Hello and Welcome,
This is the Harvest After Action Report (HAAR) from Amalie Robert Estate,
Vintage 2021. Suggested reading time is 1.25 ARB’s (Adult Recreational
Beverages). If you can possibly manage the time, please read this FLOG in one sitting.
All’s well that ends well… Apparently this is not a new concept as William
Shakespeare’s play was published in the 1600’s. Typically, a person
can forget about how unpleasant or difficult something was because everything
worked out fine. Or cognitively, it is just easier to set your sights on the
next objective and forget about it. You will do better next time… Note that
Shakespeare’s play is considered a comedy. Just imagine the literary
masterpieces he could have turned out if he were a farmer!
In hindsight, Vintage 2021 really wasn’t so bad. Years from now we will taste
the wines and all have a good laugh. Some will laugh first, others will laugh
loudest and someone will have the last laugh. We suspect Mother Nature is
laughing right now. You could even consider it a comedy. A tragic comedy, a
comedy of errors, there are several comedic choices available. It was Cluster
Pluck to remember…
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!
Prologue: Vintage 2021
Each farming year begins with high hopes and great aspirations. Another year of
experience informs us of the newfound perils to be mindful of as we set off on
a new vintage. The first three months of the year are consumed with pruning the
vines. Pruning is an arduous task completed in the wind and rain and occasional
sunny day. Our job is to get the vines ready for their big day – Bud Break. And
this year that occurred at a relatively normal time of April 15th.
It is a heartwarming sight to see these dormant canes spring forth with little
green shoots. Frost is sometimes a threat to the newly emerged shoots and
astute vineyard site selection is the key to avoid this peril. And sometimes
all you need is a bit of old fashioned good luck.
April brings with it a substantial amount of tractor time getting the vineyard
floor ready to support the vines’ exponential growth spurt that occurs in May
and June. First is incorporating the cover crop from last fall that will
decompose and release nutrients to the vines. Then a quick pass with the seed
drill to add a summer cover crop to attract beneficial insects and fix a little
nitrogen. Not that the nitrogen was broken, but “fix” is the term used when
plants convert nitrogen from the atmosphere and store it on their roots. And
that is how we feed our vines without the use of chemical fertilizers. We do
burn a few dinosaurs along the way. But its Bio-Diesel here in Oregon, so it’s
not all bad.
May and June is when all hell breaks loose in the canopy. The vines are on a
driven 6 month schedule from April to October to ripen their seeds and
reproduce, then they go dormant for the next 6 months. Nice work if you can get
it. May and June are when those cute little green buds we noticed in April
rapidly grow into long canes that need to be harnessed in the trellis catch
wires – all by hand. The simple math is 50,000 vines times 12 buds is 600,000
shoots that need to be manually tucked into 3 pairs of trellis catch wires and
clipped into place.
If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me
And that’s when the first major trial of Vintage 2021 occurred. (Note:
We will spare you the minor trials we experience every day, like lifting the
fog, finding the internet hotspot sweet spot or co-locating with the tractor
keys). Once the shoots are all tucked into the wires, Ernie gets out the hedger
to trim the tops of the shoots. Like the periodic colonoscopy, this has become
a fairly straightforward procedure. But this year is the year where the THIRD
Landini tractor wheel failed. And it failed in the most spectacular fashion, on
the downhill run of row 18, block 29. That is a lovely block of Pommard clone
on 44-53 rootstock.
Once the shock and initial inspection was complete, the reality set in. How in
the hell do we get the tractor out of the vineyard on 3 wheels? With the hedger
attached no less. Fortunately, there are 12 bottles of beer in a half rack, and
that affords the winegrower some time for creative thinking and limited
critical reasoning. And since it’s summer, we can pee outside. And often do.
It turns out the solution was not to move the tractor out of the field on three
wheels, but to remove, repair and replace the broken wheel. With Dena’s help
and cellphone at the ready in case of emergency, Ernie gathered unto himself
all of his tools, jacked up the machine, removed the broken wheel and wheel
studs, and exited the field unscathed.
Then a quick call to Ray King of King’s Industries was in order. Ray recalled
fixing the last two broken wheels and was up for a welding trifecta. First,
Ernie had to stop off at Les Schwab to remove the rubber tire from the steel
wheel. Ray doesn’t like to apply heat and high voltage in close proximity to
rubber. There are old welders and bold welders, but not so many old, bold
welders. Then just as quick as you please, that’s less than 24 hours in farming
time, Ray had the wheel ready to roll. Then it was back to Les Schwab for a
reinstall of the tire.
