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

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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2009 August Veraison

Hello,

We will have the little pink berries again this year. They will emerge alone and unafraid in Block 14 (Pommard on Schwarzmann rootstock), which is now being expertly manicured for Mr. Etzel, on August 6, 2009. Congratulations Mike!

Some have suggested the harvest of the year will come early, and for some I am sure this is true. However, every time I am tempted by these "false choices", I remember that Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special where he is falsely coerced into kicking the football. I think this is also called "marketing."

He knows it is the wrong choice, however he is pressured into thinking about the glory to be his when he kicks that football. Not to plagiarize here, but he seems to have the audacity of hope. Alas, it is not to be. Fortunately, he is not seriously injured and returns in a few weeks time with a Christmas Tree, but that is indeed another story.

Personally, I know that I will be harvesting Syrah and Viognier at the last possible moment - in NOVEMBER - with the birds. So if anyone is ready to go early, I will be happy to accommodate.

In the mean time we will build sugars, ripen seeds and begin respiring malic acid.

Ernie
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