can sell the house and buy something we really want."