Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: August & The Great Cluster Pluck Vintage 2021

Hello and Welcome, 

 

Well, it all comes down to this – The Great Cluster Pluck vintage 2021. 

 

The farming experience is an endeavor that culminates in harvest. All of the coulda, woulda, shoulda is a distant memory. The broken wheels, record breaking 118 degree temperature with a side of accompanying heat stress and the ever present threat of wildfires and smoke. It is important to remember that everything contributes to the success of vintage 2021, but not everything contributes in a positive way.

 

Picking grapes, It’s done by hand,
That’s how it goes when you own the land.

“I tell you, folks, it’s harder than it looks
It’s a long way to the top, if you got some grapes to haul.”
 

August brought the heat and a trace of rain – more like vapor but we will take it. The vines are in surprisingly good shape with the canopy holding green and not showing signs of drought. Maybe that short hedge is paying some soil moisture dividends. And the wine berries, well, let us SHOW you! They LOOK marvelous! And they TASTE pretty farmin’ good, too!

 

Pick me! Pommard on 5C, planted at the turn of the century.
 

In a Talking Heads sort of moment, “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” And you may answer, in a very Grateful Dead sort of way, “Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been.”

 

It all started about 105 days ago with flowering. Up until that point, vintage 2021 harvest was only dream. A single possible outcome among several possibilities, none of which was assured. Last year smoke was a debilitating event, and wildfires rage as of this writing. But there is a new and encouraging development. The Queen of the Skies is once again flying. Check out WildfireToday.com and you will see a retrofitted 747-400 Supertanker being returned to service.

 

Pestilence continues to ravage the human population with the latest Delta variant. To vaccinate or not seems to be the question. Masks are no longer a personal choice, but more of a patriotic duty. One thing we believe is that Genie is not going back into the bottle. Not quietly, not ever. We have come to expect the Purell sanitizer stations conveniently located in virtually all public spaces. Do you ever wonder who makes Purell hand sanitizer?

 

Thanks to a little southern sensation called Ida, we can tell you the price of off road farm biodiesel is at a record high. Exactly 16 years to the day after Katrina hit, Ida makes landfall just 50 miles away. The loss and devastation to NOLA is just heartbreaking. And for the umpteenth year in a row, the Saints just can’t seem to catch a break. Just don’t tell Aaron Rodgers…

 

 
The GO, NO-GO scenario.
 

Putting all of that aside for a moment, it is time for us to focus on about 90 tons of wine berries. And “You may ask yourself, how do I work this?” Well, here is a brief harvest video (produced by VineStories) that gives you a pretty good idea of how to successfully execute a “wine berry extraction” effort, aka The Great Cluster Pluck.

 

But this is just logistics - not so complicated. It’s not like we have to go looking for the vines. We know where they are. Hell, we planted them. But it has been awhile since the turn of the century and that is why we use markers on the posts.

 

Block 2 marker for Dijon Clone 777 Pinot Noir on a block end post.

The real genius is deciding which of our 42 blocks of wine berries have achieved their ultimate goal, their singular purpose. There are all manner of ways to determine this. One is by measuring the sugar concentrations that will eventually become alcohol, and the corresponding acidity.

 

These measurements are like the rules of the road. The speed limit is often expressed as a single number, but everyone really considers it a range. Some skew more to the upper bound than others. And if you are going to skew to the lower bound, then STAY OUT OF THE LEFT LANE, please.

 

And then there is the more hands-on approach. This includes walking the vine rows and sampling a berry or two from the odd vine. The even vines are pranksters, so we avoid them. As you experience the palate sensation, you are looking beyond the sugar sweet and experiencing the aroma and flavor that the skins release. Sometimes willingly and other times after giving them a good chewing out.

 

Wadenswil Clone Pinot Noir waiting to be sampled.
 

At the end of the day, you must answer a very simple question. You must be confident in that answer and have a set of ovaries that can back it up. You know Mother Nature does, she put those wine berries out there. Are you ready to take them from her?

