Introduction

Winemaking: The Continuation of Terroir by Other Means.®

Welcome to the Amalie Robert Estate Farming Blog, aka FLOG. By subscribing, you will receive regular FLOGGINGS throughout the growing season. The FLOGGING will begin with the Spring Cellar Report in April. FLOGGINGS will continue each month and detail how the vintage is shaping up. You may also be FLOGGED directly after the big Cluster Pluck with the yearly Harvest After Action Report. Subscribe now and let the FLOGGINGS begin!

Rusty

"This is one of the Willamette Valley’s most distinguished wineries, but not one that is widely known."

- Rusty Gaffney, PinotFile - September 2016

Josh

"Dena Drews and Ernie Pink have been quietly producing some of Oregon's most elegant and perfumed Pinots since the 2004 vintage. Their 30-acre vineyard outside the town of Dallas, abutting the famed Freedom Hill vineyard where Drews and Pink live, is painstakingly farmed and yields are kept low so production of these wines is limited. Winemaking includes abundant use of whole clusters, which is no doubt responsible for the wines' exotic bouquets and sneaky structure…"

- Josh Raynolds, Vinous - October 2015

David

"...Dallas growers Dena Drews and Ernie Pink... showed me this July three of their reserve bottlings and thereby altered my perception of their endeavors. Since these are produced in only one- or two-barrel quantities, they offer an extreme instance of a phenomenon encountered at numerous Willamette addresses, whose really exciting releases are extremely limited. But they also testify, importantly, to what is possible; and what’s possible from this site in these hands revealed itself to be extraordinary!... And what a Syrah!"

- David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate - October 2013

Wine & Spirits

"Finding that their whole-cluster tannins take some time to integrate, Pink and Drews hold their wines in barrel for up to 18 months - so Amalie Robert is just releasing its 2008s. And what a stellar group of wines: Bright and tart, they possess both transparency and substance, emphasizing notes of rosehips and sandalwood as much as red berries. The pinot noirs alone would likely have earned Amalie Robert a top 100 nod this year. But the winery also produces cool-climate syrah that rivals the best examples from the Sonoma Coast. And the 2009 Heirloom Cameo, their first attempt at a barrel-fermented chardonnay, turned out to be one of our favorite Oregon chardonnays of the year. Ten vintages in, Amalie Robert has hit its stride."

- Luke Sykora, Wine & Spirits Magazine – September 2011

Copyright

© 2005 – 2021 Amalie Robert Estate, LLC

Friday, August 26, 2011

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2011 August Pinot Noir In Flagrante Update

Hello and Welcome to the unfolding drama that is the 2011 growing season!

The 2011 vintage is starting to show its true color. The first blush of the vintage occurred on day 237 of the growing season - August 25th, 2011. For comparative purposes only, the 2010 vintage gave us a "blazing pink" berry on day 235.

The favored block was another of the select few Wadenswil clone blocks, and it is grafted onto 5C rootstock. Block 21 has an east facing aspect at about 500 foot elevation and is being meticulously tended for the discerning folks at Cristom Vineyards.

It looks like we are making up some lost time. The reason is the warm days and even warmer than typical nights. Why just last night, our midnight vineyard temperature was 68.4 degrees F! You don’t need Paris Hilton to tell you that’s hot. The past week has seen this weather pattern and we expect the same for at least another few days to conclude the month of August. So far so good.

We cannot say if this will significantly impact the harvest window but we see it as a first sign that harvest is on its way. Growing wine (aka wineberries) is not significantly different from growing other berries in the Willamette Valley, except for the fact we are the last crop to be harvested in the fall. So we share about the same set of circumstances faced by all fruit growers - getting the crop off before the rains, rot and winged rodents set upon us.

This is what the entire year's worth of work boils down to. Ripening up a few tons of fruit and getting it off.

All the best,

Dena and Ernie

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