And since the tread was wearing down, Ernie took the time to find out how much
a replacement tire would cost. “No sir, that size tire is no longer available.”
It seems like just a couple years ago when Ernie found out replacement wheels
were no longer available. So, it was back to block 29 to reinstall our very
precious wheel and irreplaceable tire.
Installing the wheel is a simple process – line up the spokes with the hub and
slide the wheel studs through. Add NEW lock washers and torque down the nuts.
All good, except when a vine is between you and the wheel. The vine rows are
set at 90 inches wide and the front wheels track at 55 inches wide. That leaves
about 17 inches between a front tire and a vine. Fortunately, it was a sunny
day, not too hot and with nothing much else to do until the wheel was replaced.
After a commensurate amount of time, Ernie had the wheel replaced and was able
to drive the tractor out of the confines of block 29 under its own power .
May through August is the time when we must spray the vines. Much like we spray
flowering shrubberies such as roses, we spray vines to keep mildew from
attacking our wine berries. And to do this we use a sprayer. The sprayer takes
power from the tractor PTO (Power Take Off) driveshaft to power the pump that
pressurizes the solution that is sprayed on the vines. The pump is a diaphragm
pump. A diaphragm pump with a failed diaphragm will not pressurize the sprayer.
And this was the second major trial of Vintage 2021.
The quick answer is sometimes the best answer, just ask Occam. In this particular case, a replacement
pump would be the best repair. Maybe a little more money, but far less time.
The vineyard spray schedule is about every 7 to 10 days. That means there is a
small and dwindling window of time to make this repair. If not, mildew would
have the great opportunity to infect the entire vineyard. Delayed spray
intervals have the potential to create a total loss. These types of thoughts
have a tendency to focus the mind and enact decisive action.
And of course, Ernie discovered his pump’s ruptured diaphragm on a Saturday. So
he sent off a few E-mails and found another wanting project to absorb his
excess time. Come Monday afternoon, no responses. A few calls to the sprayer
manufacturer went straight to voicemail. Monday must be a busy day for these
folks. So, the next logical step is to call the pump manufacturer. Success
favors the prepared mind.
Well, it turns out that the manufacturer must have had a slow day because Ernie
had about 30 minutes with them. They confirmed what Ernie had suspected, he was
the proud owner of a boat anchor. The next task was to contact the local dealer
to source a new pump. The number he was given to the local dealer happened to
be in Washington. And they had no pumps in stock. They did have several on
order, but none in stock.
“Why don’t you call the Oregon dealer? It says they have 7 in stock.” Well why
not, indeed? So Ernie took down the number and called them up. Sure enough,
they did have 7 in stock. Ernie reserved one and confirmed the drive time to be
about an hour. Great, just enough time for lunch. And then the phone rang. It
turns out the pumps were not in the warehouse. “We can’t find them. They are
not where they are supposed to be. But they do have some on order in
Washington.” Great, just great.
Lunch was ready, and this was a problem that was going to have to wait for 30
minutes. At about the 20-minute mark, the phone rings. “We found them.” The
disappearing and reappearing pump is an example of the self-correcting problem.
This is the very best kind of problem to have.
What followed on next was supposed to be a simple pump R&R (remove and
replace). And it was, right up until it came time to remove and replace the
drive gear that was pressed onto the input shaft. “No, you should not have to
take that to a machine shop,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. You
would think after 20 some years farming, Ernie would be less gullible. The next
time you see Ernie, just remember he looks that way for a reason.
It was the rest of the day with a gear puller from his drag racing days that he
removed the drive gear from the failed pumps input shaft. With a strong feeling
of accomplishment and sense of self-reliance, Ernie held the drive gear up to
the new pump’s input shaft. It easily slid down about ¼ inch, with about 3 more
inches to go.
Reality began to seep in like the feeling you get when you realize that last
beer was not necessarily in your best interest. While the path of excess does
lead to knowledge, at some point you reach the point of diminishing returns.
The drive gear has to go on the new input shaft at exactly the same depth of
position as it was on the failed pump’s input shaft. And the only way it is
going to go down that shaft is with a precision application of percussive
maintenance.