 

The question you must answer is simply this: “Who among you are ready to be cluster plucked and have the sugar fermented out of you?” Once you know the answer to that question, harvest becomes a logistical exercise. But it is still farming, so all manner of thigs are bound to happen at the least opportune time. That’s the agrarian condition - “unfortunate, but not uncommon.”

 

And you may ask yourself, am I right, am I wrong? If you go too soon or too late, it could be a successful failure. Things can still turn out just fine. Or it could be a character-building experience. Something to learn from. A mistake once made, not to be repeated. “There is nothing to be learned from the second kick of a mule.”

 

Dijon Clone Chardonnay ready to be Cluster Plucked.
 

The Next Big Thing.
 

The September Harvest Moon will rise and shine the evening of September 20^th. Actually, it will just reflect the sun’s light, not really producing any light of its own. Most people have had a co-worker that followed along in the same pattern. The Harvest Moon is the full moon that rises closest to the September equinox, which this year, takes place just days after the month’s full moon. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, here are the traditional names for the full and new moons. Click on the graphic to learn the story behind each of the names.

 

 

This is quickly followed up by the fall equinox on September 22^nd. Astronomical autumn will officially begin in the Northern Hemisphere at 3:21 p.m. EDT on September 22nd, vintage 2021 while the Southern Hemisphere transitions to spring. We can expect more harvest activity and the folks down under will be looking at bud break.

 

 
Rise of the Machines – Mechanical Harvesting.
 

Do you use a machine, or can you do it by hand? The Great Cluster Pluck at Amalie Robert Estate has always been a hand harvest operation, and that remains true in vintage 2021.

 

But technology keeps advancing, or in some instances encroaching, on our own individual idioms. Farming, as a business, has very thin margins, and not always in a positive cash flow sort of way. Note: If someone calls you a credit to the business, ask if they mean balance sheet or income statement. It makes a difference.

Looks like someone forgot to grease his zerk.
 

Premium wine growing is a labor-intensive operation and harvest time is when the available labor pool is allocated among the producing acreage. The law of supply and demand fixes the harvest cost. For vintage 2021, the hand harvesting cost is about $400 per ton of wine berries. That ton of wine berries will make 60 cases of wine. So logically, we can allocate about $6.70 of harvest labor to every case of wine produced, or about 56 cents a bottle. So you gotta ask yourself, how does $2 Buck Chuck pencil out?

 

Instead of hand harvesting, you could use one of the new fangled grape harvesters that are now available. Mechanical harvest rates run about $550 per acre, regardless of the tons per acre. Mechanical harvesting is cost effective for high yielding sites. This is a revolution of epic proportions in the wine growing world that is akin to the first horseless carriage. Henry Ford and the 15 million model T’s he produced (and sold) are a tribute to the advance of technology circa the industrial revolution. The last Model T was built in May 1927. And just like the previous 14,999,999 cars, it came in any color you wanted, so long as your preference was black.

 

Looking across the east fence line September 12, vintage 2021.
 

The utilization of mechanical harvesters, just like screw top bottles, is not going away. Both are becoming more and more prevalent. And maybe that is a good thing. $2 Buck Chuck serves a market need. The annual production runs just over 5 million cases.

 

The more acreage that is harvested by machine allows for the labor pool to be allocated over fewer hand harvested acres. And that means more availability to schedule the most optimal Cluster Pluck dates. Look for the term “Hand Harvested” along side “Estate Bottled” on our future labels.

 

 

The Numbers.

 

Yeah we got ‘em. We got A LOT of ‘em! More than we really need as far as we can tell, but vintage 2021 may still hold a surprise or two. The September forecast looks as idyllic as it can possibly be. Temperatures topping out in the 70’s with cool nights in the 40’s. Hard to ask for anything better than that. Kinda reminds us of 2009. An early harvest that produced wines that have stood the test of time. We know, we spend some time in the library from time to time!

