Hello and Welcome,
Today our focus is Chardonnay,
the white wine of Burgundy and the most popular white wine on the planet. From
a scintillating stainless steel fermentation to the sublime BFC, Chardonnay
holds a special place in the cool climate viticulture of Oregon’s Willamette
Valley.
And at @AmalieRobert
Estate, we grow our own. We planted Chardonnay as part of our first plantings
back at the turn of the century. Thanks to the efforts of David Adelsheim and a
few other like minded souls (who were responsible for bringing the Dijon clones
to Oregon from Burgundy), we had the opportunity to plant the (new to Oregon)
Dijon clones of Chardonnay.
And we did just that. We chose
Dijon clone 76 and 95. Ernie had the foresight and good fortune (aka luck) to
choose the ideal rootstock for our sustainably, dry farmed site and that was
the deep rooting 5C. Being somewhat densely planted at 1,452 vines per acre, we
wanted more than a little root competition at the surface. We wanted deep roots
to colonize the soil and find soil moisture to carry us through each vintage to
full ripeness.
At harvest time, we pick both
clones at the same time. There are only 11 rows and they are conveniently
located one right after the other. In the winery, we whole cluster press the wine
berries and settle the juice overnight. While crushing the grapes will give more
yield, whole cluster pressing helps preserve the natural acidity. Here is an
example of less juice being higher quality juice. And for us, that’s what it’s
all about.
Our first endeavor into the
world of Chardonnay was Her Silhouette stainless steel fermented Chardonnay. We
took the extra step of blocking the malic to lactic acid conversion to retain a
crisp, acid driven finish. Oregon Chardonnay without acid? Come on, what’s the
point?
And then after a few vintages,
we said Hmmm. “What do you think of whole cluster pressing those wine berries,
putting them in a large format barrel and fermenting the sugar out of them? And
we can go all the way through the malic to lactic acid conversion!”
As Bill Gates used to say, “Go
big or go home,” so we went big with a new 500 liter puncheon. 2.2 times the
volume of a regular Burgundy barrel. (We buy a new one every vintage.) And here
is why.
To make the most sublime Barrel
Fermented Chardonnay we learned the old school way. Ferment in a big barrel and
leave it there for 16 months to let the spent yeast lees impart richness back
into the wine. Don’t stir it and most certainly NEVER, EVER top off that sole
puncheon with Pinot Noir! So we don’t and we haven’t yet. Our first vintage of
the Heirloom
Cameo Chardonnay was 2009.
As summer turns to fall and
there is a crispness in the air, your thoughts may turn to a cool climate
Chardonnay, say maybe from Oregon. The wine is good and it is a real category, becoming
quite popular now.
If you fancy the crisp and
clean Chablis style wine, perhaps the Her Silhouette would be the right choice.
Or if you are more inclined to an elegant, barrel fermented,
Chassagne-Montrachet experience, take a look at the Heirloom Cameo BFC. The
allure of a classically vinified and barrel matured Chardonnay has a very
strong appeal.
If you would like to
experience these wines vicariously, please follow these links to view their
respective sales sheets.
Or even better yet, contact
your sales representative for local availability, pricing and to set up a
tasting appointment. We understand that you have a virtually endless sea of
choices in the world of wine and appreciate your consideration of our brand.
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
About Amalie Robert Estate:
It was the spring of 1999 when
we happened upon Bob and his Montmorency cherry orchard. We had been studying
soils and climate in the Willamette Valley and doing our level best to evaluate
as many wines as we could. It didn’t take too long before Ernie said, “Bob, I
got here too late. You have your cherry orchard sitting on top of my vineyard.”
We chose the Willamette Valley
because it was the last best place on the planet to grow Pinot Noir. All of the
other planets had one issue or another - soils, climate or the proximity to
established markets were some of the most significant drawbacks.
And so it began. April of 1999
is when we became cherry growers for just long enough to bring in the harvest.
From there on out, our singular focus was to develop our 60 acre property into
a world class vineyard and traditional winemaking operation that we would own
and operate ourselves.
The benefit of starting with a
cherry orchard is that you are not buying someone else’s vineyard and their
deeply rooted mistakes. You have the opportunity to make your own mistakes -
and learn from them. From those humble beginnings we decided on our own
rootstocks, vineyard spacing, trellis design, varieties of wines to grow and
their specific clones. We learned how to farm wine to showcase the inherent
qualities of our vineyard. We had help from some great and patient mentors
including Bruce Weber, Dick Erath, Mike Etzel, Steve Doerner, and many, many
others.
When it came time to design
the winery, we only wanted to build one, so we found the best architect with
the most experience in the Willamette Valley and that was Ernie Munch. Aside
from the aesthetics and site placement, the guiding principle was gravity flow.
Our crown jewel is the 1,200 tons of below grade concrete that maintains our
naturally climate conditioned barrel cellar and the 500 or so barrels entrusted
to mature our wines.
And what about the name? Amalie
Robert is a combination of Dena's middle name, “Amalie” (pronounced AIM-a-lee)
and Ernie's, “Robert.” We are them.