Starting with the smallest hammer, a full can of WD-40 and a tape measure, the
disciplined application of force began. Tap, tap tap, whack, whack, whack and
measure. Ok, that was another ¼ inch. Time for a little bigger hammer. The next
day later, with the BFH (Big Farmin’ Hammer), the drive gear was right where it
was supposed to be. Ernie set the pump back in the sprayer and hooked up all of
the hoses and the drive chain. It was the moment of truth. And it WORKED! The
FIRST time! Clearly something was wrong, but whatever that may be, it performed
like a champ all year.
Climate Change Visits the Willamette Valley
In sales they say if you can’t change your people, then it’s time to change
your people. In farming, you put down roots in a piece of dirt that has the
soil characteristics you want in an area that has the climate that will ripen
your desired and saleable crop. For us that means sedimentary soil in the
northern half of the Willamette Valley where we can grow world class wines. And
we respect that each year there will be highs and lows and that the climate
tends to vacillate over the years.
The third major trial of Vintage 2021 was summer heat and drought. Our
record high temperature was 118 degrees recorded on June 28th. That
set a record for the state and a personal best for Dena and Ernie. A second
bout of heat hit us about a month later on July 30th that topped out
at 103 degrees. Our vintage 2021 growing season Degree Days are 2,755. The next
closest vintage was 2003 at 2,699 Degree Days. No matter how you spin it,
that’s pretty farmin’ hot.
September added 404 Degree Days with a high temperature of 94.8 degree recorded
on September 7th at 3:48 pm. The low temperature was 39.7 degree
recorded on September 16th at 5:48 am. October was a return to a
more typical Oregon fall recording 98.4 degree days. The high temperature was
73.8 degrees recorded on October 3rd at 12:36 pm. The low
temperature was 31.6 degrees recorded on October 12th at 6:48 am.
The two days of hang time in November for the Syrah harvest added another 1.2
Degree Days with a high temperature of 53.2 and a low temperature of 43.2. And
that concluded the Great Cluster Pluck, Vintage 2021.
We recorded 3.56 inches of rain from April through June with the last rainfall
recorded on June 14th. The next meaningful precipitation arrived on
September 18th with 1.22 inches of rain. That is a 3-month
summertime period with no precipitation and record heat. Aka, a long dry spell…
Total rainfall for September was 2.73 inches. The first half of October
provided another 0.95 inches of rain as we finished up the Chardonnay and Pinot
Noir harvest. The second half of October gave us quite a lashing with 3.56
inches of rain and a sky full of birds when it wasn’t downpouring. Somewhat odd
that the last half of October rainfall matched the first three months of the
growing season. But it did.
The summer heat arrived when the wine berries were still green. The vines
flowered on June 1st and they had about 6 more weeks before they
started to turn color and enter veraison on July 28th. The
immediate, obvious impact to wine quality was purely speculative. As this was
an unprecedented event, no one knew for sure what the impact would be and what
follow-on events leading up to harvest would occur. These were the ideal
conditions necessary for talking heads to flood social media. This is
a recurring problem not confined to all things Vinous.
However, shading of the fruit during the growing season will be a factor in the
wines, it always is. The more sun exposure, the more tannin will be developed
in the wine berry skins. Just like a day at the beach, the more unprotected sun
exposure means a stronger reaction in your skin. And if you happen to be a wine
berry (more on that later), excess sun exposure means excess levels of tannins.
It is yet to be seen how these climatic factors will impact the wines from Vintage
2021. What we can say for sure is that each of these factors will influence
Vintage 2021. But whether the influence is in a positive way, is yet to be
seen.
The Human Factor
Wine growing is a labor-intensive endeavor. While we mechanize where we can,
and enjoy the opportunity to go in depth with the associated maintenance, there
are just some tasks in growing premium wine that are best left to the humans.
Case in point is mechanical harvesting. Those machines are roving the vineyards
in our area, but we are not having any of it. All of our wine berries at Amalie
Robert Estate are cluster plucked by hand. Or beak, if the winged cluster
puckers get there before we do.
The Great Cluster Pluck lies at the intersection of when you want to pluck,
when humans are available to pluck and the weather conditions allowing you to
pluck. While not a factor in Vintage 2021, air quality can play a role, as in
negating an entire vintage. We had to call off the Great Cluster Pluck in
Vintage 2020 due to smoke taint. Pluck Off!