 

 

We recorded 594 Degree Days for the month of August, bringing vintage 2021 to 2,252 Degree Days. The high temperature was 110.0 degrees recorded August 12^th at 6:00 pm. The low temperature was 41.5 degrees recorded on August 23^rd at 5:00 am. This temperature reflects a cool onshore breeze coming down from the Gulf of Alaska bringing clean, smoke free air.

 

August Temperature Graph, Dallas, Oregon vintage 2021
 

Rain, as in measurable precipitation, was immeasurable. Not significantly different than zero. The last statistically significant rainfall of 1.74 inches was received June 13^th. As Pierre tells it, “It has been as dry as a popcorn f@rt."

 

We will see you on the Far Side. Please look for the Harvest After Action Report sometime in mid Okto-VemBIER! Meanwhile, you can check out our Cluster Pluck Video from VineStories.

 

Click on the image to watch the Amalie Robert Cluster Pluck Video. 

And to borrow a line from Jimmy Buffet, “If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane!”

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate: A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, "If I Ran the Zoo"

Hello and Welcome, 

 

It is mid-August in Willamette Valley Pinot Noir wine country. The West Coast fires continue to expand and the resulting particulate matter is providing for some spectacular sunset viewing. The moon is waxing and glowing an ominous brick red. While we can see the air we breathe, we cannot smell it. 

 

The Air Quality Index (AQI) has been moderate for the Willamette Valley - under 100. That is mostly due to the Jet Steam providing sanctuary in the form of a south easterly flow bringing fresh air from the Gulf of Alaska. There have been clouds, but still no rain. Things would be different if we ran the zoo. At least we would like to think they would be.

Reading time: 0.75 Adult Recreational Beverages.
 

THE BIG PICTURE
 

Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Dijon Clone 114.
 

Our quest is to rescue these wine berries at the peak of aroma and flavor development, and then ferment the sugar out of them. It’s The Great Cluster Pluck, Charlie Brown! And it is closer than you might think.

 

 
The Perp-Walk Line-up
 

That’s the one! The second one from the left. Yes, I am sure of it!
 

Yellow jackets, which are actually classified as “predatory social wasps of the genera Vespula” are an ever-present part of the winegrowing endeavor. But we know their weakness and now is the time we exploit that weakness to our full advantage.

 

They like salmon. Fresh Pacific Northwest salmon is their thing, and our thing too. Ernie does this very simply with sprigs of variegated lemon thyme, smoked Paprika and a dusting of ground ginger. Convection roast on 325 for about 20 minutes while a cool vintage Pinot Noir is opened and set to breathe. We might have a sip, or maybe two, to verify the provenance, and you can too!

 

Yellow jackets are not so particular. A few scraps of fish from around the fins or off the bones is all they need. Dena packs those scraps into the standard, vertical yellow jacket traps and hangs them off the south facing metal end posts at first light.

 

Walk by after a few hours of direct sunlight, and WHOA! The scent of freshly “sun ripened” salmon is overwhelming. Yellow jackets are coming out of the blackberry bushes to get a piece of that action! Once the traps are full, Dena soaks them overnight in a bucket of water and RELOADs for the next day. While the number of yellow jackets we take from the overall population may be insignificant, it is a moral victory.

 

Our zoo would not allow yellow jackets to free range over the grounds. However, there would be a yellow jacket viewing area. The viewing area would be just outside of the glassed in, fully enclosed Yellow Jacket Experience exhibit.

This exhibit would allow humans to interact with all 4 species of yellow jackets in their natural habitat. The climatic conditions would be set to Willamette Valley Pinot Noir harvest conditions. That’s when the yellow jackets are at their zenith and most aggressive. Fresh salmon scraps and epi-pens available for purchase. Don’t delay, get YOURS today!

 
 
Winemaking: The Continuation of Terroir by Other Means. ®
 

A FLOG communication (Farming bLOG) by Dena & Ernie from Amalie Robert Estate. Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Have a look and see what we see on Instagram @AmalieRobert Estate. We are posting on Facebook and LinkedIn. Check us out if you can. We can use all the likes we can get… Want to learn more about Amalie Robert? Take the Tour!

