Hello and Welcome,
Open House Weekend!
The winery will be open for outdoor tastings and guided vineyard tours this
Memorial Day weekend, Friday through Monday, 10 am to 3 pm by appointment. If
you can make it, please click on the BIG RED BUTTON to be among the very first
to access our NEW tasting appointment page!
If you are going to be somewhere other than here, we have for you the BIG BLUE BUTTON! With a click of this button, you will be transported to a matrix of wines to select from without leaving the comfort of your digital appliance. All purchases above $300 include domestic ground shipping (your PROMO CODE is preloaded). And the NATIONWIDE spring shipping window is WFO (Wide Farming Open)!
Vintage 2020 Preview.
It is about that time of year when you get to taste the latest vintage Oregon White and Rosé wines. You won’t be seeing any from Amalie Robert, as we chose NOT to release any wine due to smoke taint. However, we can give you a few discussion points as you taste and talk your way through the valley.
Heavy Smoke in the Willamette Valley Vintage 2020
When: The most important question you can ask is when was the harvest date. The smoke entered our part of the Willamette Valley around Tuesday, September 8th right after Labor Day. If the grapes were harvested prior to that, there is little cause for concern. UNLESS the wines were blended with grapes harvested after the smoke entered the valley.
Where: Location made a significant difference in smoke exposure. The big fire that created the most smoke for us was from the Beachie Creek and Lionshead fires. They were due east of Salem, and our vineyard, by about 60 miles. High winds helped the fires grow quickly and rapidly filled the valley with smoke. There were also large fires generating smoke south of Salem. We think the least affected areas early on were located at the north end of the valley, but eventually we all had some exposure.
How Much: Most wineries did micro ferments (using 5 gallon buckets) and sent the resulting wine out for analysis. While this was a good idea, the main lab we rely on, ETS located in St. Helena, was backed up. They were overloaded with samples, and closed due to fire danger for a few days, so getting results back before harvest was typically not possible. When we called, they suggested sending wine samples to Australia for testing, as they had experience with smoke taint and the turnaround time would be faster.
Exposure: When the grape skin is exposed to smoke, the particles cross the cell membrane and bind with sugar molecules (Glucose and Fructose). When tasting fresh grapes, they don’t taste smoky as the smoke compounds are bound to the sugars. After fermentation is complete, the smoke compounds are unbound from the fermented sugar molecules and can then be detected. The question is how much and at what point in the wines’ maturity will those aromas, flavors and textures be present. Sometimes right away, sometimes after a while and sometimes never.
Smoking Gun: The indicator compound is called Guaiacol. If the winery has tested the FINISHED wine for Guaiacol AFTER fermenting, but BEFORE going into toasted oak barrels, that would be good to know. Toasted oak barrels can also impart Guaiacol into the wine. And get this, you cannot test Syrah for smoke taint using Guaiacol as the marker, because Guaiacol is a naturally occurring compound in Syrah. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!
Our test after fermentation came back at over 8.0 parts per billion (ppb) and that is why we have no vintage 2020 wine to offer. Anything over 4.0 ppb is circumspect. Here is a resource from ETS covering the topic.
The Final Analysis: There were some fantastic wines made from vintage 2020. They are out there waiting to be discovered. And hopefully, vintage 2021 will be free of any environmental encumbrances and we can all get back to the task at hand.
Amalie Robert Estate Vintage 2020 Statement.
Our underlying philosophy is to express the purity of our site through the
unique characteristics of the vintage. We ferment with whole clusters,
indigenous yeast and barrel age our wines for 18-24 months. We bottle without
the addition of fining agents such as egg whites and we do not filter or
otherwise manipulate our wines before bottling. We are 100% estate grown.
These traditional wine making fundamentals have stood the test of time well
before we founded Amalie Robert Estate. They have also served us well for the
past 20 years. When we release a bottle of wine you can depend upon our
stewardship of the land from vine to bottle and commitment to excellence.
To make smoke taint free wine in vintage 2020 by following our guiding
principles was simply not possible. We knew there was no pathway to release a
premium quality wine under our name.
These are our choices, and they are the right choices for us. We have high
hopes that these fires and the devastation they have caused will provide a
strong impetus to better manage our natural resources, including the life
sustaining air that all earthbound plants and animals require.
Additional Resources.
2020 Vintage Update: Earth, Wind, Fire & Smoke
Special Update: Oregon Wildfires and Potential Harvest Impacts
Special Update: Oregon Wildfires II and Wine Implications
Kindest
Regards,
Dena & Ernie
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