We focus on the one factor we can control and that is when to pluck what. Out
of 55,000 vines cut into 47 blocks, we know some are ready before others. In
Pinot Noir, we look for expressive aromas and flavors that tend toward
Montmorency cherry with a strong showing of acidity. In Syrah, we look for
something other. While each vintage offers something to love, we look for the
same aroma and flavor markers in each vintage. This helps us put some form of
order or consistency to the finished wines, while capturing the individual
characteristics of each vintage. And having only a single block of Pinot
Meunier, that wine gets elevated status as there is no margin for error.
Finally, we have to contend with the people in the mirror. And this year,
that’s all we had in the winery. Fortunately, we had a really good architect
who listened to us when we said, “The two of us should be able to run this
winery with a pallet jack.” Because we did. We will admit that mirror placement
was a critical factor in our success. Please bear in mind, we are living the
dream, so you don’t have to.
The Great Cluster Pluck: Vintage 2021
Hang time is the term used to describe the final days of ripening when the wine
berries develop the most expressive aroma and flavor. Some fruits can ripen
after they are harvested, pears come to mind. But not wine. Once you pluck the
wine berries from the vine, aroma and flavor development will cease. The
ability to give the wine berries hang time depends on several factors including
rootstock, vine age and root depth, canopy management and rainfall, or the lack
thereof.
We have a few words to share regarding canopy management and alcohol potential.
We have come to believe that the taller the canopy, the higher the alcohol
potential in the finished wines. Taller canopies have a tendency to use more
soil moisture, thus reducing hang time. This is especially true in the warmer
vintages. We learned this lesson years ago with Viognier, which is all about
sugar accumulation. Our response was to hedge a shorter canopy to remove the
top story of leaves creating the issue. The fewer leaves at the top of the
canopy means lower sugar concentration in the vines. And that means lower
alcohol potential in the wine. Planning ahead is a variant of the “self-correcting
problem” scenario.
One of our key factors in selecting harvest dates in Vintage 2021 was rainfall.
After an unprecedented hot and dry growing season, we wanted to see some
moisture rehydrate the vines to alter the sugar and acid chemistry in the wine
berry. We also wanted a few more days of hang time to allow for more aroma and
flavor development. Better wines through naturally altering the chemistry on
the vine – that’s what hang time can do for you.
And we got it. September blessed us with 2.73 inches of rain. The opening salvo
was from the 18th to the 20th with 1.22 inches and the
second round was the 27th and 28th with 1.51 inches. Get
out the buckets, we’re going cluster pluckin’! And we did.
The Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay harvest continued through October
16th as we dodged a few more vintage extending showers. Then all we
had left to go was Ernie’s acre of Willamette Valley Syrah and Viognier. The
showers continued on and off and on again throughout October. “Not to worry”
was Ernie’s response.
And then it was time. Sunday, October 31st was the last best day of
hang time. The sun was out and a mild breeze cleared the air. The sweet smell
of fallen leaves beginning to decompose filled the air. The harvest window was
set for Tuesday, November 2nd. It was a bittersweet harvest in the
sense that we had to wait for aroma and flavor to develop, but the winged
cluster pluckers were not so inclined. While the quality of the fruit was
phenomenal, there is a short supply of Vintage 2021.
As we close the chapter on Vintage 2021, we would like to share the five stages
of Pinot Noir with you.
Pinot Noir Pre-Harvest. This is Pinot Noir on the vine. We have assessed the
quality of the fruit and found it to be exceptional. Cluster Plucking will
begin at first light.
Pinot Noir Post-Harvest Pre-Fermentation. This is Pinot Noir clusters
successfully extracted from the vineyard and awaiting fermentation at the
winery. First things first, they all get weighed.
Pinot Noir Post-Fermentation. We have fermented the sugar out of them, and they
are spent. They have given their very best and now are off to the compost pile
to provide nutrients for a future vintage.
Pinot Noir Pre-Blending Barrel Maturation. This is where the magic happens,
softening stem tannins and slowly maturing our wines in barrel before each
blend is decided.
Pinot Noir Post-Blending Pre-You. The blend is complete and here we have a
“Clean Skin” bottle awaiting a label and capsule. Once the packaging is
complete, each bottle will be lovingly matched to 11 others and stored for
bottle maturation before release.
Dena & Ernie
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