 

Will you be in our area? Amalie Robert Estate is open by appointment for vineyard tours and tastings. Select your preferred day and time with the Big Red Button.

 

 

 

National Pinot Noir Day is Wednesday, August 18^th. If Pinot Noir had an American birthday, this would be it. Most of us hope for a Friday or Saturday birthday, so we can let loose on that one day of the year that is uniquely our own. And you can rest assured that we would celebrate National Pinot Noir Day EVERYDAY if we ran the zoo. And the clocks would all be set to 5:00.

 

Pinot Noir has no such constraints. While the grape growing regions of the world may be due for some re-alignment (see below), the diversity of Pinot Noir is unparalleled in the wine world today. Choose from Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (our favorite), a Kiwi wine from New Zealand, a Beaune “1er” from Burgundy, or a lesser-known but equally interesting growing region.

 

Thanks to modern implementations of traditional techniques such as whole cluster fermentations and the use of indigenous yeast, Pinot Noir that has been grown, fermented and bottled over the half century is at its historical peak of viticultural and winemaking quality. But climatically speaking, the wines of the last few vintages stand apart.

 
 
Extended Heat and Fire Watch
 

A recent announcement from NOAA has proclaimed July, vintage 2021 to be the hottest month in recorded history – for the ENTIRE planet. That is certainly some achievement. And for the first time ever, there is smoke at the North Pole. That smoke is from the fires that are burning the forests and melting the permafrost in Siberia.

 

 

We suffered a relapse of the June 110+ degree heat event in mid-August. And the forecast was actually pretty good. Our high temperatures beginning Wednesday, August 11^th were 109, 110, 107 and 99. Once again it was off to the air-conditioned safety of the Independence Hotel.

 

The age-old combination of high heat and lack of rainfall lead to drought. If you live in a desert, this is nothing new to you. But if you are growing Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, this is not what you signed up for.

 

The drought will continue until the rainfall resumes. Maybe September, maybe October. Now, let’s see here, what comes after heat and drought?

 

Oh, that’s right, lightning and wildfires. Here is a graphic of the Pacific Northwest wildfires. While all fires are of concern, the fires we are monitoring are east and southeast of Salem.

 

 

The wildfires south of us around Eugene and northern California continue to expand. Washington state also has wildfires burning as does Canada. The Jet Stream continues to swap smoke particulate matter up and down the West Coast. Our only reprieve is when the Jet Stream shifts and fills the Willamette Valley with fresh cold air from the Gulf of Alaska.

 

The conditions that exist now are eerily similar to the conditions that doomed our vintage 2020, but happening a few weeks earlier. The final “blow” that doomed vintage 2020 for us came from the east. An arctic blast of low pressure frigid cold air came south out of Canada through Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. That forced a tremendous volume of air, at a very high rate of speed, to the West Coast.

 

 

That strong 60+ mile an hour east wind acted like a bellows that took those small wildfires east of Salem and turned them into ravaging wildfires. The smoke of which was on a direct path to us. Wildfires consume whatever lies in their destructive path from trees to buildings to cars to houses and more. The smoke produced is tainted by the fuel that was incinerated.

 

 

What Does This Mean and Why Should I Care?

 

What everyone we know wants to know is, what does that mean for Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, vintage 2021. Well, one thing that might come out of this is a ride on a Woolly Mammoth. It seems the Siberian fires are thawing permafrost and revealing some incredibly well preserved pre-historic animals. These animals have fur, skin, internal organs and DNA impeccably preserved.

 

And as humans being humans, it is only a matter of time before someone clones a pre-historic animal. But please, leave the viruses back in the stone age. The pre-historic Cave Lion Encounter will be near the Yellow Jacket Experience exhibit - it takes a different kind of mindset to enjoy these types of events. But that is all part of the zoo wonderment – something for everyone, including the exhibits.

 

Hot, dry and smoky conditions are not new to the Willamette Valley. After typhoon Pabuk doused vintage 2013, we have had several vintages of heat and smoke-filled skies. Dry summers and some measure of drought have also been common place. But if you have been paying attention, you have adapted to this new set of growing conditions.

