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.
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 28th.
The average date for this sort of behavior is August 15th, 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 30th at 5:12 pm and the
low temperature was 47.3 degrees recorded July 15th 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 31st - 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
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