 

 

Our vineyard mitigation strategies of removing leaves from the top of the canopy, keeping leaves to shade our fruit zone and mowing the grass down seem to be helping preserve soil moisture. Our canopy is still green and functioning. Planting 5C rootstock, the deepest rooting of them all, has been a viticultural stroke of genius. Access to deep soil moisture means the wine berries are continuing their natural ripening curve including color transformation from green to pink to mauve to the final destination – Pinot Noir purple.

 

Desiccation is a major concern heading into The Great Cluster Pluck without meaningful rainfall. The vines will rob water from the wine berries to cool the leaves if they can’t get it from the roots. Desiccation leads to high sugar concentration without commensurate aroma and flavor. High sugar concentration leads to high alcohol potential and early harvest dates. Early harvest dates can mean unripe aroma and flavor. If this were all a word puzzle, it could spell “What you got yourself there is a nice little Rosé vintage.” Not all bad, it goes with the sunset…

 

 

 

Mid-August Degree Day Update

 

Vintage 2021 continues to bring the heat. Once again, in the first half of August we see extreme daytime high temperatures and intolerable nighttime low temperatures.

We have accumulated 323 Degree Days for the first 15 days of August. The high temperature was 109.0 degrees recorded on August 21^st at 5:12 pm. The low temperature was 49.6 degrees recorded on August 8^th at 5:00 am. Total heat accumulation for vintage 2021 through August 15^th now stands at 1,981 Degree Days.

 

Mid-August 2021 Degree Days of 1,981 compared to full month August Degree Days for prior vintages.
 

Here is actual data collected at the Portland airport from NOAA that shows the frequency of 90 degree or hotter days from June through mid-August. The pink bars represent each vintage, and the blue line is the 10 year rolling average.

 

 

While the detailed analysis and executive summary is a task left to the reader we can clearly see, that with the exception of vintage 1951, 1953 and 1998, there is never an “average” year where the trend line equals the yearly data point. Note: Vintages 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012 form a nice little data cluster. And made elegant wines…

 

Kindest Regards,

 

Thing One and Thing Two,

Just YOU wait until we run the zoo!

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: July 2021

Hello and Welcome, 

 
This is the Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: July 2021. 
 

As most of you know, the west coast is experiencing a record drought, the forests are on fire and our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is turning color two weeks early. And that was only July! We just can’t wait to experience August and September. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 

Pommard Clone Pinot Noir sporting a NEW look!

In our 60 acres of Willamette Valley wine country, July was mostly a pleasant month with “abnormalities” here and there – that’s why it is called farming. We were able to keep pace with the explosive vine growth and rescue one of Ernie’s Italian Stallions from block 29. Most of the heavy lifting is complete, and we now await The Great Cluster Pluck to visit itself upon us.

 

Winemaking: The Continuation of Terroir by Other Means. ®
 

A FLOG communication (Farming bLOG) by Dena & Ernie from Amalie Robert Estate. Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Have a look and see what we see on Instagram @AmalieRobert Estate. We are posting on Facebook and LinkedIn. Check us out if you can. We can use all the likes we can get… Want to learn more about Amalie Robert? Take the Tour!

Will you be in our area enjoying the Dog Days of Summer? Amalie Robert Estate is open by appointment for vineyard tours and tastings. And dogs are always welcome visitors! Select your preferred day and time with the Big Red Button.

 

Have you ever wondered how some places got their names? Consider Greenland and Iceland, they are complete misnomers. While the O.K. Corral sounds just fine, it was located in Tombstone Arizona. This is actually not too far from Deadwood where Ernie gets his old barrels. He checks for lead slugs before filling them. And then their is Broken Spoke, located just downstream from Poison Well.

Or Italian tractors with names like LanDIni which sounds a lot like LamBORgini, but alas it is not the same. Ernie decided early on that his life would be simpler if all of his machines were of the same manufacturer. This makes sense if you think about maintenance and the ability to swap parts across platforms if needed. But choose wisely as the problems of one are likely to crop up on the other two. At least it won’t be a surprise – the second time.

 

 

Has this ever happened to you? You are driving down the road, staying in your lane and digging on the radio. Then you hear that highway start to whine and you know that left rear tire is about to go. So you just limp on down the shoulder on the rim until you get to the Dew Drop Inn.

 

Has this ever happened to you - twice?

Well, if you are hedging along in block 29, and all 5 spokes of your LanDIni wheel snap off the hub, your choices are significantly more limited. And it’s not a whine that you hear, it is a thump-thump-thump that you feel as the right front hub is now bouncing off the wheel, sans spokes.

Well, first things first and power everything down including the flail mower and 10 hedger blades spinning at a bazillion rpm. The tractor fits between the rows just fine – most of the time, but there is little room for the suicide doors to open and let the operator exit the cab. After some effort, Ernie managed to get out and around to the hedger side of the machine. And just as sure as shishito peppers, all five spokes were broken off the hub. The wheel studs were still torqued into place – learned that lesson last time, and each one was holding a piece of the corresponding broken spoke. Isn't that something...

 

The Italian Stallion with hedger, disabled in block 29.

It took Ernie a few minutes to fully appreciate the gravity of the situation. As in how to get the tractor out of the middle of the vineyard on just three wheels. And the fact that the hedger was hanging off the same side of the tractor as the broken spokes, significantly altering the center of gravity of the entire machine. And the overall lay of the land which was sloping toward the hedger, further adding load to the dysfunctional right front hub. And not to mention the tractor was oriented downhill, adding even more load to the front axle of the disabled machine.

Once most of these thoughts coalesced in his mind, he turned to the nearest vine and articulately explained the situation in excruciating detail – using no uncertain terms. Expletives were not deleted. Their indeed may well be a tapestry of obscenity still hanging over Ralphie’s house, but we can assure you that vine will never be the same. Then a quick look at the time revealed it to be EXACTLY beer-thirty. It was a brisk walk back to the house.

 

After lying awake all night, Ernie devised a plan that may lift the right side of the tractor to allow the wheel and broken spokes to be safely removed. Alternatively, the tractor might just take a shine to the next row and tip over. Too soon to tell.

 

Dena accompanied Ernie along with a passel full of jacks, boards, blocks, sockets, wrenches and whatever else he could conjure up to block 29. The good news is that the machine was still there. And that was also the bad news. It was not a dream.

 
LanDIni hub, sans wheel.

Having had to perform a similar rescue on the other wheel driven LanDIni tractor a few years back, Ernie had some experience to guide him. As longtime readers of the FLOG know, experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

 

First off a section of 2x8 board was placed under the axle, then the 2 ton floor jack went on top of that, just in case the jack sank into the soil. A fixed height jack stand went under the axle just in case the whole damn thing went south. Then slowly and very gingerly, Ernie began to work the jack.

 

Some encouragement was taken from the fact that the axle started to raise, and just on one side – the intended side. Soon Ernie was able to remove the wheel studs, broken spoke bits and then the broken wheel. Dena was there to collect and catalog all of the bits and pieces. She also had 9-1-1 on speed dial.

 

Riding with the King. Ray King that is, of King’s Industries. Ray is a genius in his chosen profession. Ernie knows this because he was able to fix the last TWO LanDIni wheel failures. Experience isn’t such a bad thing after all. Sure enough, Ray applied his talents and in less than 24 hours, Ernie had a viable wheel.

 

The Ray King Special - Better than new!

R&R stands for remove and replace. So, it was back up to block 29 with a repaired wheel and all the bits and pieces from the day before. First raise up the axle and then slowly position the wheel. Dena expertly applied WD-40 to the wheel studs, (new) lock washers and nuts. Ernie lined everything up and inserted the studs through the wheel spoke into the hub and threaded the nuts onto the backside. Hey, this could work!

And then we arrived at the moment of truth. Would the repaired wheel hold? What if it didn’t? Only one way to find out. Ernie fired up the machine (it started on the first try), activated the hedger and SLOWLY drove down the row. Dena was a few rows over and ahead observing.

 

Everything held. Ernie went down to the shop to put the final torque on the wheel studs, then it was back to work. There are four front LanDIni wheels that seem to lack structural integrity. Ray King has fixed 3 of them. Just one left. That’s Italian roulette, in the farming idiom.

 
 
Veraison Comes Early to the Willamette Valley.
 

Based on the growing season to date, it was not unexpected to see our first blazing Willamette Valley Pinot Noir berry on July 28^th. The average date for this sort of behavior is August 15^th, but we haven’t seen anything like that since vintages 2010 and 2011. While everyone knows it was hot in June and now again in July, the underreported story is the nighttime temperatures.

 

The vines get most of their work done during the daylight hours absorbing Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) and turning that (along with carbon dioxide) into energy (glucose) which is stored in the leaves. The leaves release oxygen as a byproduct – and what a very important byproduct that is. This cycle is more commonly known as photosynthesis. But this is only half of the story.

 

One of these things is not like the others!

Energy stored in the leaves is like money in the bank. It is nice to have but the vine needs to spend that energy on the rest of the plant. And most of that work happens at night when the sun is down. The vascular tissue translocates the energy from the storage cells in the leaves to the rest of the vine and wine berries. But it only can do this with temperatures above 50 degree’s, more or less.

 

If it is too cold, the leaves cannot fully discharge their storage cells overnight. That means the next morning the vine has a reduced photosynthesis potential because some of their storage cells are still full from the previous day. Reducing the photosynthesis potential for the next day slows the ripening curve allowing for aroma and flavor development before building excess sugar concentrations. Let’s have a look at the June and July nighttime temperatures.

 

June 2021 temperature graph Willamette Valley, Dallas, Oregon.
 

The solid blue line at the bottom represents the daily historical average nighttime temperature for the month of June. As we can see toward the end of the month the ACTUAL LOW temperatures were nearly equal to the historical AVERAGE HIGH temperatures. This means the vines were getting all of their energy out of the leaves for the next morning. And yes the scale is correct. Our high temperature in June was 118 degrees.

 

July 2021 temperature graph Willamette Valley, Dallas, Oregon.
 

July continued the above historical average nighttime temperatures early on and then again at the end of the month. A bit of relief mid-month, but still, the nighttime temperatures are significantly above the historical average. High temperatures during the day and night means the vine is running WFO (as in “to run at full throttle with uncaring abandon”) and advancing the ripening curve. The best we can hope for is cool August nights. Yeah, Fuggitaboutit already.

 

And guess what helps foster increased nighttime temperatures. It’s our newfound companion “particulate matter” in the atmosphere. Like maybe smoke from a distant fire, or not so distant fire. From here, it’s looking like another early cluster pluck. But wait! There is more.

 

A plume of smoke from the not distant enough Bruler fire.

Available Soil Moisture, get it while you can.
 

“And its dry as a popcorn fart,” said Pierre. No rain since the beginning of June and none in sight until maybe mid to late September. We are not the dust bowl, but it is considered a drought. We are not saying that it can’t rain, just that it won’t rain. So now two factors move to the forefront of the chess board - canopy management and rootstock choice. Unwelcome hot August winds from the east that desiccate the wine berries are just a given for this kind of vintage.

 

After dealing with the excessive heat of the past few vintages, Ernie adopted the shorter canopy principle. The idea is that alcohol is grown at the top of the canopy. The more leaves up there, the higher sugar concentration in the wine berry, and that means more alcohol potential in the wine. So, off with their heads! We used to grow a 7.5 foot canopy, but now we just go to 6.5 feet.

 

Rootstocks are the part of the grafted vine that grow underground and supply all of the available soil moisture to the other half of the vine that grows the wine berries. And rootstocks are like dogs. There are all kinds of different dogs for all kinds of different people. Somme rootstocks have roots that do not grow very deep, it’s just how the way they are. Kinda like the legs on a basset hound – that’s all the more they got.

 

Rootstock rooting depth comparison.

Rootstocks are usually sorted out by how deep their roots grow. Deeper roots mean more access to water late in the season when rain is not forth coming. Vine A has a very shallow rooting habit, while vine C is considered to be very deep rooting. Many vineyards are planted on shallow rooting rootstocks to advance the ripening window. These decisions were made decades ago when the the growing conditions were significantly different than what we are experiencing today.

And in vintage 2021 if this is you, then you are screwed. Unless you have irrigation. But even then, as soon as you turn off the water, better be ready to harvest. Fortunately, Ernie discarded conventional wisdom and most of the vines at Amalie Robert Estate are grafted onto deep rooting rootstocks like 5C. But this year in some of our shallow soils, even 5C is feeling the burn.

 

As we close in on a harvest window, the vine itself becomes our worst enemy. The vine has seen this movie before, genetically speaking. It knows the wine berries are an annual crop, but the vine must endure year to year. And it knows that if the roots fail to bring up moisture to the leaves, it can always raid the water from inside the wine berry through the vascular tissue.

 

This is called desiccation. It can happen from the unfriendly hot east winds in August. And it can happen from the vine’s own survival mode. Either way, water leaves the wine berry and that increases the concentration of sugar. The higher the sugar concentration, the higher the alcohol potential, or leave the wine sweet. Aroma and flavor continue to wait out the clock, but the high sugar concentrations force a premature cluster pluck.

 
 
What Does This Mean and Why Should I Care?
 

The nighttime temperatures are propelling the vines to advance ripening and bring the harvest window forward. It is as if they are experiencing a warmer growing region. Can you say Paso Robles? These are not classic Willamette Valley Pinot Noir growing conditions.

 

The growing conditions we are experiencing are changing the ripening curve. Specifically, this means wine berries accumulating sugars in a shorter time period. Vines accumulate sugar in the wine berries as a function of heat, or degree days. The hotter it is, especially at night, the less time they need.

 

Remember, they are on a path to ripen seeds and develop a nice purple sugar packet around them that a bird or raccoon can see and then eat. The seeds are then deposited far and away, and the vine has accomplished its primary mission – to become fruitful and reproduce.

 

Aroma and flavor are more dependent on time on the vine. A longer, cooler growing season typically yields lower alcohol potential and more elegant aromas and flavors. That is why Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is its own thing. It has its unique terroir driven signature.

 

The wine will be good. The wine will reflect the vintage and its growing conditions. And that pretty much describes our first trademarked piece of intellectual property. “Wines true to the soil, wines true to the vintage.”®

 
 
The Numbers.
 

The month of July recorded a blistering 618 Degree Days. The high temperature for the month was 103.5 degrees recorded on July 30^th at 5:12 pm and the low temperature was 47.3 degrees recorded July 15^th at 5:30 am. The 20 year average July Degree Day accumulation for the vineyard at Amalie Robert Estate is 539 Degree Days. A trace of rain fell on July 31^st - blink and you would have missed it.

 

 

Total growing season Degree Days through July now stand at 1,658. This is the hottest growing season we have ever experienced. The first runner up is vintage 2015 with 1,431 Degree Days followed by 2018 at 1,395 Degree Days. The 20 year average growing season Degree Days accumulation through July for the vineyard at Amalie Robert Estate is 1,144 Degree Days.

 

 

Please note, the TOTAL Degree Day accumulation for vintage 2010 was only 1,722 Degree Days. Alternatively, vintage 2003 added approximately 1,300 Degree Days during the months of August and September for a vintage total of 2,699 Degree Days.

We are reminded of the unique perspective George Carlin presented when describing baseball and football.  “Baseball has no time limit: we don't know when it's gonna end - might have extra innings. Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we've got to go to sudden death.” – George Carlin

 

In our winegrowing idiom, baseball represents the growing season and heat accumulation – we don’t know when it’s gonna end. Football is all about harvest. Once those wine berries are cut from the mother vine, that’s the end of the growing season game.

 
Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie